The Missing Myths

What myths does *Progressive Myths* miss?

Michael Huemer’s Progressive Myths is the best book on wokeness. One of its many strengths is its focus on basic facts. As the author explains:

I have selected beliefs that can be debunked fairly quickly and forcefully. Many other progressive beliefs require long argumentation and subjective judgment calls to assess. About these more difficult issues, I have nothing to say directly here, apart from the suggestion that if progressive sources are bad at reporting simple matters of fact, then maybe the odds of their getting much more difficult matters right are none too encouraging…

The myths I address herein are about relatively circumscribed, objective points of fact. I do not address such big-picture issues as “Can socialism really work?” or “Is wealth inequality unjust?” Those sorts of questions would take much longer to address, and it is difficult to answer them decisively. Instead, I address simpler questions such as, “Do women really earn 30% less than men do for the same work?”, because there we are much more likely to make actual progress.

Reviewing the book’s full Table of Contents shows that Huemer means business:

Introduction

PART I: MYTHS ABOUT INDIVIDUALS

1 Trayvon Martin

2 Michael Brown

3 Amy Cooper

4 Jacob Blake

5 Kyle Rittenhouse

6 Three Non-Myths

PART II: RACIAL MYTHS

7 Racist Police Shootings

8 Implicit Bias

9 Stereotype Threat

10 Racist Drug Laws

PART III: FEMINIST MYTHS

11 The Gender Pay Gap

12 Campus Rape Culture

13 Women Don’t Lie

PART IV: GENDER MYTHS

14 What Is Gender?

15 Transgenderism

PART V: ECONOMIC MYTHS

16 Generational Wealth

17 The Tax Burden

18 Regulation

PART VI: SCIENCE MYTHS

19 The Global Warming Consensus

20 Existential Climate Risk

21 Mask Science

PART VII: ANALYSIS

22 The Roots of Wokism

23 How Myths Thrive

24 The Dangers of Progressive Myths

25 Avoiding Myths

Call me greedy, but there are several additional major progressive myths, all matters of “relatively circumscribed, objective points of fact,” that I wish Huemer had addressed. Starting with:

1. “Discrimination is the main cause of racial pay gaps.” Like the gender pay gap, there is actually overwhelming evidence for the common-sense view that racial pay gaps stem largely from differences in worker productivity rather than unfairness.

2. “There’s no such thing as intelligence, and even if there is, IQ tests are a bad way to measure intelligence.” Some people really are smarter than others, and IQ scores are the greatest triumph of psychometrics.

3. “Race is a social construct.” If this is true, why do socially identified race and DNA-identified race match so closely?

When I interview Huemer about his new book next month, I plan to ask him about these three missing myths. Question for readers: What are the missing progressive myths you’d like to hear Huemer address in the interview?

Please share in the comments — and please restrict your requests to matters of “relatively circumscribed, objective points of fact.”