[439] in libertarians
Laissez Faire Book News: THE BELL CURVE & the media
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Chris Whitten)
Fri Dec 2 18:16:31 1994
Date: Fri, 2 Dec 1994 18:08:57 -0500 (EST)
From: Chris Whitten <lfb@panix.com>
Apparently-To: <libertarians@mit.edu>
How Herrnstein and Murray's *The Bell Curve*
sent shock waves across America
by Jim Powell
Within a month after its October publication date, Richard
Herrnstein and Charles Murray's explosive bestseller *The Bell
Curve* sold over 250,000 copies. The publisher had another
150,000 copies printed. This 847-page report about intelligence
shattered a two-decade-long taboo against publicly discussing the
subject and sent shock waves across America.
Since it would be almost impossible for you to keep up with
all the coverage about *The Bell Curve* on TV (such as *Primetime
Live*), radio, newspapers and magazines, I'll share our overview
here. Publications especially have covered *The Bell Curve* not
once but many times via feature articles, news stories,
editorials, letters to the editor, op-ed pieces and follow-up
articles. *The New York Times*, for instance, has published
about a dozen pieces on the book.
If major media had their way, intelligence would remain a
taboo subject, public discussion banned. They denounced
Herrnstein and Murray for making a case that intelligence is
substantially inherited, that intelligence level is the best
predictor of success and social problems, and that welfare state
taxes and spending will never solve social problems. The most
vicious attacks were triggered by Herrnstein and Murray's 13th
chapter which presented evidence showing that whites as a group
are more intelligent than blacks as a group (and, if you care to
know their whole story, that East Asians as a group are more
intelligent than whites as a group). Herrnstein and Murray
acknowledged repeatedly that group statistics don't tell whether
a particular individual will be a good worker, partner, neighbor,
spouse, etc.
Typically, political reporters did hatchet jobs with hardly
a look at evidence, while science reporters provided even-handed
analysis. Murray took the heat, because Herrnstein died before
the book was published. For example, the *New York Times Sunday
Magazine* ran a nasty, superficial article by the paper's
Washington political correspondent Jason DeParle who carried on
about Murray's sex life and love for fine wines. The daily *New
York Times* assigned business writer Peter Passell to do a book
review, and he offered a straightforward summary of findings
before dismissing the work as "a hoary lecture on the evils of
the welfare state." I credit Passell for being candid: while
critics talk about race, I think it's a code word--they're most
outraged by Murray and Herrnstein's explicit assault on the
welfare state.
Science reporter Malcolm Browne wrote a long, rather
sympathetic article beginning on the front page of the *New York
Times Book Review*. Notable comment: "One of the strengths of
'The Bell Curve' is that it devotes an entire section to the
relationships between I.Q. and behavior among whites alone,
thereby eliminating the complications arising from interracial
comparisons. Analyses of data gathered from exclusively white
demographic groups strongly suggest that even if one ignores
race, socioeconomic status and family background, I.Q. does
indeed correlate with birth rates, crime rates and many other
things. Taken as a whole, the statistics are impressive; it
seems hard to challenge the notion that I.Q. plays a
statistically important role in the shaping of society."
*Newsweek*, too, published a hatchet job by a political
reporter and a reasoned piece by a science reporter. Political
reporter Tom Morganthau--picking up on the *Times'* fine wine
angle--pigeonholed Murray as a "bon vivant and conservative
ideologue," "an intellectual snake charmer" who is "deeply
angry." Herrnstein and Murray's critique of affirmative action
provoked Morganthau to turn his supposed news story into an
editorial diatribe. "Nor is it feasible, legally and morally,"
he snarled, "to roll back affirmative action for blacks." On the
very next page of *Newsweek*, Geoffrey Cowley reported a science
story from an utterly different viewpoint, declaring that
"Contrary to popular wisdom, IQ has not been discredited.
Neither has the idea of differences among races and classes." He
referred to Murray and Herrnstein's "compelling new data."
*The New Republic* gave Herrnstein and Murray 11 pages to
state their case, then in the same issue published 16 pages of
related pieces, mostly attacking their views. For example, in a
piece titled "Neo-Nazis!" Jeffrey Rosen and Charles Lane smeared
the book as "a chilly synthesis of the findings of eccentric race
theorists and eugenicists." Hugh Pearson suggested Herrnstein
and Murray "have found a way for racists to rationalize their
racism without losing sleep over it."
*Time* magazine assigned its hatchet job to Richard Lacayo
who denounced Herrnstein and Murray's "truly inflammatory
notions." Lacayo seemed to froth at the mouth over the authors'
contention that welfare state spending programs like Head Start
don't do any good. Lacayo dismissed the book as reviving "some
of the most poisonous battles of the late 1960s and '70s...
Racists will be delighted."
Even *The Economist*, which normally favors free market
positions, attacked Murray. Their piece focused on his view that
people would be better served by dismantling the welfare state,
which *The Economist* belittled as "popular prejudice."
The most serious attack on *The Bell Curve* was Charles
Lane's "Tainted Sources" article in *New York Review of Books*.
He notes that Herrnstein and Murray drew from five articles
published in *Mankind Quarterly*, a journal long associated with
white supremacy doctrines. Moreover, Lane points out that the
authors cited work by 17 researchers, including 10 present or
former editors, who published in that journal. At the same time,
Lane acknowledged that findings must be judged on their merits.
Murray denounced Lane's attack as guilt by association.
*The Wall Street Journal* devoted nearly its entire
editorial page to an excerpt from *The Bell Curve*. Later,
*Journal* editor George Melloan reflected in one of his Monday
columns: "U.S. liberals might do well to stop reading things into
the Herrnstein-Murray book that aren't there and think about
where their own efforts at thought control can lead."
In a syndicated newspaper column, Thomas Sowell declared:
"This is one of the most sober, responsible, thorough and
thoughtful books to be published in years. I don't happen to
agree with everything in it, but that is beside the point... What
we are seeing now is the beginning of a campaign for the moral
extermination of Charles Murray, in order to avoid facing the
issues he raises and the empirical evidence that he presents."
*Forbes'* Peter Brimelow wrote the most comprehensive piece
on the book. He addressed the key questions everybody is asking.
For example, don't the "experts" agree intelligence tests cannot
predict academic or job performance? Isn't heredity discredited?
What's the link between intelligence and chronic poverty, welfare
and crime? To what extent can a good environment compensate for
low intelligence? Why bring up such an explosive subject in the
first place?
If you haven't read the book, by all means get a copy and
make up your own mind about these controversial issues.
Book No. PY6156 (hardcover) 847p. publisher's price $30.00
LAISSEZ FAIRE PRICE ONLY $24.95
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Thank you,
Chris
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Chris Whitten LFB@panix.com
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