To: womenbio@net.bio.net Subject: The Bell Curve Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 13:54:05 -0400 +gt

To:      womenbio@net.bio.net
From:    wardp@herald.usask.ca (Pearse Ward)
Subject: The Bell Curve
Date:    Tue, 28 Feb 1995 13:54:05 -0400

> Well, I'm not really sure why my posting caused such a reaction in 
> Pearse.  I didn't feel -- while writing it and now re-reading it -- that 
> the opinions expressed were so awful as to generate that reproach.  

What caused the reaction was the leap you made from encountering
racism/bigotry/sexism in pseudo-scientific books and the popular media to
envisioning an androcentric, mysogynistic conspiricy by the majority of
males as a result of their inherent insecurity.

Had you said that "The Bell Curve" etc.. were examples that racism and
bigotry still existed in society, I would have agreed wholeheartedly, but
you went off on a tangent about how the propensity of long-dead monarchs
to erect monuments to themselves in times of politicial threat was
indicative of the mentality of men in general whose fear of women causes
them to run off and produce bad science. This, in my opinion, was
stretching an analogy beyond the bounds of logic or reason.

It wasn't your point about racism or sexism that I objected to. I bojected
to the gross generalizations you made, and the faulty logic you used to
support them. A logical argument, even in support of a mere opinion, does
not require a bibliography or footnotes.

Pearse

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              "To someone with a hammer, many things
               look like nails that need banging in"

Pearse Ward
wardp@herald.usask.ca

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