A commenter notes that genes provide a range of behaviors, and culture may not be able to move group performance much outside of that range. The suggestion by that commenter was that genes will predispose some populations to relatively high crime, and culture can only make it lower or higher, but it’s never going to be all that low.
Allow me to differ on that for a moment.
Check out my post on the Moriori.
In a nutshell, the Polynesians are widely regarded as extremely violent people. They were violent as Hell on contact, and their oral histories indicated a culture of extreme violence dating back as far as we can tell. They seem to have been some of the most violent folks on Earth.
The Maori were some of the most violent of all of the Polynesians. To this day, they have very high rates of general instability, drug abuse, domestic violence, and all sorts of crime, including violent crime. They are are regarded as having hair trigger tempers and for being highly aggressive. They have all of the social pathologies of US Blacks, though their IQ’s seem to be higher. (IQ = 91).
The Moriori were a Maori subgroup that colonized the Chatham Islands in the 1600’s. They started out being typically maniacal Maoris, but after a while of that, it become clear that they were going to massacre each other.
A leader came unto them and saw God. He became a religious leader, and all of the people followed him. He ordered them to renounce all violence. For the next 300 years, they were possibly one of the least violent people on Earth. Homicide was basically unheard of, and so was rape. Conflict was settled by a twig as wide as your index finger. At the first blood it was over and done with, and the conflict was buried.
Around the 1830’s, the Maori came to the Chatham Islands. They attacked the Moriori and the Moriori were so pacifist they would not even fight back. They were quickly massacred, enslaved and cannibalized. Few survived.
Now, how does the most violent tribe on Earth become the most pacifist tribe on Earth?
It’s clear to me that Polynesians are genetically primed for violence and aggression, but it’s also clear that a strong culture can completely overcome that.
Genes provide the clay, culture is the sculptor.
Now, the question is, how can these profound gene-warping cultures work? Sadly, I think they work best in small tribes and villages. In large cities and big societies, I don’t think these super-cultures can take hold. They just get washed out by the genes. So in large cities and with huge populations, genes will predominate, and maybe culture has limited effects. In very small populations, culture can be a super-warper.
There is also the possibility that some races are more “plastic” than other races. Polynesians may be a “plastic race” that is highly susceptible to cultural effects. Amerindians may be another one. There are Amazonian tribes right near the “most violent people on Earth”, the Yanomamo, that, like the Moriori, are some of the pacifist people on Earth.
A problem with Blacks is that they seem to commit lots of crime just about everywhere. I am willing to entertain the possibility that Blacks may not be as “plastic” or as effected by super-culture, as, say, Polynesians and Amerindians are.
The Dyula are an exception, and they are Blacker than people say they are. They are also subject to the profound gene-warping effects of a super-culture called Islam. In North Africa and the Arab World, Blacks and part-Blacks often have crime rates that are quite low, live in orderly and stable societies, are often employed, have fairly stable families, etc. I conclude that Islam is good for Blacks.
In socialist societies, Blacks have low crime rates. Cuba is 37% Black, and Havana is probably the safest city in Latin America in terms of violent crime, but there is a lot of petty theft nowadays.
In Mozambique under Samora Machel’s Communist regime, anyone, male or female, could walk at 3 AM from one end of the 95% Black capital Maputo to the other with no problems.
Dominica, with an 89% Black population (the rest mixed race Black-White) has a homicide rate 68% that of the US, which has a 13% Black population.
I conclude that socialism and relatively equitable societies are good for Blacks, and highly unequal societies seem to spur huge amounts of Black crime.
The reasons will be painful for Blacks but will make sense in a race realist sense. As we have noted on this blog, the US Black IQ is 88.3. That is 13.2 points lower than the US White IQ of 101.5. The Black IQ has skyrocketed by 22 points in 75 years, but they continue to lag behind Whites.
This blog takes no position on what is causing the deficit (Whether it is culture or genes or both, that is, but I will say that I do not think the gap is caused by racism.), and perhaps in the future, Blacks will close the gap partly or fully. But presently, the gap exists and is real; that’s all we need to know.
Blacks may also as a group have higher rates of genetic variables that make it more difficult to succeed in an advanced capitalist society.
Such a society rewards “nerdiness”, showing up on time, delaying gratification (often massive delay of gratification), ability to control one’s emotions in heated office environments, long attention span, etc. There seems to be evidence that Blacks on average have a more extroverted personality that finds these introverted type traits to be frustrating at best and idiotic at worst.
With an IQ deficit like that, Blacks will tend to lag behind no matter what.
Extremely competitive US capitalist culture (much more competitive than, say, European culture) continually blasts you with messages that you must be in at least the top 20% income bracket to be considered a “winner” in US society.
That means 80% of the population are “losers” at any given time. Many will be “losers” for life. US society foments extreme hatred and contempt for the 80% “losers” (particularly the males) and it reminds them of that every single day.
For people who already are handicapped in competition in such a society due to extroversion and lower IQ, who have a lesser ability to delay gratification, to have it hammered into their heads every day that they are failures and they need to be rich to be successful right now may be too much to bear.
If the standard way of getting rich doesn’t pan out, many will just say fuck it and turn to the easy cash of crime. This is my explanation for high Black crime rates in modern capitalist societies.
I suspect that this same dynamic may also effect other groups whose IQ’s, though not especially low, still put them at disadvantage against the higher groups.
Polynesians (IQ = 87.5), Amerindians (IQ = 88.5), Hispanics (IQ = 90.5), Arabs in Europe (IQ = 90.5), Inuit (IQ = 92.5) may be some examples. None of these IQ’s is especially low in global terms and neither is US Black IQ (IQ = 88.3).
The average human on Earth has an IQ of 90.5. I think it’s ridiculous to say that the average human is a moron, so I won’t say that. All of these groups, including US Blacks, have IQ’s near the global average. Melanesians (IQ = 87.5) in urban New Guinea have a similar IQ and reportedly have horrific crime rates.
In Europe, we have the Roma (IQ = 82.5), who have outrageous crime and social pathology rates.
Obviously, very low IQ groups like the poor Aborigines (IQ = 63.5), Black Africans (IQ = 68.5) and Caribbean Blacks (IQ = 72.5) are often going to be completely creamed in many highly competitive modern urban societies.
Indeed, Aborigines have off the charts social pathologies and presently nearly need to be taken care of like children for their own good by a paternalistic state. A near-70 IQ worked fine in African villages, but many African urban areas are sheer disaster zones. Urban areas in the Caribbean have some of the world’s highest violent crime rates.
28 Comments
July 7, 2009 at 12:46 am
Re. the Moriori — from your previous post on them (another very interesting group I never heard about!):
“Moriori legend has it that initially, widespread tribal warfare, headhunting and cannibalism was practiced as the normative cruel Maori culture. On such a small island, this savagery was disastrous, and soon the population plummeted to near extinction. A leader arose among the Moriori, Nunuku-whenua, who preached a new doctrine of extreme pacifism, Nunuku’s Law. Nunuku’s Law was strictly adhered to 300 years.
Sounds like a good deal of the “aggressive genes” (like the MAOA gene that is found in rather high frequencies in the Maori people) were deselected out of the Moriori population.
They battled out a “hawk vs. hawk” game in which most of the aggressive folks killed each other off, and what the population was left with was low-aggressive people.
Human culture arises out of our biology. The Moriori became cultural pacifists after becoming genetic ones.
July 7, 2009 at 12:48 am
Oh, I doubt it. The survivors could well have been the most evil and murderous of them all. The most pacifistic ones were probably the first to go.
Interesting theory though. Ultimately, it is probably unprovable one way or the other, really.
July 7, 2009 at 12:48 am
“The Dyula are an exception, and they are Blacker than people say they are.”
But, they are less Black than indigenous West Africans because they are part of a broad ethnic group that originated further north (in Central Sahara).
July 7, 2009 at 12:52 am
Maybe not that much less Black. The Tuaregs in the same general area are 86% Black. Not 100% Black, true.
July 7, 2009 at 1:03 am
Tuaregs are 86% Black? Where do you get that from? They’re usually grouped with Berbers.
July 7, 2009 at 1:19 am
Search for “A Little Black in All of US” on the blog. I think it’s in there. Berbers can be either almost totally White or almost totally Black. They really vary.
July 7, 2009 at 1:09 am
“Dominica, with a 99% Black population has a homicide rate 40% that of the US, which has a 13% Black population.”
Dominica’s population is 86.8% Black and 8.9% mixed (acc’d. to the CIA) plus others. But I take your point: the vast majority of the population is Black.
Their per capita murder rate is more like 68% of the U.S. rate (U.S. = 0.042802 per 1,000 people; Dominica = 0.0289733 per 1,000 people) rather than 40%. Still lower than the U.S., but not as low as you suggest.
July 7, 2009 at 1:11 am
“Genes provide the clay, culture is the sculptor.”
As far as I can see (and admittedly I haven’t read your blog until tonight), you don’t explain where culture comes from. Any ideas on that?
(Hint: it arises out of our biology.
)
July 7, 2009 at 1:20 am
I don’t really believe this, and I can show you some other examples if you wish. It’s true to a point though.
July 7, 2009 at 9:45 am
It’s clear that human activity of any kind arises from human biology. But human biology alone does not explain the culture of any group.
Groups have to contend with the environment they find themselves in. They have to work out how group members are going to have basic needs met and how the group itself will maintain cohesiveness and have its needs met–in the face of what the environment is demanding of them.
July 7, 2009 at 1:26 am
“If the standard way of getting rich doesn’t pan out, many will just say fuck it and turn to the easy cash of crime. This is my explanation for high Black crime rates in modern capitalist societies.”
I think you’re probably right — given their average IQ and (I think one of the most important personality traits) lesser ability to delay gratification, Blacks have a harder time fitting into modern capitalist societies and Black crime rates will be inevitably high in such a society.
Perhaps a socialist society is a better environment for them (or some traditional African society that, presumably, they worked out for themselves before interference by Europeans).
Only thing is, I don’t want to live in a socialist society! We need some other solution for the U.S.
(I wouldn’t mind the “one block, one Black” solution provided I get a higher IQ Black on my block.)
Whatever is to be done, the problems that Blacks face in our society — and cause in our society — need to be dealt with seriously. And, most importantly, we need to quit importing hordes of people who most directly compete for jobs with African Americans (i.e. Mexicans and other Latin Americans). African Americans are our fellow citizens and they deserve that much at least.
July 7, 2009 at 1:28 am
“I don’t really believe this, and I can show you some other examples if you wish. It’s true to a point though.”
Where does culture come from then?
July 7, 2009 at 1:41 am
“Oh, I doubt it. The survivors could well have been the most evil and murderous of them all. The most pacifistic ones were probably the first to go.”
No. Too many hawks mean that hawks battle it out with other hawks. Pacifists (or “doves”) actually start to prosper in such a scenario and their numbers increase.
Classic game theory concepts.
July 7, 2009 at 2:05 am
Man, you’re prolific and a truth-teller. You should collate your posts into a book.
July 7, 2009 at 2:07 am
Who, me? Haha. You’re not the first who has said that.
July 7, 2009 at 3:24 am
Dear Robert
If American culture stigmatizes 80% of the population as losers and if this stigmatization explains the high black crime rate, as you say, then the majority of whites also belong to this large group of losers and they shold have a high crime rate as well. That, however, is not the case.
I agree with you that we should not become biological reductionists. If we look at Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Haiti, we find that the Dominicans are much more violent than the Cubans, who are racially the same as they are, and also much more violent than the Haitians, who are much blacker than they are.
I have a cousin who lived many years in Haiti, and he tells me that, although Haiti is corrupt and basically lawless, it is not a violent country. The murder rate there is far lower than in Jamaica.
Have a good day. James
July 7, 2009 at 3:31 am
R – Ya, not the last either. The only crap you write is your Mao and Stalin worshipping stuff. But I know why you do it – sometimes intelligent people take a ridiculous viewpoint, not because it’s right, but because it’s more of an intellectual challenge to defend it.
July 7, 2009 at 4:22 am
lol
No liberal american leftist would ever even hear you out.
July 7, 2009 at 6:43 am
Yeah I know. Most of them really, really hate my guts. It’s not even funny. They all call me RACIST. They refuse to link to me, refuse to discuss my name in print, etc.
July 7, 2009 at 4:50 am
Now, the question is, how can these profound gene-warping cultures work? Sadly, I think they work best in small tribes and villages. In large cities and big societies, I don’t think these super-cultures can take hold. They just get washed out by the genes. So in large cities and with huge populations, genes will predominate and maybe culture has limited effects. In very small populations, culture can be a super-warper.
Japan seems to have been pretty gene-warped after WWII. On an individual level, traumatic, enlightening or cathartic experiences can gene-warp us. Communism partly gene-warped Eastern Europe, at least the first generation or two of true believers (with the effect being lost after corruption and lassitude kicked in).
Separation and the granting of racial autonomy could probably provide a gene-warping experience for American blacks. There would be less reason for them to crowd into big cities if they had their own countries, so that would significantly lower the urban effect. You might point to Africa, but remember that Africa was divided along other than tribal lines, so the autonomy effect was severely diminished.
I conclude that socialism and relatively equitable societies are good for Blacks, and highly unequal societies seem to spur huge amounts of Black crime.
I’d say it’s the old-fashioned notions of law and order that authoritarian regimes (like Cuba’s) adhere to that makes the difference.
US capitalist culture continually blasts you with messages that you must be in at least the top 20% income bracket to be considered a “winner” in US society. That means 80% of the population are “losers” at any given time. Many will be “losers” for life. US society foments extreme hatred and contempt for the 80% “losers” (particularly the males) and it reminds us of that every single day.
Stupid people are less likely to figure out that it’s the ongoing incremental improvement capitalism makes possible that adds to quality of life, not the attainment of any particular level of wealth.
Capitalists that start up companies that provide good jobs for domestic workers deserve respect and merit admiration. Crapitalists that import cheap labor to undercut domestic workers and sell crap to deserve a noose.
As always, eugenics is ready and waiting to be employed. As always, the only reason not to turn to it is fear of its effect on the living (“So you think you’re better than me do you?” or “So you think your kids are better than mine do you?”)
July 7, 2009 at 9:47 am
[...] Robert Lindsay, Guy White and Ian Jobling spend lots of time talking about the subject. I still haven’t seen anyone get to the heart of the matter. The race realists have a litany of complaints about negroes: their lack of intelligence, higher level of violent crime, sordid culture, their barbarism in Africa, inability to create great civilizations, preferential treatment by the government, their poverty and backwardness, corruption, etc. [...]
July 7, 2009 at 11:46 am
So blacks score poorly on test because whites believe they are inherently inferior and blacks commit more violent crimes because of capitalism.
Physcobabble baloney!
Since you’re so wise and all knowing, why do affluent blacks commit more violent crimes than affluent whites? Why do affluent blacks commit more violent crimes than middle class whites? Why do blacks commit more violent crimes today than they did 80 years ago? Why do African blacks commit more violent crimes than European whites even ?
Given the FACT that Americans send significantly more of their education tax dollars to predominately black inner city public, where is this inequities you speak of? You wrote “This blog takes no position on what is causing the deficit” yet in the very same sentence you wrote “the gap is caused by racism.” Well I call that a clearly defined position don’t you moron!
In America, blacks commit 7-8 times as many violent crimes against whites as whites do against blacks yet whites are more often accused of racial hate crimes. I’m sure your twisted liberal logic will attempt to explain this as yet another example of racism!
How boring you liberals have become. If blacks can’t control themselves, blame the rich white guys and capitalism! Global Warming – which is a hoax – blame the rich white guys and capitalism! African blacks slaughtering other African blacks, blame the rich white guys and capitalism LVING ON ANOTHER CONTINENT!
It stated with AIDs. If someone dies and they test positive for HIV then blame their death on AIDs! No matter what the disease, chalk one up for AIDs and get more money. That scam worked so well, they took it a step further with Global Warming. No matter what “NATURAL” disaster occurs, blame it on Global Warming. Earth quake — must be Global Warming. Tiger Woods losses the U.S. Open — must be Global Warming. To think some people believe Madoff is the greatest fraudster! Follow the money folks, follow the money!
I did find some value in your Polynesian story though. Pacifist get slaughtered !
July 7, 2009 at 12:26 pm
What a waste of time discussing this. I knew a Negro with 125 IQ who flunked his second semester of college and sold drugs (“sit back and just chill!”). The higher IQ just makes for more effective criminals (ie, Capone). Testosterone and laziness are still the same as always.
July 7, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Excellent post, so I will share it:
http://martynemko.blogspot.com/2009/06/white-teacher-speaks-out-what-is-it.html
July 7, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Yes I read that. Good stuff man.
July 7, 2009 at 7:08 pm
Hi Robert, regarding your post about white culture I would like to stress a point by Mr. Jackson above (no, not that much above, I mean from the link above):
“Blacks break down the intimacy that can be achieved in the classroom, and leave you convinced that that intimacy is really a form of kinship. Without intending to, they destroy what is most beautiful—whether it be your belief in human equality, your daughter’s innocence, or even the state of the hallway.”
Sometimes things are better defined by their absence than by their presence. So it is with white culture. You cannot say what it is, but you know when it is absent.
July 8, 2009 at 6:46 pm
It’s possible that living in a more traditional society can require more delay of gratification and control over one’s emotions than living in an advanced capitalist society.
Does this seem reasonable? In these types of societies, the needs and demands of the group tend to predominate.
July 8, 2009 at 6:55 pm
I think that is correct. It goes along with my theory that supercultures might not work so well in an advanced capitalist society either. They are going to be hard to institute, for one thing.