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PaperclipPerfector  11mo ago (text post)   32500 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 12, 2023

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The median east African has a room temperature IQ.

The median east African is more intelligent than most posters here on TheMotte.org including myself.

I don't think this statement is in any way banworthy, but it is rather ironic. Because you're basically arguing the "multiple types of intelligence" theory, which is just a step away from blank slateism (everyone is equally talented and has equal potential, just in different ways).

It reminds me of something. Ah yes-

Gathering knowledge of abstract items, from words to equations, that have no relation to our everyday lives has long been the amusement of the leisured elite. Relegating the non-elite to the basement of intellect because they do not know as many abstractions has been the conceit of the elite.

What if we measured literacy by how knowledgeable individuals are about their own environment: how much individuals knew all those complex equations and verbal and nonverbal vocabularies of their everyday life?

What if we measured intellect by an individual’s desire to know? What if we measured intellect by how open an individual’s mind is to self-critique and new ideas?

Given that you seem to be echoing Ibram X. Kendi, maybe there is something to your theory that a lot of right-wingers are actually just parroting woke ideas.

The statement implies that most posters here on TheMotte.org are mentally retarded (in the sense that their IQ is less than 70, which I presume is room temperature). That is a personal attack on people reading this and would normally be the subject of a ban.

I don't think you are being ingenuous. If you read his entire post, he's very clearly not saying he thinks most posters on the Motte have sub-70s IQs. His entire point is that IQ is not a reliable measure of "intelligence." Agree with him or don't, but engage with what he's actually saying.

I did read his whole point and I know that was what he was arguing. That does not make the quoted piece not offensive if taken out of context.

Then don't take it out of context.

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