Rufo described Jonatan Pallesen as “a Danish data scientist who has raised new questions about Claudine Gay’s use – and potential misuse – of data in her PhD thesis” in an interview published in his newsletter and on the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal website last Friday.
He did not tell readers that a paper featuring Pallesen’s own statistical work in collaboration with the eugenicist researchers has been subject to scathing expert criticism for its faulty methods, and characterized as white nationalism by another academic critic.
The revelations once again raise questions about the willingness of Rufo – a major ally of Ron DeSantis and powerful culture warrior in Republican politics – to cultivate extremists in the course of his political crusades.
The Guardian emailed Rufo to ask about his repeated platforming of extremists, and asked both Rufo and the Manhattan Institute’s communications office whether they had vetted Pallesen before publishing the interview. Neither responded.
Oh you wanted me to respond to all the rhetorical bullshit you were projecting onto me? Sorry, no. I’d rather ignore that and try to have an adult conversation about this topic. I addressed some of your questions that weren’t entirely bad faith projection by pointing out that IQ is sociological/behavioral, based on test averages, and does not measure anything physical.
You clearly implied that g isn’t a thing because it has no physical basis.
What on earth are you talking about? It seems like you’re arguing with what you imagine I’m saying rather than what I’m actually saying. Do you understand average distributions of test results? Because they are a real thing and not “G-Spirit.”
A reasonable criticism would be that these tests don’t accurately measure G, or that G doesn’t exist, instead it seems your position is that well-established ways to refer to these probabilistic distributions of test results, (with round numbers!) is equivalent to pseudoscience bullshit.
It’s like saying inches are pseudoscience because the length is arbitrary and the basis for the metric is biased. Okay, but does that imply length doesn’t exist? Our measurement of it may be arbitrary but we are measuring a real thing.
Similarly, general intelligence seems to be a thing, there are smart people and there are dumb people. Someone who experienced neurological developmental problems probably won’t be as good at taking tests, or be as adept at skills that require complex abstract reasoning as someone with normal development. I don’t believe this is a controversial statement.
Perhaps our rulers for measuring aren’t the best, perhaps the person that invented the yardstick was an asshole, perhaps the units could be better defined, but none of that means that length doesn’t exist. Just like intelligence, it’s pretty clear that it does.
Believing that G is a thing that may or may not be accurately measured by IQ doesn’t make him my hero. Voltaire was a racist, does quoting him mean he is your hero and you agree with his ideology?
A measurement of average human intelligence distribution is just like ghost hunters? You’re not even wrong, you’re clearly here in bad faith, and I’m done wasting my time with you. Good day.
Why doesn’t your G Spirit help you with better arguments? Are your Midi-chlorianians low? Sorry not sorry no one is buying your eugenics arguments today, go hang out with some racist WASPs at the country club and complain about it.