The Ugly Truth

The other day, I had the unfortunate experience of recognizing my own naivete, regarding how many humans actually want to be humane.
As I was sorting some old papers and articles, I came about an old book review of the "Bell Curve". Race controversy aside, the book seems to statistically explain a common phenomena I observed working with poor and disadvantaged social groups, usually white. It kinds of hits you in the face that the ability to rise up and achieve in society is very often determined by genetic intelligence. Simply put, the smarter your parents were, the more likely you'll make good decisions and be somewhat successful..
Now then, it seemed really obvious to me (and to folks like Warren Buffet) that this genetic tendency towards success or failure naturally shows a good reason to help the unfortunate with more social programs, right? Wrong.
As I read further in the book review, they stated that conservative think tanks embraced the "Bell Curve" findings from a public policy perspective, as it justified eliminating food stamps, medicaid, housing assistance, etc. Say what? I had to re-read this part. As I continued, the article clarified: since these impoverished social groups with lower intelligence will always be poor and never achieve middle class lifestyles, there was no point to subsidize their offspring and encourage breeding.
The only thing they left out, was the logical conclusion of this argument-- that the poor and stupid should just die.
I could not believe this ugly truth.. The same argument I had been using for years to justify social programs - they were using as an argument against ! I always thought Ayn Rand was something of a cruel anomaly with her rants about the "dullards" needing to die, but now I see she is not alone. What a cruel, cruel world we live in.