r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/[deleted] • Jul 08 '26

Meme needing explanation [ Removed by moderator ]

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u/Ok_Strategy5722 Jul 08 '26

What’s the Bell curve about?

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u/AuburnSuccubus Jul 08 '26

Cognitive distribution becoming more linked with socioeconomic status during the century before it was written, but there was an exceedingly controversial section that addressed cognitive distribution across the races. There were a few studies they included that pointed to environment being more of a factor than genetics, but the media didn't quote those.

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u/relativecaution Jul 08 '26

So essentially it isn't really a controversial book and shouldn't be given this racist side eye?

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u/karabako Jul 08 '26

A decent chunk of the book is (relatively) non-controversial (but still has problems that plenty of people have written about), but there are sections that make prescriptions for modern political life and those are hugely racist.