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'''The Pioneer Fund''' is a controversial non-profit [[foundation]] established in [[1937]] to, in their words, "aid in conducting study and research into the problems of [[heredity]] and [[eugenics]] in the human race". The Pioneer Fund supports work in [[behavioral genetics]], [[Intelligence (trait)|intelligence]], [[social demography]], and [[group differences]]. It is currently headed by [[J. Philippe Rushton]]. It publishes a journal, ''Mankind Quarterly''.
{{otheruses}}
'''Flexibility''' is the popular term for the ability to easily [[bend]] an [[Object (physics)|object]] or the ability to adapt to different circumstances. However, in various professional fields, more precise terms are used.
There is a lot of speculation about flexibility . Where does it come from ? How does it reproduce ? What is it`s habitat and more. Flexibility is a small, almost microscopic animal that you can barely see, so don`t listen to of any of this bullshit. Whoever wrote this is no better than a graffiti-ist. Go and do a painting instead.
== Controversy regarding the Pioneer Fund ==
==Physiology==
A great deal of controversy surrounds The Pioneer Fund regarding claims that it has in the past supported or continues to support [[racism]]. The Pioneer Fund acknowledges some of its previous members and grantees have, as individuals, supported ideas such as [[racial segregation]] and human eugenics that are now widely disapproved of. Today, the Fund officially holds no political positions, including those regarding [[racialism]] and eugenics, and denies any such bias in choosing grantees.
In the [[physiology]] of vertebrates, including humans, the measurement of the achievable distance between the flexed position and the extended position of a particular [[joint]] or muscle group is called its "flexibility", but this is more properly called its [[range of motion]] or range of movement. In this sense, the flexibility of a joint depends on many factors, particularly the length and looseness of the [[muscle]]s and [[ligament]]s due to normal human variation, and the shape of the [[bone]]s and [[cartilage]] that make up the joint.
Flexibility, or suppleness, is also a more generalized term used to compare the relative range of motion of all joints of an individual with a standard. The ability to achieve a full range of movements – to turn, stretch, twist and bend – without any stiffness, aching or suffering a spine or joint injury is defined as [http://www.healthy-body-healthy-mind.com/how-to-build-suppleness/ suppleness].
=== Criticism ===
Medical conditions such as [[arthritis]] can decrease flexibility, while [[Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome]] can increase flexibility. Exercise increases the amount of flexibility in a joint, while decreasing the amount of resistance.
The [[1937]] incorporation documents of the Pioneer Fund include statements that some have interpreted as having racist connotations. One section states that the Fund supports "research and study into the problems of race betterment". The phrase ''human race'' appears earlier within the same sentence, and the Pioneer Fund claims that the phrase ''race betterment'' has always referred to the entire human race, not any specific ethnic group. In [[1985]], the document was amended and the phrase changed to ''human race betterment''.
Those who practice [[gymnastics]] (especially [[rhythmic gymnastics]]), [[dance]], [[figure skating]], [[martial arts]], [[body toning]], [[yoga]], [[cheerleading]] and [[contortion]] rely on functional flexibility (increased range of motion with strength and control) to perform their actions.
The Pioneer Fund has, in the past, supported researchers who have, as individuals, espoused what would likely be today considered [[racism]]. In particular, one of the Pioneer Fund's five founders, [[Wickliffe Draper]], made large financial contributions to efforts to support racial segregation, such as $215,000 to the [[Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission]] in [[1963]].
===Benefits===
In ''The Funding of Scientific Racism'', [[Wiliam H. Tucker]] explores links between various past contributors to ''Mankind Quarterly'' and Nazism. Italian biologist and ''Mankind Quarterly'' associate editor [[Corrado Gini]], Tucker writes, authored an article titled "The Scientific Basis of Fascism" and was once a scientific advisor to [[Mussolini]]. He states that the Northern League, an organization founded in England in [[1958]] by former ''Mankind Quarterly'' editor [[Roger Pearson]], supported Nazi ideologies and included former members of the Nazi Party.
Suppleness or flexibility is an important part of a healthful life. Being supple means that you can reach up to take an item down from a bookshelf, for example, or bend down to tie your shoe laces, without feeling that your movements are restricted in any way. When you are young, you tend to take suppleness for granted. But as and when you start growing older, you need to spend a bit of time enhancing and maintaining your suppleness.
Anyone can start a daily routine of simple stretches at any age to restore or increase that flexibility to your muscles as well as joints. Some studies show that you are never too old to reverse the reduced level of suppleness that comes with the age. It really doesn’t matter as to how long it has been building up.
Tucker also writes that Pioneer supported the distribution of a German film later distributed by the [[Nazi Party]]. William Draper obtained the film, titled "Erbkrank" ("The Hereditary Defective"), from the predecessor to the Nazi Office of Racial Politics prior to the founding of the Pioneer Fund.
===How To Achieve Flexibility===
The [[Southern Poverty Law Center]] (SPLC), an anti-hate group, lists the Pioneer Fund as a watched group.
Flexibility can be temporarily increased by regular [[stretching]] of the muscles either by performing specific exercises or by actively participating in activities that take the joints through their full range of movement and lengthens the muscles. Muscles are wrapped in connective tissues, which, rather like chewing gum, are resistant to being stretched when cold. For this specific reason, it is very important to attempt stretching exercises only when your muscles are warm. When stretching, a slight degree of tension should be felt in the muscle. Attempting to stretch too far may cause physical discomfort or even pain and can further result in an injury. So in order to maintain your suppleness, stretches need to be held for at least 10-40 seconds which gives connective tissues enough time to lengthen.
Stretching regularly can result in flexibility that is retained for as long as 48 hours, depending on the duration and depth (effective relaxation) of the stretch. This component is important to avoid injuries during leisure activities{{Fact|date=February 2007}}.
During the campaign over California's [[Proposition 187]] there were complaints that the Pioneer Fund was channelling money in favor of the initiative through contributions to the [[Federation for American Immigration Reform]] (FAIR). [http://www.endtimesnetwork.com/oldnews/ar_pio.html]
===Relative flexibility===
=== Responses to criticisms ===
Since muscles which go through grow in size but not in length, when one muscle grows through hypertrophy its opposite side muscle (the antagonist) will have to lengthen, and absolute flexibility is the term to describe a muscle's length, in and of itself, where relative flexibility is the flexibility of a joint, as compared to its antagonistic movement<ref>[http://www.chekinstitute.com/articles.cfm?select=73 "Back to the Basics for the New Year"], by Paul Chek</ref>.
For example, the [[calf muscle]] extends the foot towards the [[ground]] ([[plantarflexion]]) and the [[anterior tibialis|shin muscle]] flexes the foot in the opposite direction ([[dorsiflexion]]).
The Pioneer Fund has stated it rejects racism, and has claimed it is the victim of smear campaigns waged by those who consider a discussion of race to be [[taboo]]. In addition, it has asserted that the majority of criticism of the Fund should be directed at individuals, not the entire organization.
If a person's calf is [[tonic (physiology)|overly strong]] it will not be as flexible as the opposite shin muscle, and plantarflexion will be exhibit relatively inflexible as compared to dorsiflexion using the person's [[phasic (physiology)|weaker]], but more flexible shin muscle.
==Systems theory==
The Fund writes on their website that one should consider the historical context surrounding such beliefs, as many mainstream scientists of the first half the twentieth century supported [[racialism|racialist]] policies that would be unacceptable today. The Fund denies that Wickliffe Draper's views on race seriously influenced the Fund's decisions.
In [[systems theory]], which has applications in diverse fields including biology, ecology, psychology, economics, and management, the flexibility of a [[adaptive system|system]] is related to its [[adaptation]] to a new environment or its [[resilience]] in recovering from a shock or disturbance.
One example is the attribute of [[Flexibility (engineering)|flexibility]] in engineering.'''''Italic text''
Clearly the professional research by the grantees of Pioneer Fund’s support should be judged only by the scientific merits of the research itself, and not by claims of inequity of past presidents of the Fund.
==Notable grantees==
The most famous Fund recipient is [[Nobel Prize]]-winning physicist [[William Shockley]], who identified African-Americans as having average intelligence measured at 15 points lower than that of Whites, and who then offered to pay to have lower intelligence persons voluntarily sterilized. Other recipients of funding include:[[Thomas J. Bouchard Jr.]], [[Raymond B. Cattell]], [[Hans Eysenck]], [[Arthur Jensen]], [[Garrett Hardin]], [[Richard Lynn]] (also on the editorial board of ''Mankind Quarterly''), [[R. Travis Osborne]], [[Roger Pearson]], and [[J. Philippe Rushton]], the current president.
The Fund has given significant support to [[immigration reduction]]ist organizations, including FAIR, [[American Immigration Control Foundation]] (AICF), and [[ProjectUSA]].
Two major studies that received Pioneer Fund support are the ''Minnesota Study of Identical Twins Reared Apart'', better known as the [[Minnesota Twins Project]], and the [[Texas Adoption Project]]. The Minnesota Twins Project compared identical and fraternal twins who had been brought up in different families. The complementary Texas Adoption Project compared adopted children to their birth and adopted families. The studies purported to demonstrate that as much as half of intelligence and personality are inherited.
==Notable founders and directors==
The Pioneer Fund was created with contributions from Wickliffe Draper. Among the other notable founders were [[Frederick Henry Osborn]] and [[Harry H. Laughlin]]. Osborn was the secretary of the [[American Eugenics Society]], the Chairman of the [[Advisory Committee on Selective Service]] during [[World War II]] and later the Deputy U.S. Representative to the [[UN]] [[Atomic Energy Commission]]. Laughlin was the director of the [[Eugenics Record Office]] and served as the president of the Pioneer Fund from its inception until 1941.
Another director was [[John Marshall Harlan II]], who was the director of operational analysis for the [[Eighth Air Force]] in World War II, and was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by [[President Eisenhower]]. He voted with his fellow justices to end school segregation in the famous [[Brown v. Board of Education]] case.
Other Fund alumni include [[John M. Woolsey, Jr.]], a staff attorney at the [[Nuremberg Trials]], [[Malcolm Donald]], a former editor of the [[Harvard Law Review]] and a brigidier general during World War II, Senator [[James O. Eastland]] of Mississippi, [[Henry E. Garrett]], the former president of the [[American Psychological Association]], and Representative Francis E. Walter.
==References==
<references/>
*''The Science of Human Diversity: A History of the Pioneer Fund'', Richard Lynn, Rowman & Littlefield 2001, ISBN 0761820418
*''Funding of Scientific Racism: Wickliffe Draper and the Pioneer Fund'', William H. Tucker, University of Illinois Press 2002, ISBN 0252027620
== External links ==
*[http://www.pioneerfund.org The Pioneer Fund]
*[http://www.ferris.edu/isar/Institut/pioneer/pfund.htm Original 1937 Certificate of Incorporation]
*[http://www.ferris.edu/isar/Institut/pioneer/homepage.htm Institute for the Study of Academic Racism: Pioneer Fund readings]
=== Opinion pieces ===
*[http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45/022.html The New York Times: Fund Backs Controversial Study of "Racial Betterment] [12/11/77]
*[http://www.bethuneinstitute.org/documents/racialscientestrushton.html Racial Scientist Rushton Takes Over Pioneer Fund]
*[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2008 NY Review of Books: 'The Bell Curve' and its Sources]
*[http://www.ferris.edu/ISAR/archives/mehler/foundation.htm Foundation for Fascism: the New Eugenics Movement in the United States, Patterns of Prejudice]
*[http://www.ferris.edu/ISAR/Institut/pioneer/search.htm Race Science and the Pioneer Fund]
*[http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/76605 Eugenics, racism, and conservative ideology (pt. 1)]
*[http://www.vdare.com/sailer/pioneer.htm Vdare.com: Pioneerfundophobia]
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