Too Clever by Half

Michael Chabon writes:
Now, with the memory of the Mavi Marmara fresh in our minds, is the time for Jews to confront, at long last, the eternal truth of our stupidity as a people, which I will stack, blunder for blunder, against that of any other nation now or at any time living on this planet of folly, in this world of Chelm.

Here's a representative take from the "race realist" community:
This claim has never sounded terribly reasonable to me, but it's been said that this is the real reason that liberals won't touch HBD: the fear that people will find out that Jews really are more intelligent. Despite Chabon's literary, unscientific protests, it seems pretty clear that at least the Ashkenazi branch is. If they aren't more intelligent, as Chabon insists, we've got a pretty good case of disparate impact here, with all the ingredients for a class-action suit. So Chabon wants to have it both ways: Jews are no smarter than everyone else, and please ignore all the evidence of Jewish success.


H.G. Wells writes, "They are a very clever people, the Jews, but not clever enough to suppress their cleverness." Peter Doherty sings, "I'm so clever, but clever ain't wise." I think Chabon's point is (or at least should be) that Jews are on average no wiser than any other people. I showed my dad the Chabon article, and his comment was something like, "Yep, there are plenty of Jewish taxi drivers in New York." Taxi drivers can be wise! Lawyers can be foolish!

Michael Chabon's purpose is the same as God's wrath in the Bible: to prevent us from getting a big head. I consider myself a clever fuck but that doesn't mean I'm wise. No less an authority than Socrates says that the wisest man is the man who knows he does not know. Jews, like all moderns, suffer from a Promethean lack of humility. We can read reports of how high our IQs are, pat ourselves on the back, and go on not thinking. Or we can humble ourselves, if not before God, than before our ancestors and better selves.

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