Essay:A Response to Racialists

When Racialists, or Race-"Realists" say something that "proves" their pseudo-science, they undoubably repond to the criticism by saying something like "I'm not racist, I'm just stating facts. Facts can't be racist". They would be correct. When a racialist points out that Africa has the lower development than other parts of the world, reply with something like this: "The fact isn't racist, your intent is." Intent is paramount because it can determine wheather you are a great guy or an asshole.

When it comes to showing how important intent is, the movie Spider-Man 3 always comes to mind. In the movie, an extraterrestrial Symbiote bonds with Peter Parker and it turns him into a jerk. To get back at his rival photographer, Eddie Brock, Peter exposes Eddie's photo of Spiderman as fake. Had Peter been exposing Eddie's photo out of a desire for truth and justice, this action would've been commendable. But that wasn't Peter's intent, he did it out of a selfish desire to get back at his rival, and it is for this reason that he comes off as an jerk.

Similarly, pointing out IQ differences between countries isn't racist, only the intent behind it. To demonstrate the importantance of intent in human intelligence differences, let's look at the 2002 book IQ and the Wealth of Nations by Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen. They write in their book that the IQ differences between countries is due to both genetic and environmental factors and that low IQ can cause low GDP (and vise-versia). And before you judge them, it should be pointed out that the authors wrote that it is the ethical responsiblity to provide financial asistance high-IQ nations to low-IQ nations, just as it is the responsibility of rich people to help out poor people. This intent of writing to advocate for assitance to poor countries makes their writing on such a sinsitive issue commendable. The same cannot be said for other works pertaining to IQ.

And even if some groups of humans are inherently smarter than others, it doesn't make those people less human than smarter people. Human rights apply to all people, not just the smartest ones. There may be people who aren't as "smart" as me, but that doesn't mean I'm allowed to deny them the their dignity as human beings.