Exactly

Professor Alterman yesterday on what was discussed at his blog and Atrios for another, in the wake of Sullivan's boasting about his advocacy for the "Bell Curve" while running the New Republic into the ground.

You know, I think it turns out to have been useful to re-visit The Bell Curve just as this catastrophe was unfolding. Murray’s pseudoscientific racism—still championed to this day by the likes of Little Roy – are what gave America permission to write off the kind of people forgotten in this flood as too poor, stupid or morally compromised to be of concern in the first place.

I think that is a great point...and also, unfortunately one that will likely be spun to supporting more racism.

I have seen innumerable outright racist posts about African-Americans on the internet the last week that make me want to vomit almost as much as the subtle racism of places like FoxNews and columnists like Peggy Noonan who overplay the "looting" and lay it all off on relating being black to being close to being a lawless savage. Murray's shitty application of science to support his bigoted views are, at their heart, as disgusting as the claims of William Shockley and moronic eugenicists of the past.

Nothing could be further from the truth and nothing could be more constantly drummed into us from innumerable sources.

This nation (and the world) still has a hell of a way to go on the subject of racial justice and equality, let alone economic justice. Usually such thoughts are swept under the carpet, but it has all been laid bare the last 10 days.