Race is Fundamental
As I stated in an earlier post according to HBDers the notion of race is of vital importance to their world-view. Just in case you aren't clear on what the acronym HBD stands for it's Human Biodiversity. So race is fundamental in how they would develop their political system and culture. Some HBDers in the beginning tried to paint the HBD community as detached "scientists" that put out results and then let people decide on the right policy or cultural prescriptions. However, that faded quickly and one HBDer, Onestdv, sums up what the HBD community is composed of now.
"I've fully admitted that my disseminating knowledge of HBD is for political purposes. HBD is probably a misnomer, but it's caught on. What most people mean when they say HBD is really bioconservatism.
But we can't really go back and change the name. It's already entrenched. The fact that you believe anyone has even implied that "HBD" is an unbiased examination of scientific evidence shows you either don't read any of the blogs or you enjoy attributing statements to people that have never made them."
So what does the HBDer Onestdv mean by "bioconservatism," well he means...
"It would probably be more appropriate to deem the cohort of HBD blogs as "bioconservative" as many champion the notion that knowledge of racial differences will engender a conservative renaissance."
That still isn't really that clear, but the main notion is that they want to use biology to justify their version of conservatism. This is problematic for a couple reasons, but since it's not the main point of this post I'm not going to discuss it.
Statistics
Most HBDers love to throw out statistics and proclaim, imagine a whiny voice, "You leftists just don't understand statistics." Actually, no, that is not it. Instead it is the HBDers that are jumping the gun. Showing someone statistics of behavior really doesn't mean anything. What they are really trying to say is that these statistics are capturing the innate behavior and tendencies of people. That's really the questionable part. It's understandable though. Why? Because people have tendency to think that using mathematics tends to make their argument more "real."
It's almost like on some internet forums where you have people saying, "I'm using logic for my argument and you are using emotions." Of course, the implication is that the fact they are using logic makes their argument correct. What they really mean is that they are constructing an argument that is logically valid so it must be sound. Anyone who knows logic knows while validity is important it's only half of the equation.
Here's a perfectly valid argument using a hypothetical syllogism
If you are drunk, then you are flying.
If you are flying, then you are God.
Therefore, if you are drunk, then you are God.
lulz. While some drunk people might feel like God. No one who has any ounce of rationality would consider this a sound argument.
The Appeal to Secret Commonality
What's the appeal to secret commonality? It's this belief that a vast majority of people are secretly HBDers and the only reason they are not chatting about "the brutality of the negro" in coffee shops is because of liberalism and political correctness.
The first problem with this is that there is no data corroborating this. Or in other words, what's the justification for this? You could easily replace "the secret belief of HBD" with any other belief like people secretly want the Catholic Church to overthrown the United States government. Then proclaim, "But they are just denying it because it's too unPC!!"
The second problem is that let's suppose that there are some people that do have these HBD beliefs and don't know it. After all, some people will legitimately have positions that are consistent, or seem consistent, with a belief in X but deny it. Or in other words, a case of cognitive dissonance. So when this contradiction is exposed there are really only two options the first is to reject the belief in X or acknowledge X. Of course, the inevitable response from the HBDer when the person says, "Whoa, I didn't realize it, but I reject those beliefs.", will be, "But they are just denying it because it's too unPC!!"
So as you can see according to the HBDer there is no way that anyone cannot believe in HBD. I would also like to add that some HBDers also paint this secret belief as some kind of folk knowledge. Of course, the funny thing about this is that historically folk knowledge has an abysmal record. Does anyone still believe in folk physics? No.
I don't know why HBDers use the appeal to secret commonality. I think it's less of a position they find to be true and more of a psychological pick me up.
