Emails have a carbon footprint.
To find out more I need to make sure I'm listening at the same time again this week. Unlikely.
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Traditional IQ tests were designed by white middle class males and give a result biased towards those of similar background.
When I heard that on the radio my first reaction was to pooh-pooh it because any tests I've ever done were based on logic and working things out and I didn't see how your colour or upbringing could affect that. The programme went on to explain.
They used this question: If you saw a wallet lying on a shop floor what would you do with it? The 'correct' answer was 'give it to the shopkeeper', but as one man explained, when he was growing up his mother had drilled into him not to pick up or touch anything. 'They will think you are stealing it,' she said.
The programme went on to talk about how Hitler had used IQ tests in his extermination policy, and how they have been used in job recruitment.
There are so many things I take for granted without considering how it may be for someone else.
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The development of the alphabet was bad for women.
Later
I had to stop to go and eat my dinner last night and now I can't recall properly what was said but I will try. Sandi Toksvig, may her name be revered, proffered the idea that the development of an alphabet and the written word led to the subjugation of women. Admittedly there were lots of other factors as well but she claimed it had an impact. For example in the alphabet letters are arranged in a linear and something else way which suits the male brain rather than the female.
I need to look into this more but I'll just throw this out here for now.
Postscript
I wrote most of this post yesterday but didn't finish it until today.
4 comments:
I don't know if the alphabet assisted in the subjugation of women but it certainly led to a loss of social prestige for old people. In an oral tradition where nothing is written down, old people become the repositories of collective wisdom and are consulted and revered as a result. In a written culture, books assume that role, usurping old people.
That's also true, Debra. Books have a lot to answer for! The explanation Ms Toksvig gave included reference to the days before the written word when goddesses ruled supreme. As it was only men who learned to read - in itself a downer for women - macho gods tended to take centre stage.
That can't be the reason, surely, otherwise we'd all worship the plumber or the electrician?
The plumber,
who came up with the pterodactyl pronunciation tip :
the P is silent, as in bath ;-)
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