Human Biodiversity Institute
The Human Biodiversity Institute also known by its acronym HBI is a private
Origins
The Human Biodiversity Institute was founded by
Themes
The framing of "human biodiversity" discourse is meant to confer upon the movement scientific authority, and present it as empirical and rational.
The "human biodiversity" movement refers to a set of ideas about scientific racism that formed in the 1990's.[10][11][12] Sailer developed a concept of "ethnic nepotism", favoring members of one's own group.[13] Sailer took this as a biological imperative that necessitates, "ethnocentrism, clannishness, xenophobia, nationalism, and racism," when applied to the scale of an entire society for "ethnic nepotism".[13]
The Southern Poverty Law Center has also associated the Human Biodiversity Institute with
Influence
Between 2007 and 2014, terminology used by Stormfront for scientific racism changed from "racialism" and "race realism", to "human biodiversity" (HBD).[17]
The Southern Poverty Law Center has associated "human biodiversity" with the alt-right and white nationalism.
"Human biodiversity" was one of the main publishing subjects of Washington Summit Publishers, a white nationalist publishing company run by Richard B. Spencer.[22] Quillette has also published work supporting "human biodiversity", leading to accusations of pseudoscience and eugenics.[23][2] Contributors who have written about HBD for Quillette include Ben Winegard, Bo Winegard, Brian Boutwell, and John Paul Wright.[2]
"Human biodiversity" has been promoted by Milo Yiannopoulos.[8][24] It has also been promoted by Stefan Molyneux.[1] HBD influenced Stephen Miller, political advisor to Donald Trump.[9] It also influenced Dominic Cummings, political advisor to Boris Johnson.[9]
Membership
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the members of the Human Biodiversity Institute consisted mainly of journalists, academics, and scientists who discussed "differences in
In 2003, known members of Human Biodiversity Institute included J. Philippe Rushton, Charles Murray, Kevin MacDonald, Gregory Cochran, J. Michael Bailey, and Ray Blanchard.[4] The HBI also included several journalists who worked to popularize the theories and books of HBI members.[4]
Steven Pinker was an early member of the Human Biodiversity Discussion Group.[25] Pinker also published work by Steve Sailer in 2004, and quoted Sailer on his website.[28] In 2009, Malcolm Gladwell brought attention to Pinker's ties to Steve Sailer, and Sailer's views on race and intelligence, after Pinker cited Sailer.[28][29] According to a 2021 study on white nationalism by Panofsky et al., political centrists such as Steven Pinker have played a role in legitimizing the ideas of the human biodiversity movement.[9]
The electronic mailing list eventually went defunct, and discourse moved on to right-wing blogs, in which members started writing about subjects such as race, genetics, and intelligence.[25]
Views
Human races
"Human biodiversity" (HBD) discourse presumes that different human races have inherently different physical and mental capabilities.[24] Charles Murray, a member of the Human Biodiversity Institute, was a writer of the 1994 book, The Bell Curve, which argued that African Americans were less intelligent than white Americans.[25] The book argued that innate biological differences made racial equity impossible. They instead advocated for different roles for each race in society.[25] Steve Sailer advocated for similar ideas, espousing different strengths for different races and ethnic groups, and advocating against affirmative action.[25] Marantz describes how this idea combines with ideas about white supremacy:[24]
"HBD" stood for human biodiversity—a phrase that had gone viral within the alt-right blogosphere, largely owing to Sailer's repeated use of it. Human biodiversity: the hypothesis that people are different, that they differ in predictable ways, and that some groups of people—some races, for example—have drawn stronger cards in the genetic lottery. On Sailer's blog, most discussions of human biodiversity ended up returning to one specific, enduring idea: that white people are inherently smarter than black people.
Advocates of HBD may attempt to portray their views of scientific racism as being completely objective.[1] They may then express sadness about the "reality" of differences in racial intelligence, and the implications of those differences:[1]
One common trait amongst HBD acolytes within the alt-right is a sometimes genuine, though feigned, reluctance to accept the "truth" of racial intelligence difference based on genes. Many couch their advocacy for HBD in a faux-sadness and argue that, thought they wish it were not true, the evidence was just too overwhelming. The genuineness of this varies between individuals but often their wider politics and previous statements indicate a predisposition to agreeing with racist pseudoscience.
Homosexuality
In an August 2003 article, the founder of the Human Biodiversity Institute, Steve Sailer, characterized
Bailey has insisted that, in this paper, he and Greenberg simply argued one thing: that parental rights could reasonably be understood to include genetic selection against—or for—a theoretic "
gay gene" in the same way that parental rights are reasonably understood to include the right to raise children in parents' religions.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Steve Sailer has portrayed homosexuality as something that might possibly be "cured", following Gregory Cochran's theories, and has also expressed a lack of concern about the ethics or morality of whether people would "cure" homosexuality.[7]
Transgender people
The Southern Poverty Law Center has noted that many of the early supporters of J. Michael Bailey's book,
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Blanchard's autogynephilia theory has since been promoted by
According to a 2020 study reflecting on articles from Bailey and Blanchard, "Bailey and Blanchard's work has long been criticised for perpetuating stereotypes and prejudices against trans women, notably suggesting that LGBQ trans women's primary motivation for transitioning is sexual arousal."[34] The study refers to Blanchard's theory of autogynephilia as a discredited theory.[34]
Wikipedia
In a review of far-right editing on Wikipedia, the Southern Poverty Law Center highlighted "human biodiversity" (HBD) as one set of views that may be promoted by far-right editors:[35]
Users who fall into [civil POV-pushers] include racialist academics and members of the human biodiversity, or HBD, blogging community. Often these are single-purpose accounts that exclusively edit on topics like race and intelligence, racial classification and bios of related researchers, like Linda Gottfredson or Helmuth Nyborg.
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0429032486.
- ^ ISBN 978-1003105176.
- ISBN 978-1-60021-873-6– via Google Books.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Beirich, Heidi; Moser, Bob (31 December 2003). "Northwestern University Psychology Professor J. Michael Bailey Looks into Queer Science". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ^ "Steve Sailer". iSteve.com. Archived from the original on 2005-03-12. Retrieved 15 October 2022. "I'm [...] the founder of the Human Biodiversity Institute, which runs the invitation-only Human Biodiversity discussion group for top scientists and public intellectuals."
- ^ Phillips, Jon (28 May 2014). "Troublesome Sources: Nicholas Wade's Embrace of Scientific Racism". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
- ^ a b Hatewatch Staff (4 June 2018). "In letter to Amazon, Alliance Defending Freedom cited white nationalist writer who once promoted 'gay germ' theory". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
- ^ a b c Feldman, Ari (5 August 2016). "Human Biodiversity: The Pseudoscientific Racism of the Alt-Right". Forward. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
- ^ S2CID 222163480.
- ISBN 978-0231185134.
- ^ Evans, Gavin (2 March 2018). "The unwelcome revival of 'race science'". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ^ Hemmer, Nicole (28 March 2017). "'Scientific racism' is on the rise on the right. But it's been lurking there for years". Vox. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ^ ISBN 978-1452945699.
- ^ Holthouse, David (25 August 2008). "Extremist Steve Sailer is Source for CNN's 'Black in America' Series". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
- ^ a b Hayes, Richard (Spring 2001). "The Quiet Campaign for Genetically Engineered Humans". Earth Island Journal. 16 (1). Retrieved 16 October 2022.
- ^ Steve Sailer (16 December 1999). "Human Biodiversity: Home". Archived from the original on 17 August 2000. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
- ISBN 978-1635578638.
- ^ "Alt-right". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
- ^ "White Nationalist". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
- ^ "Alt Right: A Primer on the New White Supremacy". Anti-Defamation League. 10 February 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
- ^ MacDougal, Park; Willick, Jason (30 April 2017). "The Man Who Invented Identity Politics for the New Right". New York Magazine. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
- ISBN 978-3837646702.
- ^ Jones, Sarah (2 January 2020). "Will the 2020s Be the Decade of Eugenics?". New York Magazine. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
- ^ ISBN 978-0525522287.
- ^ ISBN 978-0807076910.
- ^ PMID 18431641.
- ^ Steve Sailer (20 August 1999). "Roster of Human Biodiversity Discussion Group Members". Archived from the original on 6 January 2003. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
- ^ a b Blasdel, Alex (28 September 2021). "Pinker's Progress: The Celebrity Scientist at the Centre of the Culture Wars". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ Gladwell, Malcolm (29 November 2009). "Let's Go to the Tape". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ISBN 978-0816635580.
- ^ Sailer, Steve (March 2003). "iSteve.com Exclusives Archive: March 2003". iSteve.com. Archived from the original on 16 April 2003. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
- ^ a b Hatewatch Staff (7 April 2016). "Anti-LGBT Hate Group Releases Anti-Trans Position Statement". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
- ^ a b c Hatewatch Staff (15 May 2018). "10 things you need to know about Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
- ^ S2CID 221097476.
- ^ Ward, Justin (12 March 2018). "Wikipedia wars: inside the fight against far-right editors, vandals and sock puppets". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 21 February 2023.