tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post2453559274478373828..comments2024-03-28T16:22:14.888-07:00Comments on Steve Sailer: iSteve: Demographics of The Atlantic's 100 Most Influential Americans listUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-50242150958271725572008-02-09T20:02:00.000-08:002008-02-09T20:02:00.000-08:00There aren't nearly enough cartoonists on the list...There aren't nearly <I>enough</I> cartoonists on the list.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-25523201909117795192008-02-09T08:02:00.000-08:002008-02-09T08:02:00.000-08:003 Catholics1 Arab (Nader)There is a near monopoly ...3 Catholics<BR/>1 Arab (Nader)<BR/><BR/>There is a near monopoly of white Protestants (but we already knew that).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-40716164732934986702008-02-08T12:07:00.000-08:002008-02-08T12:07:00.000-08:00Prof. Kevin MacDonald sheds light on the reason wh...Prof. Kevin MacDonald sheds light on the reason why New England is disproportionately represented:-<BR/><BR/>"The great majority of the Puritan founders of Massachusetts arrived with their families (Fischer 1989,25). Most were middle-class or above, but only a few were true aristocrats. Even fewer were poor: "Less than five percent were identified as laborers—a smaller proportion than in other colonies. Only a small minority came as servants—less than 25 percent, compared with 75 percent for Virginia," and "nearly three-quarters of Massachusetts immigrants paid their own passage—no small sum in 1630" (p. 38).<BR/><BR/>By comparison with other colonies, "households throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut included large numbers of children, small numbers of servants and high proportions of intact marital unions. . . ."<BR/><BR/>The high percentage of intact families in the Puritan migration to America meant that they engaged in a much lower incidence of exogamy with the native Amerindian population (as was the case in the Spanish and especially the Portuguese colonies in the Americas), or with Black slaves (as in the Southern states), or even other European ethnic and religious groups (as in the Mid-Atlantic states). The leading Puritan families of East Anglia "intermarried with such frequency" that one historian dubbed them "a prosopograher's dream" (Fischer 1989, 39). . . .<BR/><BR/>Puritan child rearing practices were strict and involved rigorous supervision, yet emphasized maintaining warm family bonds throughout life. The importance of a well-ordered family life was surely not unique to the Puritans in colonial American, but the Puritans continuously and vigorously "harped on the subject in sermons, pamphlets, laws, and governmental pronouncements" (Vaughn 1997, xv). While mothers cared for infants, fathers played a major role in rearing both sons and daughters, often teaching them to read and write, instructing them in religion, and even in adulthood advising them in their decisions about work and marriage. Puritan sexual mores emphasized sexual love within marriage but strongly forbade fornication and adultery. . . .<BR/><BR/>Another indication of high-investment parenting strategy characteristic of the Puritans is that education was prized as the key to insuring the survival of their community. Two Puritan East Anglian counties had the highest rates of literacy in England during the 17th century— around 50 percent. Puritans also distinguished themselves by their strong support of public libraries and public schools (Phillips 1989,27). Massachusetts law required every town of 50 families to hire a schoolmaster, and every town of 100 to maintain a grammar school that taught Latin and Greek (Fischer 1989,133). Even illiterate New England farmers voluntarily contributed some of their harvest to support university faculty and students. Educational institutions developed by Puritans in New England were much more widespread and sophisticated than in other colonies during the same period (Vaughn 1997, xiv) At least 130 of the original settlers had attended universities in Europe. Harvard University was founded within 6 years of the founding of the Massachusetts Bay colony. Those admitted to Harvard were required to be able to read and speak classical Latin and know the declensions of Greek nouns and verbs. . . .<BR/><BR/>Puritan family names indicate a disproportionate number of tradesmen and craftsmen—names such as "Chandler, Cooper, Courier, Cutler, Draper, Fletcher, Gardiner, Glover, Mason, Mercer, Miller, Sawyer, Saddler, Sherman, Thatcher, Tinker, Turner, Waterman, Webster, and Wheelwright" (Fischer 1989,26). Puritans were also especially prominent in law and commerce. East Anglian historian R. W. Cretton-Cremer described them as "dour, stubborn, fond of argument and litigation" (in Fischer 1989, 49). Interestingly, Havelock Ellis's A Study of British Genius found East Anglia to have the highest average intelligence in Britain and "a larger proportion of scholars, scientists, and artists came from East Anglia than from any other part of England" (in Fischer 1989,49). . . . "Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-76805928124927753672008-02-08T09:01:00.000-08:002008-02-08T09:01:00.000-08:00jan saidMurray lists that are virtually entirely o...jan said<BR/><BR/><I>Murray lists that are virtually entirely of European Caucasian individuals.</I><BR/><BR/>That's no proof Murray is biased. The premiss of egalitarianism - that intelligence and other qualities are naturally distributed evenly - is groundless.<BR/><BR/>If he were to show who was most influential (worldwide) in the native literature of Africa 0 AD to 1950 AD (for instance), then...?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-36192129151475509762008-02-08T07:33:00.000-08:002008-02-08T07:33:00.000-08:00I think public school history is pretty much alway...I think public school history is pretty much always teaching the myths we want people to believe, rather than truth. The myths may track reality more or less, depending on what's needed. Needing to find evidence of highly accomplished blacks and women in US history requires a big distortion of reality, since for most of that history, neither blacks nor women had much opportunity to accomplish a lot in politics or the military or science. It's probably no bigger a distortion than either the "white men civilizing the nekkid savages" view that once prevailed, or the "innocent noble eco-friendly Native Americans brutally pushed aside by evil white male soldiers and rich ranchers" view I think gets taught more now.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-55133205211759819212008-02-08T02:23:00.000-08:002008-02-08T02:23:00.000-08:00"(like the lightbulb, or the airplane, or the atom..."(like the lightbulb, or the airplane, or the atomic bomb)": the atomic bomb was invented by Leo Szilard, with the patent going to him and the Admiralty in London. Mr Edison lost his patent case on the light bulb. I'll grant you the airplane, though.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-15253895103617752682008-02-07T23:13:00.000-08:002008-02-07T23:13:00.000-08:00These lists always say more about the people makin...<I>These lists always say more about the people making the list than they do about historical figures. I guess it all depends on what you consider influential.</I><BR/><BR/>Agreed. As was mentioned here earlier I think, Charles Murray of "The Bell Curve" fame recently tried to quantify human achievement in his latest book <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Accomplishment" REL="nofollow">Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 BC to 1950 </A>.<BR/><BR/>Murray lists that are virtually entirely of European Caucasian individuals.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-32496977640313730982008-02-07T23:07:00.000-08:002008-02-07T23:07:00.000-08:00The current Harvard alumni magazine has an excelle...The current Harvard alumni magazine has an excellent and positive review of watson's latest book:<BR/><BR/>http://harvardmagazine.com/2008/01/chairman-of-the-bored.html<BR/><BR/><BR/>Book Review<BR/>Chairman of the Bored<BR/>"Lucky Jim" Watson's unlikely book of academic mannersAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-51680189779879689872008-02-07T22:41:00.000-08:002008-02-07T22:41:00.000-08:00These lists always say more about the people makin...These lists always say more about the people making the list than they do about historical figures. I guess it all depends on what you consider influential.<BR/><BR/>The history coming out of universities these days is quite a bit different than I remember it. I'm guessing it's been changed as a result of research or polluted with PC. I'm guessing mostly the latter.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-59653060995222325292008-02-07T21:13:00.000-08:002008-02-07T21:13:00.000-08:00In the past Americans could become great by speaki...In the past Americans could become great by speaking to what was, to a large extent, a common American sulture: white, Protestant, Northern European. In order to gain the power or influence to become great today you have to speak across cultures, which to me means dropping appeals to culture and speaking to the only common motive - materialism.<BR/><BR/>Maybe that's why greatness in our leaders has been getting less and less common since Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower. You can't appeal to common sentiments when they are none except for the need to pay the bills.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com