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by jivardo_nucci 3973 days ago
1. Concerning your first argument (consequences of birth):

Since the results of the process (birth and rearing) cannot, in a free society, be taken away from an individual and used to benefit others, then what might you propose as a socially acceptable solution? Perhaps a "white man's tax" to be paid by all men/women lucky enough to be born white? Or, to generalize, a "race tax" to be paid by all based on the current social or economic status of each race in the society? Perhaps a tax to be paid by anyone lucky enough to gain entrance to an Ivy League school (or Stanford) and so forth.

2. Concerning your second argument (success due to others):

This argument was presented by Obama in his "...you didn't build that..." speech of July 13, 2012: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_didn't_build_that

3. However, in summary, both arguments, although well taken and each worthy of discussion in it's own right, are clearly not the same as the findings that Bouchard & Mezard et al present.

Furthermore it is important to distinguish them from Bouchard & Mezard's. Merging these arguments together with Bouchard & Mezard's in public discussion would erroneously conflate all these arguments and weaken the impact of Bouchard & Mezard's findings.