The fraction of a second is the difference between the gold medal and fourth place. And the stereotype, suggests Entine, is probably the single most important reason people have problems debating the issue. Unfortunately, the taboo that prevents discussion has the boomerang effect, of making racist myths seem legitimate, if socially abhorrent. That feeds racism - the very point made by the reviewer from Hill's own newspaper, the Seattle Times. With remarkable discoveries from the Human Genome Project coming out every day, the question is no longer whether such inquiries will continue but to what end.
Human beings are mostly the same but wonderfully different.
Science is not an assertion of inalterable facts but a method of interrogating reality. The challenge is in whether we can conduct the debate so that human diversity might be cause for celebration of our individuality rather than serving as fodder for demagogues.