Wednesday, December 01, 2010

IQ and Muslims

IQ is a fascinating subject for me and it is a very contentious issue when IQ is applied to race.
It can become a heated debate when IQ is discussed as to whether the IQ measurements mean anything or not.
When IQ measurements are applied to race, we are stepping into taboo territory with the inevitable accusations of racism and racist not far away.
According to these statistics from Infidel Bloggers Alliance, the worlds lowest IQ's come from Islamic countries. Is this true?
In a recent documentary I watched as the indefatigable journalist explored this subject.
The conclusion of his investigations was that nurture is a deciding factor in intelligence and how it is measured in the IQ test.
Then I decided to further research this subject and came across this blog with the same conclusion specifically regarding Muslims.
From Planck's Constant 

I personally do not believe that any one race of people has a natural advantage intellectually against any other race. I have frequently pointed out that Jews, despite their paucity in population numbers, have won hundreds of times more Nobel Prizes than Muslims [see article]; but not because Jews are smarter simply because of race, but because of upbringing.
If Jews were smarter simply because of race, then where are all the Jews who were subsumed under Islam during centuries of forced conversions? How come there aren't hundreds of Muslim prize winners today who have Jewish blood? No, it isn't race that makes Jews smart and it isn't race that makes Arabs stupid. Once Jewish converts became immersed in Islam their love of learning died.
A thousand years ago there was a great surge in Arabic science, medicine, and mathematics. But a thousand years ago there were also hundreds of thousands of Arabs of the Jewish faith throughout the Middle East. All the books the Arabs translated from antiquity would have stayed unknown and Europe would have remained dark if not for the Jews. The non-Jewish Arabs did not care about sharing what they learned from the Greeks and Romans. It was the Jews who translated Arabic texts into European languages and helped end the dark ages.
Eventually Islam strangled Arab inquisitiveness and so Arabs have been in their dark ages for the past few hundred years. If Jews had the Quran, they too would be backward, humorless, ignorant savages.
Fortunately for the world, Jews can make fun of their God, insult Him, laugh at themselves, dance, sing, and drink wine. Fiddler on the Roof could never happen with Muslims instead of Jews. For Muslims, it would be blasphemous to ask Allah, "Would it spoil some vast eternal plan if I were a Wealthy Man?" Muslims must wait for Paradise to dance, sing, and drink wine.
If Muslim Arabs would only abandon Islam or take up Jewish habits, they too could be a light unto the nations.

1 comment:

Jeannie said...

I read that it's stimulation - the right kind - that boosts intelligence.
Being given the opportunity to explore and rewarding curiosity and encouraging learning all come into it. I'm sure being told "This is how it is - don't dare ask questions" is a guaranteed brain deadener. If that is a crucial point of your religion - whether Muslim or fanatic Christian or drug worshipper, it all ends the same.

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