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naraburns  nihil supernum  2yr ago (text post)   Edited 2yr ago   35137 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 14, 2022

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Well, I guess it was only a question of time before the ADL condemned Dave Chappelle and SNL more generally for "popularising" anti-Semitism.

Chappelle had a SNL monologue a few days ago where he walked a tightrope between supposedly condemning Kanye and Kyrie before slyly signal-boosting some of their talking points. Kanye comes across as crazy and Kyrie as plain dumb but Chappelle is neither, so this is arguably bigger news. Of course, Chappelle has been courting controversy before, such as his perceived anti-trans comments or complaining about college kids being too sensitive these days.

So I am not sure if this is some kind of cultural shift where black entertainment elites are more willing to criticise Jews or if it is simply Chappelle running towards controversy in order to stay relevant. Maybe it is both. Nevertheless, I think the ADL has by and large been enormously inefficient and self-defeating during these past 6 weeks. It seems even some Jewish publications agree.

He says Hershel Walker is dumb. He's as dumb as the average American, at least going by his academic credentials. It's like there is a reason elites exist even if they are a convenient scapegoat for everything wrong with society. Things we take for granted from political leaders, like being articulate, are not that common.

He's as dumb as the average American, at least going by his academic credentials.

I don't think you can make this evaluation. At a bare minimum, the University of Georgia is going to be just a bit less academically selective when it comes to a five-star running back recruit than a random kid that would like to be an engineer someday. He apparently lied about getting his degree:

It’s a falsehood that has proliferated elsewhere, including in an online biography advertising Walker’s book, at a campaign rally for his bid to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, and even during his introduction this year at a congressional hearing.

Walker released a statement to the AJC acknowledging he did not graduate from college.

“I was majoring in Criminal Justice at UGA when I left to play in the USFL my junior year,” Walker said, referring to the professional football league. “After playing with the New Jersey Generals, I returned to Athens to complete my degree, but life and football got in the way.”

I'll also note that Criminal Justice isn't exactly the most challenging of degrees. We don't know enough from the information provided to determine whether he was too slow-witted to finish the degree without receiving the help that a UGA football player could expect, but I really don't see any academic information that could be used to conclude that he's of average intelligence.

I don't think you can make this evaluation. At a bare minimum, the University of Georgia is going to be just a bit less academically selective when it comes to a five-star running back recruit than a random kid that would like to be an engineer someday. He apparently lied about getting his degree:

But only 40% of Americans have a college degree. Having a degree would put in him the top 60%. He had to take the Wonderlic ..that would answer it definitively .

He doesn't seem to have a degree, and even if he did, I question the validity of a college football player's degree as a metric for intelligence. SEC schools are famous for giving their players a free pass.

I can't find Walker's Wonderlic, but running backs in general are famously not the brightest bulbs.

I wanted to fact-check that, but couldn’t be arsed to convert this to summary stats. Not on my phone, at least.

Standard Wiki grains of salt apply, but here we are:

  • Offensive tackle – 26

  • Center – 25

  • Quarterback – 24

  • Guard – 23

  • Tight end – 22

  • Safety – 19

  • Linebacker – 19

  • Cornerback – 18

  • Wide receiver – 17

  • Fullback – 17

  • Halfback – 16

Standard HBD caveats also apply - adjusting for race by position probably tightens those gaps considerably.

Anyway, the real point is that you definitely don't need to be of average intelligence to be one of the best SEC running backs ever, even if you do walk away with a degree. Maybe Walker isn't actually a dumb guy, but his attendance at UGA is not strong evidence for that.

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