I think it was the sociologist and politician Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who noted that Americans tend to behave more sanely the closer to Canada they live. Newt Gingrich thinks of himself as one but none of his books stand up on their own without his famous name.
I spent part of my weekend studying the 1939-1940 Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union.
Finland has traditionally been near the top of the heap for educational test scores. Why? What’s their secret? Lots of Finns.
Here’s a great story from Finland. The Prime Minister wouldn’t debate the ideas of his father on race.
Tatu Vanhanen (born April 17, 1929 in Vuoksenranta, Finland, now Ozyorskoye, Russia) is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Tampere in Tampere, Finland. Vanhanen is a co-author (with Richard Lynn) of IQ and the Wealth of Nations (2002) and IQ and Global Inequality (2006), and author of Ethnic Conflicts Explained by Ethnic Nepotism (1999) and many other works. His son, Matti Vanhanen, is a former Prime Minister of Finland.
Vanhanen developed interest in evolutionary biology after studying Edward O. Wilson’s sociobiology. Most of his academic works are about democratization which he has studied with international comparative methods.[1]
From 2002 to 2004, he was investigated for incitement of “racial hatred” by the Finnish National Bureau of Investigations.[2] An interview he had given with a magazine, in which he contended that whites and Asians were more intelligent than blacks for evolutionary reasons and should therefore be given many of the top political and financial positions in Africa, had apparently been the object of complaint by Finland’s “Ombudsman for Minorities”, Mikko Puumalainen, who said he feared the former professor’s remarks would boost racism. “Whereas the average IQ of Finns is 97, in Africa it is between 60 and 70. Differences in intelligence are the most significant factor in explaining poverty,” Vanhanen had said. Eventually, the police dropped the investigation.
His son, former Prime Minister of Finland Matti Vanhanen, told journalists he did not intend to engage in a public debate with his father.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is considering whether or not to launch a criminal investigation into comments made by Professor Emeritus Tatu Vanhanen in an interview with Kuukausiliite, a monthly magazine supplement of Helsingin Sanomat.
In the interview Professor Vanhanen, a former Professor of Political Science at the University of Tampere, said that evolution has made Europeans and North Americans more intelligent than Africans. Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said on Wednesday that he regrets the controversy sparked by Tatu Vanhanen, who is his father.Professor Vanhanen told Kuukausiliite that African poverty is not the fault of the white man.
“Whereas the average IQ of Finns is 97, in Africa it is between 60 and 70. Differences in intelligence are the most significant factor in explaining poverty”, Vanhanen said.
He also said that it might be a good thing if as many Europeans, Americans, and Asians as possible were to take on leading economic posts in African countries. “Only they are capable of creating prosperity”, he said.
On the other hand, Tatu Vanhanen said that he favours economic solidarity toward poor countries, and he hopes that immigrants in Finland would inter-marry and assimilate into the population at large.
Jari Liukku, deputy head of the NBI, says that the police are investigating whether or not Vanhanen’s comments constitute public incitement against a national group, which is a crime under Finnish law.Finland’s minority Ombudsman Mikko Puumalainen hopes that a police investigation will be launched. He says that although freedom of expression is a fundamental right in Finland, the right is not unlimited.
Puumalainen also dismissed the scientific validity of Vanhanen’s claims.
The Finnish League for Human Rights fears that Vanhanen’s interview could aggravate the racism experienced by immigrants and ethnic minorities in Finland.
“This interview could strengthen movements of the far right”, says Aysu Shakir, a project head at the league.
Shakir notes that after the publication of the interview, Internet chat rooms have filled up with comments by extreme right-wing groups and individuals who “swear by Vanhanen’s name”.Commenting on his father’s interview, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said that it case was “more a sad matter than a burden” for him.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, the Prime Minister said that the controversy would not have arisen if the person making the comments were not his father.
Asked if he felt a need to distance himself from the views that Tatu Vanhanen expressed, he said that he does not plan to engage in public debate with his father.
