Episode 52

52: The Vile Pseudoscience of Charles Murray

Published on: 28th June, 2021

The Vile Pseudoscience of Charles Murray

(00:00) Our one year anniversary episode! A look back on our first year of podcasting. New opening and theme music. Our Patreon launch. T-shirts.

(19:21) The race pseudoscience of Charles Murray is playing a much bigger role in the racist GOP agenda, especially their opposition to the teaching real American history. IQ and crime data may be perfectly accurate, and still don't support Murray's policy proposals. Deriving a terrible "ought," from a terrible "is."

(30:47) Charles Murray's tragic view of human nature. The false dichotomy of the fragility of the American system, being forced to choose between ruthless Social Darwinism and the feared "Utopias" of socialism / communism. The strong connection between laissez-faire capitalism and racist outcomes.

(44:08) Murray's use of the "American Creed" that all men are created equal, and quotes from Martin Luther King to justify perpetuating America's systemic racism. The straw man argument that so-called "identity politics" means that liberals believe that people are inescapably defined by their racial group. Murray's bad-faith claims that any attempt to redress systemic oppression, is actually the the real oppression.

(55:09) America's demographic transformation. Over the past 60 years, cities have become multicultural, while rural areas have remained overwhelmingly European. Misattributing America's political polarization to demographic shifts. Blaming white alienation on black demands for justice. Racial IQ data. The real shape of America's cognitive bell curve.

(01:05:55) Liberals generally have a problem with IQ testing, but according to the American Psychological Association, they are very predictive of educational / job performance. Leveling off of improvements in black IQ scores. Racial IQ disparities in employment. The question of affirmative action policies for universities, balancing fairness between Asian and African minorities.

(01:20:56) Racial crime disparities are real, and are almost certainly a symptom of systemic racism. Possible alternative explanations such as high levels of economic inequality. The GINI coefficient. Murray's outrageous proposal to solve crime and restore urban property values by ethnically cleansing America's inner cities.

(01:32:42) "If We Don't Face Reality." Charles Murray's final chapter reveals his true agenda, which is to reinforce the widespread and paranoid right-wing threat of "disaster" for America if it doesn't restore itself to official white minority rule, which he falsely calls "equality under the law." His words: "The new ideologues of the far left are akin to the Red Guards of Mao’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, and they are coming for all of us." Yowza.

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Show notes:

Facing Reality: Two Truths about Race in America

Child scolds school board about BLM posters in school despite ‘no politics’ rule

The stark relationship between income inequality and crime

Episode 52 Transcript, including all charts and graphs discussed

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