A BBC documentary, Race and Intelligence, asks if there is a racial* pecking order where white people are more intelligent than blacks. It seems unbelievable that this question continues to be asked in the twenty-first century, according to Rageh Omar of the BBC.
One of the matters that has amazed me personally in Finland and elsewhere is how entrenched in the nineteenth century are some people’s views concerning race or ethnicity.
Neuroscientist Steven Rose says that ”race” is basically a social construct since its definition doesn’t match the biological definition.
According to him, there are greater gene frequencies on average between northern Welsh and Southern Welsh people. ”You wouldn’t call Northern Welch a different race of people from the Southern Welch people,” he said.
Omar asks the neuroscientist why there has been such a debate for such a long time.
Rose takes a deep breath before answering the question: “Because we live in a racist society. It’s very simple. Differences in intelligence between white people and black people wouldn’t make any sense unless you live in a racist society.”
The documentary shows that IQ tests do not test innate intelligence but are a reflection of how you are brought up in society. “[That is why it is important that] all children have access to the same aspirations,” according to Omar.
If IQ is determined by economic and social factors, then we have nothing to be relived and comforted about, Omar concludes.
*Generally speaking, Europeans use ethnic group as opposed to the United States, where the term race is used. In the United States, people from Europe were referred to as ethnic groups while blacks and Asians were “races.” Blacks, like Latinos, consider themselves “a race.” Mexican-Americans call themselves la Raza, or “the Race.”
M.T you can never imagine how many Finns thing of themselves as superior to other races, or that they think other races are less intelligent and inferior to them. Ive always wonder why so many Finns ive met at first hand acted funny at me, like when i said or did something intelligent they imeditely got offended, and also the many times some Finns just said to me that im smart as a black man like they expected me to be lesser in intelligence. This is one of the seriouse problem when it comes to befriend with some Finns, how can you befriend with someone who things he or she is superior to you? ive only had one Finn friend we’re close but the thing that bothered me about him was he almost all the time think of himself to be superior to me or that i was less intelligent than him, and that created clash between us. So to all those Finns out there who think of themselves to be superior over all people, ive got one massege for you, stop it! becus if you have this superiority complex then i doubt people will befiend with you, nobody wants to be around with arrogant, self centered idiot who thinks his above all people.
D4R, the reason they are offened you when you overscored is to label you their false stereotypes because being a black or white matters them too much. And that shows us how racist they are, but never mind and keep your strenght to acheive your ambitions. For eg. if Rage Omar would fled to Finland instead of Great Britian he wouldn’t be like this position he is today. I met him in Doha-Qadar in 2009 and we had very interesting conversation.
Exactly. Thank you akaaro for your encouraging words, nobody can question our intelligence as humanbeings, it will only make them appear to be idiots.