One weird thing about the emergent enthusiasm for IQ researcher James Flynn is how many of his new acolytes, including Campus Progress' own Kay Steiger, pick and chose among his thoughts about intelligence and environment, largely ignoring -- intentionally or unintentionally -- his more controversial ideas.  I refer specifically to Flynn's rather harsh criticism of American black culture.

Flynn, in a debate at the Manhattan Institue against Charles Murray, author of the Bell Curve, prefaced his remarks by saying, "It's very difficult to give an environmental explanation…without discussing the black environment…you have to say that there are things about black subculture that mean that blacks do not have the same encouragement to develop cognity as white children are. How else are you to make an environmental case?” Flynn also crticizes the parenting methods of black professionals, the use of ebonics, hip hop culture, and high levels of single motherhood and criminality in the black community.  

To provide a reference point, he sounds a lot like Bill Cosby or John McWhorter, people who attribute poor life outcomes for American blacks largely to black culture and behavior, not just discrimination and systemic racism.  His cricitisms of black culture would put him on the conservative end of debates about race, despite his public sparring with Charles Murray and his self-description as a "Democratic Socialist."  So, I wonder, does Kay agree with Flynn's criticisms of black culture and how certain cultural pathologies can negatiely impact intelligence and cognitive development?