Leftwingers who fervently oppose this kind of research seem to agree on one thing with neonazis: if we find such genetic differences, well, that would make racism fine.
I wouldn’t say they actually agree on that point. It’s probably more that they think others will be more easily persuaded to support discriminatory policies if genetic differences are real. Opposing this research is soldier mindset.
I think that’s basically correct. Or maybe put another way: they act as if finding such genetic differences would plausibly legitimize racial discrimination.
That may not be nuts. Suppose there is real racial discrimination (not a big ask). Then if we discover substantively large differences between ethnic groups, it might be easier to “get away with” racial discrimination because someone can just claim “oh well, ethnic groups are different and that’s why we see different outcomes”. Similarly, non-deliberate (e.g. unconscious or “structural”) discrimination might be harder to spot, if everyone just assumes that different outcomes between groups are the result of different genetics.
I wouldn’t say they actually agree on that point. It’s probably more that they think others will be more easily persuaded to support discriminatory policies if genetic differences are real. Opposing this research is soldier mindset.
I think that’s basically correct. Or maybe put another way: they act as if finding such genetic differences would plausibly legitimize racial discrimination.
That may not be nuts. Suppose there is real racial discrimination (not a big ask). Then if we discover substantively large differences between ethnic groups, it might be easier to “get away with” racial discrimination because someone can just claim “oh well, ethnic groups are different and that’s why we see different outcomes”. Similarly, non-deliberate (e.g. unconscious or “structural”) discrimination might be harder to spot, if everyone just assumes that different outcomes between groups are the result of different genetics.