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I would hope they wouldn't dare to do so as the scientific community aren't particularly accepting of papers espousing the correlation of airplane usage to auti

I would hope they wouldn't dare to do so as the scientific community aren't particularly accepting of papers espousing the correlation of airplane usage to autism diagnoses either. If the public is now more aware of garbage science used to promote political ideology, it means we have a more educated and scientifically engaged population than before, and who are capable of helping stunt wasteful research.

SomeoneFromCA 6y ago
"garbage science used to promote political ideology". It goes both way. Anyone who suppresses politically incovenient, yet relevant information about minorities, actually doing disservice to them; it is a worst kind of racism and "white privilege", to set arbitrary boundaries what is true and what is not wrt to some group of people.
- learnstats2 6y ago
  IQ tests were invented to justify a belief that white people were superior - literally by eugenicists. How is it "white privilege" to say we should reject a test design that was designed to support white supremacy?
  - Proziam 6y ago
    Rockets were designed to kill people, now they take us to space. A test is just a tool. How you use the tool is what matters most. In the context of medical research specifically, different groups experience different health issues at different rates. It's important to understand these differences so that we can help the groups in question, or to gain further understanding into what causes the issue as we search for a universal improvement.
  - SomeoneFromCA 6y ago
    I took it several times, and have not seen anything racist in them, being non-white myself.Just geometric and word puzzles. In any case, brushing off a test, just because you do not like the results and its origins, without actually researching why the scores are lower, is actually disrespectful to those who indeed scored lower.
    - elsherbini 6y ago
      Did you know it's illegal in the state of California to administer an IQ test to a black child? [1] This is a fantastic episode from radiolab about the history of IQ tests in the US and goes into how a test can be racist even without seeming so. [1] https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/g-miseducation-larry-p https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/g-mis...
      - SomeoneFromCA 6y ago
        No I did not. Nor I believe that properly constructed test, with all explicit cultural references removed can be racist. Asians, straight from Korea or China, with some basic knowledge of English are able to reach normal or above normal results on IQ tests.
  - tdsamardzhiev 6y ago
    IQ tests were invented to identify children with learning disabilities. People have been (mis)using them in various ways ever since. Some would indeed try to use IQ tests to validate their prejudices and proclaim that "science says dark-skinned people are not as smart as asians". Um, no. Science says we should stay humble and ask questions.
- DetroitThrow 6y ago
  >Anyone who suppresses politically incovenient, yet relevant information about minorities, actually doing disservice to them; it is a worst kind of racism and "white privilege", to set arbitrary boundaries what is true and what is not wrt to some group of people. People bringing up racial crime statistics as a valuable scientific avenue of investigation has contributed to hurting and discrediting me and my community throughout my life and historically. Even if the correlation exists, can we meaningfully act on it other than as a mechanism for discrediting programs that holistically address the issue in a system where guilt by association or ethnicity means nothing? Denouncing statements about correlations between autism and airplanes haven't done people with autism a disservice in this sense either; it's driven research towards holistic and sensible studies and interpretations. I hope one day you do not dismiss the issues that minorities like myself have encountered for generations as "white privilege" in the future.

SomeoneFromCA 6y ago

"garbage science used to promote political ideology". It goes both way. Anyone who suppresses politically incovenient, yet relevant information about minorities, actually doing disservice to them; it is a worst kind of racism and "white privilege", to set arbitrary boundaries what is true and what is not wrt to some group of people.

learnstats2 6y ago
IQ tests were invented to justify a belief that white people were superior - literally by eugenicists. How is it "white privilege" to say we should reject a test design that was designed to support white supremacy?
- Proziam 6y ago
  Rockets were designed to kill people, now they take us to space. A test is just a tool. How you use the tool is what matters most. In the context of medical research specifically, different groups experience different health issues at different rates. It's important to understand these differences so that we can help the groups in question, or to gain further understanding into what causes the issue as we search for a universal improvement.
- SomeoneFromCA 6y ago
  I took it several times, and have not seen anything racist in them, being non-white myself.Just geometric and word puzzles. In any case, brushing off a test, just because you do not like the results and its origins, without actually researching why the scores are lower, is actually disrespectful to those who indeed scored lower.
  - elsherbini 6y ago
    Did you know it's illegal in the state of California to administer an IQ test to a black child? [1] This is a fantastic episode from radiolab about the history of IQ tests in the US and goes into how a test can be racist even without seeming so. [1] https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/g-miseducation-larry-p https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/g-mis...
    - SomeoneFromCA 6y ago
      No I did not. Nor I believe that properly constructed test, with all explicit cultural references removed can be racist. Asians, straight from Korea or China, with some basic knowledge of English are able to reach normal or above normal results on IQ tests.
- tdsamardzhiev 6y ago
  IQ tests were invented to identify children with learning disabilities. People have been (mis)using them in various ways ever since. Some would indeed try to use IQ tests to validate their prejudices and proclaim that "science says dark-skinned people are not as smart as asians". Um, no. Science says we should stay humble and ask questions.
DetroitThrow 6y ago
>Anyone who suppresses politically incovenient, yet relevant information about minorities, actually doing disservice to them; it is a worst kind of racism and "white privilege", to set arbitrary boundaries what is true and what is not wrt to some group of people. People bringing up racial crime statistics as a valuable scientific avenue of investigation has contributed to hurting and discrediting me and my community throughout my life and historically. Even if the correlation exists, can we meaningfully act on it other than as a mechanism for discrediting programs that holistically address the issue in a system where guilt by association or ethnicity means nothing? Denouncing statements about correlations between autism and airplanes haven't done people with autism a disservice in this sense either; it's driven research towards holistic and sensible studies and interpretations. I hope one day you do not dismiss the issues that minorities like myself have encountered for generations as "white privilege" in the future.