Michael Huemer’s Progressive Myths is a powerful critique of contemporary progressive dogmas that eviscerates popular cliches with clinical precision. The University of Colorado philosophy professor probes a variety of explosive topics—ranging from racial and gender disparities to environmental and economic concerns—aiming to expose exaggerations and misrepresentations often-perpetuated by progressive narratives.
Progressive Racial Myths
Huemer begins by dissecting myths surrounding race, particularly in the domain of police violence and systemic racism. A prominent thread in progressive discourse is that American police disproportionately kill unarmed black individuals due to systemic racism. However, his interrogation of recent data on police shootings reveals that in 2018, 54 unarmed white people were killed compared to 36 unarmed black individuals. Moreover, conveniently omitted from debates on police misconduct, is that black Americans are overrepresented as dangerous criminals and constitute 43 percent of cop-killers. Huemer finds it odd that progressives can appreciate that most victims of police violence are men because their heightened exposure to violence increases the probability of them having negative interactions with the police. Yet, using this logic to understand why black offenders are shot at higher rates, is a struggle. Admitting that the negative picture of blacks painted by statistics stems from their conduct offends elite sensibilities, however, concocting strange theories to indict the American legal system for racism will not help blacks nor will it protect the victims of crime who are disproportionately black Americans.
Unrelenting in his approach to dismantling myths, he undercuts the credibility of implicit bias, another edifice of progressive propaganda. Citing 2016 research by Carlson and Agerström, Huemer highlights that the widely promoted Implicit Association Test (IAT) does not reliably predict discriminatory behavior. Evidently, priming subjects with images of admirable black people and villainous white people shapes how people perceive race on racial IATs. However, drawing on a meta-analysis by Forscher et al 2019, he notes that there is no evidence suggesting that modifying the Implicit Association Tests translates into behavioral change. These findings undermine the progressive argument that implicit bias is a primary driver of systemic inequality. Heumer concludes that although implicit bias is not a legitimate construct, the concept persists because it is essential to the project of academics who consider themselves crusaders for social justice.
Unwavering in his assault on progressive fables, Heumer debunks stereotype threat with clarity. This is the idea that individuals underperform due to awareness of negative stereotypes about their group. Stereotype threat is perceived as gospel in progressive circles, despite the failure of multiple replication studies to reproduce the original findings. According to an analysis by Russell Warne, only one of four replication attempts marginally succeeded. Even more shocking is the observation that when subjects are tested in real-world scenarios the stereotype effect fades, thus indicating that it could be an indication of measurement errors. Invariably, the stereotype test is a sophisticated excuse for the underperformance of some minority groups, but unfortunately it lacks analytical value.
Unafraid of refuting incorrect narratives, Huemer challenges the toxic notion that drug laws are inherently racist. Critics often cite the harsh penalties for crack cocaine use compared to powder cocaine as evidence of racial bias. However, Huemer points out that the sentencing disparity before 2010 reforms was far less extreme than claimed. Crack offenders received an average of 9.6 years in prison compared to 7.3 years for powder cocaine users, a ratio of 1.3:1—not the exaggerated 100:1 ratio often cited. Moreover, harsher penalties for crack were implemented due to its association with more violent crimes, rather than racial motivations and the clamp down on drugs was overwhelmingly supported by Democrats and black politicians who thought they were debilitating black communities.
Progressive Feminist Myths
Steadfast to defending truth, the book also combats feminist myths relating to gender, particularly the wage gap and sexual assault statistics. A prevalent theme in feminist literature is that women earn significantly less than men due to systemic sexism. Huemer counters this by noting that men, on average, earn more because they are more likely to work in dangerous, high-stress, and competitive jobs. When comparing childless, college-educated men and women, the evidence reveals that women earn approximately 18 percent more than their male counterparts. Moreover, contrary to feminist rantings that women are penalized by society, Heumer shows that—rather than penalising females—society rewards them by sponsoring initiatives to advance women in business. For example, the US Small Business Administration has an office to provide a wide range of support for female entrepreneurs, but there is not a comparable office serving men.
On the topic of sexual violence, Huemer discredits the ubiquitous claim that 25 percent of women are sexually assaulted during college. Instead, he argues that the true figure is between 1 percent and 5 percent, based on more rigorous data. Additionally, he addresses the contentious issue of false rape allegations, referencing a study by Eugene Kanin, in which 45 out of 109 rape allegations in a small city were found to be false. While this does not diminish the severity of actual sexual assaults, it punctures the progressive doctrine that false accusations are exceedingly rare.
Progressive Wealth Myths
Another critical topic Huemer tackles is the myth of generational wealth perpetuating inequality. Contrary to popular belief, most US millionaires—79 percent—received no inheritance. This statistic refutes the progressive narrative that wealth inequality is ineluctably a result of inherited privilege. Instead, it underscores the role of individual initiative, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship in wealth accumulation. With equal force, Heumer invalidates the thesis of America being an immobile society. Using tax data from 2015, he explains that America remains a mobile society where those at the bottom are most likely to experience income mobility.
Progressive Pseudo-Scientific Myths
Interestingly, Huemer’s critique also encompasses scientific assertions, especially those pertaining to public health and climate change. On the topic of mask efficacy, Huemer quotes studies indicating that cloth masks are not only ineffective but may also increase the risk of disease. For instance, one study found that wearing cloth masks resulted in a nearly sevenfold increase in influenza-like illness compared to wearing no mask. This evidence overturns the progressive insistence on mask mandates as a universally-effective measure.
Climate change—another bedrock of progressive ideology—is addressed with nuance. Huemer affirms the fact of global warming, but critiques alarmist narratives that predict imminent societal collapse. Rather than reinforcing alarmist sentiments, Heumer contends that mainstream scientists such as Adam Schlosser and Michael Mann concur that the probability of climate change leading to human extinction is low. By emphasizing the distinction between reasonable concern and outlandish rhetoric, Huemer advocates for evidence-based policymaking to minimize the harms of climate alarmism.
A hallmark of Progressive Myths is Huemer’s clear writing. He selects topics that can be evaluated through clear, objective evidence, avoiding abstract philosophical debates. Although complicated topics are explored in the text, Heumer distills them in a simple manner for a lay audience. This approach enhances the book’s accessibility and persuasiveness, allowing readers to focus on tangible facts rather than ideological speculation.
Huemer also interrogates the social mechanisms that amplify these myths. He attributes their persistence to tribalism, media sensationalism, and groupthink in academia. By signaling adherence to these narratives, individuals acquire social capital within progressive circles, further entrenching false beliefs.
Limitations
Despite its positives, Progressive Myths is not without limitations. Many of the myths covered by Huemer are widely believed, however, they have been routinely debunked by other authors. For example, Wilfred Reilly, Heather Macdonald, and a host of others have skewered the progressive philosophy of a racist justice system. Huemer’s chapters on the racist justice system would have been more radioactive if he had amassed data showing that high rates of crime in the black population are not peculiar to America. Blacks in England and Wales are also overrepresented in crime. Secondly, Huemer surprisingly omitted a discussion on racial disparities in income. Exploring group disparities in income would have created an opportunity to examine racial differences in intelligence and personality alongside their genetic correlates. In the section on income myths, Huemer briefly discussed the link between genes and the transmission of human capital, which highlights his familiarity with the research on genes and social mobility, but this should have been elaborated in the text.
Huemer’s book is being promoted by well-known conservative publications and mainstream intellectuals, so if he had chosen to engage in controversial research on genetics his book would have been the gateway to politically incorrect science. Similarly, when scrutinizing scientific myths, Huemer opted to focus on trivial doomsday predictions with a track record of inaction, when he should have introduced the public to the studies of Oxford-educated scientist Ralph Alexander. Unlike mainstream pundits, Alexander’s research excoriates the myth that extreme weather events are becoming frequent due to climate change, instead he posits that such events are not increasing.
Another downside is that when refuting the myth of the gender pay gap, Huemer relied on Warren Farrell’s landmark, but dated, study. Since the publication of Farrell’s 2005 research, we have been exposed to a litany of empirical studies challenging the orthodox opinions on the gender pay gap. One of the latest responses is a paper by Valentin Bolotnyy and Natalia Emanuel that attributes the gender pay gap to inflexible work schedules, which contradict the care-giving responsibilities of women. Equally surprising, Huemer avoided addressing the assumption that the paucity of women in STEM indicates sexism.
There is an avalanche of studies commenting that this is because men and women have different intellectual styles. Of relevance is that larger sex differences in STEM have been observed in more gender equal countries which has led some to speculate that STEM disparities could have a biological underpinning. Including these discussions would make Progressive Myths a more intriguing book. Indeed, debunking all myths would be impossible, but before reading the book, this writer was expecting Huemer to smash the Overton window.
Notwithstanding these omissions, Progressive Myths is an entertaining and incisive critique of contemporary progressive narratives. For curious people seeking to understand the deficits of progressive ideology, Progressive Myths is an essential read. It not only exposes the flaws in specific claims but also offers insights into the broader cultural and psychological forces that sustain these myths. As society grapples with increasingly polarized debates, Huemer’s call for intellectual honesty and critical thinking is both timely and necessary.
