When The Bell Curve came out, its authors did the talk show circuit promoting the book. I remember being struck by how obtuse Charles Murray seemed to be, at least by the standards of a supposed intellectual. He seemed genuinely confused as to why his book was controversial. Some of the things he said in defense of the book were just ridiculous. At one point, IIRC, he said that his book didn't say anything racist, they were just trying to make the point that white people were intellectually superior to black people. I remember hearing that and thinking, isn't that the very definition of racism?

Seems to me that there are plenty of other things to study. Why bother with such an uncertain and hurtful subject?

To each his own, I guess.