Re: The dumbing of America?

[moderator's note: the original post was borderline, and this thread
is definitely getting irrelevant. Bring it back on target or get rid
of it. Or I will. - JAH]


Keith Hudson wrote:

The following posting of mine to another group might be of interest to
sci.bio.evolution.

<<<<
"In China, a genre of self-help books purports to tell the secrets of
making money 'the Jewish way.'" Ariana Eunjung Cha, Washington Post (7
February 2007)

When the second-cleverest people on earth start reading books about
the cleverest people on earth then it's time for the rest of the
developed world to worry in earnest.


Why are the Jews so clever? Correction: Why are Ashkenazi Jews so
clever? Ashkenazi Jews belong to that branch of Judaism which hailed
from central Europe in Medieval times up until about half a century
ago of which large numbers were either gassed by the Germans or who
migrated to America, other Western countries or Israel itself after
its formation.

Why do American (Ashkenazi)-Jews, who comprise about 3% of the
population win almost half the places at Harvard, Yale and other top
American universities? Why do American Jews score at about 110-115 on
standard IQ tests? It is almost certainly due to possessing a slightly
different cluster of brain genes from most of the rest of us. Hold on!
you might say, because it recent research (on mice) suggests that the
majority of our 25,000 genes are probably importantly involved at some
stage or another in the development of our nervous systems and brains
in the foetus and beyond.

All right, it is probable that Ashkenazi brains have slightly
different versions of some important brain genes which seem
particularly susceptible to mutation in relatively recent evolutionary
times. However, this doesn't mean to say that Ashkenazi brains are
"fitter" or "better" than other brains in any absolute sense (whatever
that may mean), only that they do better than the average in coping
with modern Western-type civilisation. In a future culture with
different sorts of survival skills, the descendants of Ashkenazi Jews
might not fare so well.

What were the selection factors that shaped Ashkenazi brains in
central Europe? The main one is probably due to their obstinacy in
keeping a fast hold on their traditional love of scholarship,
argumentation and ceremonial which cause them to be pushed into
ghettos. Or it could be that they were pushed into ghettos for other
reasons and their Jewish characteristics developed more intensively
for defensive reasons against the indigenous populations in which they
found themselves.

Like the other main Western religions of Europe and the Middle East in
Medieval times -- Christianity and Islam -- which were attempting to
take control of wealth and power away from merchants and secular/
military authorities, the Jewish faith developed strict laws against
usury -- that is, the charging of interest on loans. Christianity and
Islam came out firmly against any charging of interest on loans for
centuries. In the case of Christianity this stricture had only finally
worn away by about the time of the Enlightenment in the 17th century.
In the case of Islam it is only just now disappearing with the
adoption of clever procedures by Islamic banks and housing societies
whereby interest is charged but called by another name.

In the case of Judaism, a curious compromise was reached many
centuries ago. This was that they could not charge interest on loans
to fellow Jews but they could to Gentiles. This meant that there was
little scope for economic development within the ghettos. Jews were
understandably reluctant to lend to other Jews and so businesses
remained small and of a mainly personal services nature -- such as
cobbling or tailoring -- with little or no profit overall. However
some of those Jews who were clever enough to make loans to Gentiles
outside the ghetto tended to do much better. Not only that, but they
were able to dribble some of their profits back into the ghettos,
enabling them to survive as viable economies, albiet at low standards
of living.

Not only that, but the richer Jews traditionally tended to marry their
daughters to the cleverest young men they could find in the ghettos.
Never mind that the young men were probably obsessed with studying
Talmudic commentary and would never make a businessman, it was more
likely that the rich men's grandsons would be cleverer than the norm
and could come into their businesses in due course.
Thus, in Central and Western Europe the curious sociological paradox
emerged that the Jewish ghettos were among the poorest segments of any
local, city or regional population, yet a disproportionate number of
the richest bankers and businessmen in the larger national economies
were Jews -- and their high intelligence spilled over into many other
professions in politics, arts and sciences.

The score rate of coastal Chinese on Western IQ tests is about halfway
between American-Jews and the average American for similar selection
reasons, though in a quite different context. Coastal people are
always more involved with trade than interior people because sea
freight is enormously less expensive than land freight. Thus merchants
and industrialists on the coasts became sharper between themselves for
competitive reasons and only the brightest young men from the interior
(as now) could hope to make a mark by migrating to the faster economy
of the coast. (Of course, the charging of interest has rarely been
cramped in Chinese civilisation because secular authorities have made
sure ever since Confucian times that organised religions would not
gain too much power.)

Although China has always had a huge internal economy -- the largest
single one in the world until about 1800 -- it has only decided to "re-
enter" the world in recent decades by means of promoting international
trade. We can be reasonably certain, therefore, that the selection
factor between the rural majority and the prospering coastal minority
will resume apace. Now that Chinese industry is becoming less labour-
intensive and more brain-intensive, the selection factor against the
average rural inhabitant will, if anything, increase. In the coastal
provinces, universities and technical colleges -- both state and
private -- are now growing at an even faster rate than America's did
during its heady days when it prospered because of its domestic
oilfields and when -- naturally -- self-help books were among the best-
selling genres.

The idea of ambitiousness young Chinese reading about Jewish business
success is formidable in a context of a Western Europe with dumbing-
down education systems and brand-new post-WWII underclasses growing
steadily. Although I am unqualified to say so, the future of America,
with its growing Christian fundamentalism, a falling away of
scientific education, and a President who amitted to never reading
newspapers and has probably never read a book cover-to-cover, doesn't
seem too bright either.

Who knows. There may come a time when Jews will migrate to China, the
Golden State, the Land of Opportunity!. Go East Young Man!

I think China is making a comeback. For many centuries China was
lightyears ahead of Europe in the applied sciences, mathematics,
engineering, warfare, commerce and finance. Read -The Genius of China-
by Robert Temple. It will knock your socks off. With the end of European
colonialism (symbolically signifiied by the return of Hong Kong to
China), there is is no reason why China should not make a comeback.
FAPP, Communism is dead in China which leaves the Confucian and Taoist
elements in their culture an opportunity to regenerate. Communism is
that last European impediment to China and it is falling away.

China and the Islamic domain flourished during a time when the Greek and
Roman influenced waned in Europe. This is the time of the so called Dark
Ages in Europe. It was not until the reclaiming of classical Greek
(particularly Athenian) culture that Europe once again flourished. Not
only did the Europeans reclaim their Greek heritage, but travelers and
traders such as Marco Polo showed the Europeans something amazing in
China. The Europeans were so impressed the went East and took it for
their own. It is now time for the wheel to turn.

Bob Kolker

.

Relevant Pages

  • THE ENEMY OF OUR ENEMIES - Part 1
    ... A CRITIQUE OF FRANCIS PARKER YOCKEY’S THE ENEMY OF EUROPE ... WHEN Francis Parker Yockey completed and published Imperium in 1948, he wrote a comparatively short sequel or pendant to his major work. ... Yockey’s work displeased the Jews, who accordingly ordered their henchmen to raid the printing plant, punish the printer, smash the types, and destroy all copies of the book. ... A man whose knowledge of Yockey’s career far exceeds my own believes that the memorandum was disingenuous and that Yockey himself produced the German version, and supports his opinion by a stylistic analysis that does show that, in all probability, the translation was made by an American. ...
    (soc.culture.jewish)
  • THE ENEMY OF OUR ENEMIES - Part 1
    ... The Enemy of Europe; Liberty Bell Publications, ... WHEN Francis Parker Yockey completed and published Imperium in 1948, ... Yockey’s work displeased the Jews, who accordingly ordered their henchmen to ... stylistic analysis that does show that, in all probability, the translation ...
    (soc.culture.jewish)
  • OT:European Life died in Aushwitz?
    ... suddenly discovered a terrible truth - Europe died in Auschwitz .. ... killed six million Jews and replaced them with 20 million Muslims. ... We have exchanged the pursuit of peace of the Jews of Europe and their ... 1961 - Robert Hofstadter ...
    (rec.outdoors.rv-travel)
  • =?windows-1252?Q?China_Is_Asked_for_Investment_in_Euro_Rescue_=2D_if_Ch?= =?windows-1252?Q?i
    ... China Is Asked for Investment in Euro Rescue ... A guard at the European Union's embassy in Beijing. ... Why China Should Bail Out Europe ...
    (soc.culture.china)
  • Wash Poat: The New Anti-Semitism
    ... that examined the problem of anti-Semitism in Britain. ... -- there are around 300,000 Jews in Britain, of whom about a third are ... Edward Said, among others, to launch campaigns of criticism against Israel, ... Europe is reawakening its old demons, but today there is a difference. ...
    (soc.culture.jewish)