One of the more interesting documentary series of recent years was "Brainwashed," a seven-part Norwegian series having a laugh at the politically correct credulity of Norwegian academics, with interviews with Anglo-American scientific heavyweights like Pinker and Harpending.
I was astonished that Cochran was interviewed in the race/iq segment.
ReplyDeleteI'm astonished that there's a race/iq section to begin with. I haven't gotten there yet but if it takes the same tenor as the first two videos then, well, that would explain why this is the first time I've heard of this film.
ReplyDeleteThe gay/straight one is interesting, too. The Norwegian environmentalists are in two camps: well-meaning straight academics and dogmatic, dismissive gay ones (including the blond, married man, ahem).
ReplyDeleteThe interviewer sits down with one of Northwestern University Professor J. Michael Bailey's graduate students, a refreshingly honest gay German man.
OK...time to check out the one with Cochran!
And we think we Americans are screwed up?
ReplyDeleteOn another note, Greg C. was pretty gentle in his answers to the question about intelligence/iq, a pretty good idea considering the intended Norwegian audience, whose heads, if the narrator is illustrative of his countrymen, might explode at such an "unfortunate" scientific conclusion that populations are genetically different and that those differences include difference in the neurological system.
Thanks Steve.
ReplyDeleteI've been looking forward to watching this since you first mentioned the series.
same guy i think poking fun at danish language.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-mOy8VUEBk
Just watched the one on Race and IQ. The black guy who's unable to find work in Norway is probably just looking for a job in all the wrong places.
ReplyDeleteIn these, the most inspirational of times, he should be applying directly for Prime Minister of Norway.
He's got 'leadership' written all over his elongated skull.
"The black guy who's unable to find work in Norway is probably just looking for a job in all the wrong places."
ReplyDeleteI think he'd be a great fit with SOS Racism.
I watched the one on race/iq and the one on homosexuality.
ReplyDelete1) Would have liked to have seen/heard Greg Cochran interviewed not just on the subject of race but also on the subject of homosexuality. Oh, boy, would that have been great.
2) Interesting that under harder questioning the "researchers" arguing against race/racial biological differences and those arguing against the biological basis of sexual orientation fall back to a "well, it (the opposing view) might be right, but it's just an uninteresting subject."
HA! Uninteresting!
"The interviewer sits down with one of Northwestern University Professor J. Michael Bailey's graduate students, a refreshingly honest gay German man."
ReplyDeleteI watched it. Which guy was that? I don't recall the subtitles saying anything about Bailey.
Huh, watching the gay/straight installment. Very interesting that the Norwegian social scientists don't believe that homosexuality is innate, given that saying this is tantamount to a hate crime now in America. Blank slatism takes you down some unexpected roads.
ReplyDeleteIt is probably worth mentioning that the Norwegian Research Council scrapped all the targeted gender research grants after this series had been shown on TV.
ReplyDeleteSome of the gender researchers also had to move from the country, because they started getting harassed by angry citizens.
Also interesting is that it was Swedes that started posting the series on the net, because they were pissed that Swedish TV did not buy the series, as is normally done if one of the Nordic countries have successful show.
Not that the Swedes really expected that Swedish TV would show it, as the gender mafia has too much power there, so they put it on the net, to show what the Swedish elite censored.
That the gender research program was scrapped, was also bigger news in Sweden than in Norway.
Also worth mentioning, is that Harald Eia is a sociologist, so when he tried to get money for the show, everybody thought he would side with the social scientists, and make a series about how horrible the biologists are. This also applied to the social scientists he interviewed, and some are on record complaining Harald Eia tricked them.
Norway is like the rest of the west, in that there is something you can say public, and somethings that it is best not to mention, if you want to keep your career.
ReplyDeleteThis means that we don't really know what researchers think is true, only what they dare tell us.
That they scrapped gender research grants after the show had been on TV, is however indication that researchers in other disciplines knew it was bullshit, and finally got the balls to do something, once they had the public outrage supporting them.
"well, it (the opposing view) might be right, but it's just an uninteresting subject."
ReplyDeleteSo uninteresting that the powers that be go to desperate lengths to prevent its being discussed freely. Comparing chewing gum brands is uninteresting too, but no one has to silence that conversation for fear that a disinterested observer come to the non-preapproved conclusion that Wrigley's is better than Trident.
That Lorentzen guy is so stupidly funny that I started liking his interviews.
ReplyDelete"Huh, watching the gay/straight installment. Very interesting that the Norwegian social scientists don't believe that homosexuality is innate, given that saying this is tantamount to a hate crime now in America. Blank slatism takes you down some unexpected roads."
ReplyDeleteTheir positions are the Norwegian equivalent of the Swede social science "movement" to deny the existence of gender differences.
Ah, those Scandinavians. What's with the "stupid"?
The nature-nurture arguments are fairly presented, but while the interviewer seems a decent guy, as an American woman I've had it with men who, as he, act as if "tolerance" is the single most important trait a man can possess. Yuck, yuck, and more yuck.
ReplyDeleteWhy doesn't he just wear a sign that says, "I really don't judge you for being who you are, really, I don't. I am so totally open and fair-minded.
I'd also like to drop him into Detroit, Philly, and Fire Island.
@ Anonymous 12/22/12 11:19 PM
ReplyDeleteI didn't get that datum from the subtitles. I follow and support Bailey's work. The fellow named Rieger is cited here:
http://www.wcas.northwestern.edu/psych/people/faculty/faculty_individual_pages/bailey.htm
The most interesting moment for me in this fascinating series was when Gregory Cochran said that in hunter/gatherer societies in which IQ had been tested, they found that the better hunters did not have higher IQ levels than the others.
ReplyDeleteZhora Misha said...
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous 12/22/12 11:19 PM
I didn't get that datum from the subtitles. I follow and support Bailey's work. The fellow named Rieger is cited here:
http://www.wcas.northwestern.edu/psych/people/faculty/faculty_individual_pages/bailey.htm
______________________________
Thanks.
I should have read Steve's June 4, 2010 post on this "Brainwashed" series and the background of the interviewer before watching the Youtubes and commenting on the guy.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. I know the US is f-ed up, but even though Norway's wealth from oil is mentioned as a factor in all the pc nonsense, the Norwegians themselves have to be pretty loopy, no? I never realized that Norway was a country in which science is not prized nor one in which scientists are not produced.
How odd for a country that seems to have people with a decent IQ.
Harald Eia's daughters are beautiful in the way that only white kids (hell, I'll say it, Nordic white kids) can be.
ReplyDeleteToo bad he seems to be of the 'individualist' school. at least for now.
" I know the US is f-ed up, but even though Norway's wealth from oil is mentioned as a factor in all the pc nonsense, the Norwegians themselves have to be pretty loopy, no? I never realized that Norway was a country in which science is not prized nor one in which scientists are not produced."
Actually, they are pretty down to earth. And you'll notice that some of the push back against the 'blank slaters' is from Norwegian researchers -- like the dude that looks like he should be in a death metal band.
Plus, you can easily find blank-slaters in the US and Britain. Eia just chose 'hereditarians' to interview -- presumably because such view are more advanced in the Anglo-sphere.