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Race science? In *my* New York Times? It's more likely than you think. (https://archive.md/7UEFZ)
52

But as the story of the Lithuanian rabbi suggests, Jewish genius operates differently. It is prone to question the premise and rethink the concept; to ask why (or why not?) as often as how; to see the absurd in the mundane and the sublime in the absurd.

Nah, mate, that’s just you and your lack of imagination. Literally just “thinking outside the box.”

These explanations for Jewish brilliance aren’t necessarily definitive. Nor are they exclusive to the Jews.

“And therefore this article is a pointless waste of your time and energy.”

[“rethink the concept; ask why (or why not?)”](https://youtube.com/watch?v=lQ1ESd70KMo&t=33)

Kinda blows a hole in the whole “scientists secretly believe in HBD but can’t say so for fear of repercussions from the evil SJWs who control academia and the MSM” talking point, doesn’t it?

Like, that’s always the defense I get when I ask why so few credited domain experts endorse HBD. But this dreck is being printed in the NY Times; shouldn’t it be causing massive cognitive dissonance for the HBDers?

They'll just dig up a reaction on Twitter and claim it's evidence that they're oppressed by the skin-melting force of SJW sneers.
NYT has a lower impact factor than Science and Nature, which is censorship.

Here a sneer, there a sneer, everywhere a sneer sneer

> I'm not qualified to assess the scholarship of the 2006 study that Bret Stephens cites. I'll merely note that a.) its title, "Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence," rings alarm bells & b.) one of its co-authors, the late Henry Harpending, was a White Nationalist. [Brian Ferguson is though.](https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1eed/b19bcf7c059a4b10a9ed8c58027d9ed22bae.pdf) Edit: Also, [lol](https://twitter.com/evopsychgoogle/status/1210905034378006528).
[context](https://www.vox.com/2019/8/27/20834957/bret-stephens-bedbug-meltdown-dave-karpf-new-york-times-explained) [call for comment](https://twitter.com/karenkho/status/1210991097029316608)

Following in the footsteps of Jordan Peterson citing that Harpending and Cochran paper while claiming to be debunking anti-Semites.

Then we get this incoherent bit where he backpedals:

These explanations for Jewish brilliance aren’t necessarily definitive. Nor are they exclusive to the Jews.

But Jews also “have a marginal advantage over their gentile peers when it comes to thinking better.” Huh??

NYT: “Why are these wily Jews so clever?”

UPDATE: The Times has removed Stephens’s reference to Cochran et al. [2005] and spawned a hashtag.

They could hire any writer in the world and they keep employing the guy who forces them to clarify they don't support white supremacists. Huge brains operating in the NYT Opinion section these days.
What’s worse for me is that if their explanation is true, Stephens came up with a thesis first and then hurried to find some sort of scientific basis for it later. The fact that he accidentally used some white supremacist’s “research” indicates that he didn’t even read what he was citing. Even Wikipedia would get in trouble for that. It should make you wonder what other screw ups he has made in the past while writing about less politically sensitive topics? If this is what counts for research and substantiating an argument (Googling and grabbing the first relevant sounding research paper you can find) then that is a level of sloppiness/incompetence that shouldn’t be welcomed by the paper of record. (I realize that he is an editorialist and not a journalist, but the NYT should have some standards. He could have made the argument he did and then just admitted that he couldn’t source it to science.)
> What’s worse for me is that if their explanation is true, Stephens came up with a thesis first and then hurried to find some sort of scientific basis for it later. The fact that he accidentally used some white supremacist’s “research” indicates that he didn’t even read what he was citing. Even Wikipedia would get in trouble for that. but also... his argument was racist at its core, which is why searching for support found... racism. >It should make you wonder what other screw ups he has made in the past while writing about less politically sensitive topics? If this is what counts for research and substantiating an argument (Googling and grabbing the first relevant sounding research paper you can find) then that is a level of sloppiness/incompetence that shouldn’t be welcomed by the paper of record. He's been caught doing it before! With the bedbug thing!
can't find it quickly, but someone reproduced the search he did this time too. third hit.
[well fucking whoops](https://twitter.com/libcomorg/status/1211389824097234944)