cists relate violence to alcohol and/orrndrug abuse, perhaps implying that it isrnless heritable.rnIn an article in the October 1996 issuernof Aggressive Behavior, I demonstratedrnthat testosterone is related to aggressivernbehavior in both men and women. Wernobtained testosterone samples from thernsaliva of 300 college men and womenrnand asked them to complete questionnairesrnregarding their aggression and nurturancernin different situations. Men hadrnfive times more testosterone than didrnwomen and reported themselves as morernaggressive and less nurturant than didrnwomen. Both men and women withrnhigh testosterone felt more anger and aggressionrnthan their counterparts. Similarlv,rnmen and women with low testosteronernfelt more nurturance than theirrncounterparts.rnThese new findings on the biologv ofrncrime have implications for racial ‘ariationrnin criminal behavior, given thatrnblacks (on average) have more testosteronernthan whites, who have more thanrnAsians. Although it is well documentedrnthat blacks m the United States commitrnmore crimes of violence than do whitesrnor Asians, it is seldom realized just howrnstrong the race-crime relation is. GlaydernWhitnev, a president of the BehaviorrnGenetics Association, published a paperrnin the 1995 issue of Mankind Quarterlyrnshowing a verv high correlation (r =rn0.77) between the percentage of blacksrnin a state and the state’s homicide rate.rnIt is seldom officially noted that Orientalsrnare underrepresented in Americanrncrime statistics relative to whites andrnhave been ever since record keeping began.rnEven less often noted is that this samernthree-way racial gradient in crime foundrnin the United States is also found aroundrnthe world. As I show in ni’ book Race,rnEvolution, and Behavior (1995), Africanrnand Caribbean countries have twice thernrate of violent crime (murder, rape, andrnserious assault) as do European countries,rnwhich in turn have twice the rate ofrnviolent crime as do Pacific Rim countries.rn—/. Philippe RushtonrnProfessor of PsychologyrnLhiiversity of Western OntariornLondon, OntariornCULTURAL REVOLUTIONSrnT H E C O N F E D E R A T E battle Bag isrnin the news again—specifically the onernthat has flown from the state capitolrndome in Columbia, South Carolina, byrnlegislative resolution, every day sincern1962. A combination of leaders of civilrnrights organizations, out-of-state-ownedrnmass media, and big business powers hasrnbeen trying to get the flag down for years.rnEvery such effort has been voted down,rneven with Democratic majorities, andrnevery poll shows quite overwhelmingrnsupport for the status quo. (The flagrnflies below the Stars and Stripes of thernEmpire headquartered in Washingtonrnand the traditional Palmetto banner ofrnSouth Carolina. Strangely, the federalrndistrict judges, who usually settle thesernmatters, have kept out.)rnKeeping the flag up was something ofrnan issue in the last statewide elections,rnwhere every Republican candidaternpromised, repeatedly, to lea’e the bannerrnof Southern identity and heritage exactk’rnwhere it has been. (The partv ofrnLincoln, by a strange twist of fate, is nowrnmore or less the conservative party in thernSouth.) The Republicans won all thernstatewide offices and both houses of thernlegislature—for the first time since thernlast bluecoats left in 1877.rnSuddenly, the flag issue, which seeminglyrnhad been put to rest, has been revivedrnby the new Republican governor.rnone David Beasley, who has proposedrnthat “it is time to bring the flag down.”rnBy wav’ of compromise, he suggests flyingrnConfederate banners at the two Confederaternmonuments on the capitolrngrounds, though this “compromise” hasrnalready been rejected bv black legislators.rnIn so doing, the governor, a formerrnDemocrat and self-described born-againrnChristian, has rex’ersed the stand he tookrnrepeatedly in his campaign. Accordingrnto his explanation, he was led to his newrnposition by prayer (whether to thernAlmighty or to His earthly deputy RalphrnReed, whose Christian Coalition possiblyrngave Beasley his small margin of victory,rnis not clear). The less trusting suspectrnthe advice of political consultantsrnwho think the voung governor can positionrnhimself as a national figure, a foolishrnhope. But it is pressing for him to try tornrecapture some political momentumrnsince there is widespread suspicion of administrativernincompetence and chicanery.rnMoreover, this darling of thernChristian Coalition is vvidelv believed tornhave Clintoncsque personal habits, andrnhe has a father-in-law who operates anrnabortion mill in Alabama.rnIn many wa’s, battles o’er symbols arernthe most important political battles ofrnall. The continuing effort to denigraternand suppress the protean smbol of thernbloody St. Andrew’s cross of the Confederacy,rnknown universally as the chief representativernsymbol of the AmericanrnSouth, reveals much about the forces atrnconflict in present American society.rnBeaslev has enlisted all the formerrngovernors of both parties and the twornUnited States senators behind his proposals,rnindicating careful advance orchestration.rn(None of them had proposedrnbringing the flag down when theyrnwere in a position to!) Whenever all therntop old pols of both parties gather roundrnto push something, it is positive proofrnthat a fast one is being put over on thernpeople. (Remember all the senile ex-rnPresidents who were herded together tornsupport the NAFTA swindle?)rnOpponents of the flag claim it is arnsymbol of slavery, segregation, whiternsupremacy, and defiance of the federalrngovernment. It might just as well be arguedrnthat its raising had to do with thernCivil War bicentennial. In fact, a symbolrnas large as the Confederate flag has manyrnmeanings, the most important beingrnsimply an expression of traditionalrnSouthern pride and distinctiveness.rnThat is what it primarily means to thernlarge majority of working- and middleclassrncitizens of South Carolina who feelrnthat their own values will be betrayed atrnthe behest of special interests, oncernagain, if the governor has his wa). Andrnthey believe, rightly, that the anti-flagrnMARCH 1997/5rnrnrn
January 1975April 21, 2022By The Archive
Leave a Reply