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This is probably accurate. Hanania's formulation was something like this:
"Jews have +1 standard deviation IQ and also +1 standard deviation in caring about politics". Therefore, among individuals who are +3 standard deviations in each category, Jews comprise an absolute majority.
His +1 in caring about politics is the squishy piece here. He's grasping for something. There's clearly something going on beyond just IQ. Perhaps we could explain it with clannishness or, framed more positively, "working together".
High IQ isn't enough to explain Jewish dominance of industries like Hollywood (or smaller ones like diamonds). An extreme in group bias is also necessary. This would probably also explain other market dominant minorities such as the Chinese in Malaysia.
I think Hanania's characterization there (the +1 in caring) is definitely pointing at a thing that exists, but I'd phrase it more like "argues about ideas." There has been a longstanding trend in Jewish communities to engage in an especially lively debate about abstractions, and this has been handed down through the generations by (IMO) mutually-reinforcing genetics and culture. Politics is all about picking which ideas get resources, so this is one context where a tendency to ideological combativeness is a natural fit. (This argument extends to the scientific method and Anglo-American jurisprudence, both of which are formed around the core concept of ideas and advocacy in conflict. Jews have also tended to do particularly well in those areas.)
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“Asabiyyah” works well here.
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Higher IQ at the far right tail also exacerbates even ‘normal’ levels of in-group nepotism (such as nepotism within families) since the people doing the nepotism are disproportionately successful and the nepo hires are more likely to succeed in the role than the average nepo hire from a less able population.
Reversion to the mean means that 2 150IQ Jews are much more likely to have a 150IQ child than 2 150IQ gentile whites.
Nepotism entropy is therefore reduced.
It makes sense. Jews hire a Jewish doctor because he's likely to be better. And Christians hire a Jewish doctor for the same reason. (Or would, if they knew any).
There's also another factor. Hollywood and diamonds are industries in which trust is paramount, so would naturally tend to be dominated by a close-knit group.
There’s a bit in Curb where Larry David gets displeased with his Swedish-American lawyer for misleading others into thinking he was Jewish, like a form of stolen valor.
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