Evo: I haven't changed anything, you failed to address the posts you made that I was referring to.
Your message 37 immediately followed my message 36. Your comment clearly stated "Mandrake, for every argument you have made I have already posted (in previous threads) an argument that counters it." That obviously included the 8 items in message 36. But later, you revised your statement to exclude message 36.
You also jumped to incorrect conclusions about what I said. I said "Mandrake, for every argument you have made I have already posted (in previous threads) an argument that counters it." Counters, as in "opposes". Please show me where in the sentence I said that I had disproved anything. I guess you feel a bit foolish right now.
Sorry Evo, I don't feel at all foolish. You are trying to wiggle out of your prior assertions. In a prior thread, you wrote to bobf: "Don't try to play trivial games here to deflect the issues at hand, it will not place you in a favorable light." I suggest that you take your own advice.
Evo wrote: BV doesn't answer to direct questions.
I asked this simple question: "I noticed that you told us that The Bell Curve was invalid. [The Bell Curve is ancient and debunked. -- The "Bell Curve" was written by known racists, and a long time ago, and has been debunked as such."] Did you read the book? If so, did you read EVERY word of the text, every footnote, and all of the appendixes?" Evo ducked it. Isn't it interesting how a person can be critical of someone else for the very things they practice themselves?
Can you support your claim that the authors of The Bell Curve are racists? Please be objective and do not simply give us a link to some of your racist sites, as you did before. Tell us how you know Murray and Herrnstein are racists. What did they do to earn that title? Don't dodge this one the way you dodgec the question about reading that book.
This reminds me to ask you about the use of ad hominem arguments. Would you agree with me that when one tries to discredit a source by name calling (specifically when you called one source racist), that person is exercising the well known logical fallacy known as ad hominem? Do you think that calling people and sources racist invalidates their claims? Noah and others have done this as well. It appears to me that any educated adult would know that using ad hominem arguments is self-defeating. Do you agree?
Evo: Not necessarily, to say a "source" is racist when it is already known as such, is a description, it is not name calling.
Reminder... Evo also wrote: "Don't try to play trivial games here to deflect the issues at hand, it will not place you in a favorable light."
The fact is that Evo did not establish that the source in question was racist; she simply made that assertion. She did so in order to discredit the material from that source, but she did not address it either. All she did was to present an ad hominem argument. Now she wants us to believe it was not really what it obviously was.
Originally Posted by Mandrake
How thoroughly have you studied psychometrics? I noticed that you specifically told us that The Bell Curve was invalid. Did you read the book? If so, did you read EVERY word of the text, every footnote, and all of the appendixes? What journals do you read? What other books on psychometrics have you read? Do you honestly believe you have done the necessary homework to tell us that you don't have much faith in psychometrics? I am not trying to attack or discredit you, but I really don't see anything in your messages here that causes me to think that you understand the subject to a point beyond newspaper level. What is your honest assessment?
Evo: I have no interest in psychometrics.
Well dang... who would have guessed? You do have opinions about it though, don't you?
Data can and is skewed all the time.
Yes, data can be skewed or it can be correct. Your comment doesn't identify any data, any researcher, or any conclusion. Do you want us to believe that all psychometric data is invalid? If you believe there are data sets that are incorrect, why not identify them and explain their flaws? You attacked the Bell Curve and then ducked my question as to whether or not you had read it. Are you aware that the first 12 chapters of that book contained data from a single population group? Which data were skewed? Why did you duck my question about whether or not you read the book? Are there other books that you wish to discredit without first reading them? If so, please list them for us.
As I have always said, I have only a layman's knowledge.
How does a layman discredit a massive technical book without knowing what it says? The Bell Curve was subjected to extensive peer review that was open to public reading. Did you read it, or did you read opinions from people who are not psychometricians and have no way of judging the scientific merits of the book?
I have done quite a bit of research, and what I have learned about Lynn, Murray, Jensen, Rushton, etc... is very disturbing.
Please identify your sources. Have you read at least one book by each of these scientists? Have you even read at least two peer reviewed papers by these scientists? Have you read any of the peer reviews of the material published by these scientists?
Evo: "This isn't a forum to play games in."
Okay. So, did you read The Bell Curve? Which articles and books have you read from the list of Lynn, Murray, Jensen, and Rushton?
I think you presented a link to a Washington Post article about genetics. Here is the link:
http://www.racesci.org/in_media/iq_class.htm
Do you consider the Washington Post to be a primary source of scientific information? Is that where you do your research? When I clicked on "home" from that page, I got, not the Post, but a site that deals with race and racism. Is that site biased? I might easily conclude that you are selecting sources that are not interested in scientific objectivity, but rather in "skewing" information in a misleading manner and using it as a weapon. You previously wrote: "When people try to go against people using "science" as a weapon, I have a problem with it." Is this yet another example of you not practicing what you preach?