Remember that book "The Bell Curve"?

Question

It came out many years ago and caused a big stir. It was about 900 pages long and essentially claimed that people can be ranked in order of intelligence by race. The authors claimed that overall, in terms of "smarts" folks could be ranked : #1 Asian #2 white #3 black.
Let me say at the outset I think their theory was ridiculous.
But something I noticed - in all the zillions of angry rebuttals, reviews, interviews, etc., not ONE I read even mentioned the main claim of the book - that Asians are naturally smarter than all others. Not a single person mentioned it or complained. The vast majority felt the book/theory was anti-black. Nothing was said about the claim of Asian superiority.
Isn't it just as bad (and racist) to claim that Asians are smarter as it is to claim that blacks are not as smart? Or is it because some people think it's ok to accept a stereotype that is positive? Seems to me a racist sterotype/theory is bad no matter who it's aimed at.
Any takers?

Answer 1

I agree. It's seems there's a double standard when it comes to stereotyping. As long as it's a positive racial stereotype, it's seems it's acceptable. Good luck. 2D