Scientific pioneer unveils racist beliefs...

[misanthrope]

...One of the discoverers of the DNA double helix spouts off about his perception of darker skinned humans as inherently less intelligent.

Nobel Prize winner now eligible for Grand Dragon status

[slackmaster]

1. What is the solution, then?

Corrective Phrenology for Dr. Watson?

:spank:

[Buzz Clik]

2. Sweet Jesus! Watson is channeling William Shockley.

What the hell is it with these guys? Do they get addled in their advancing years?

[angstlessk]

3. What a waccco creep...wants all females to be pretty too???

I recon he gets to the 'beholder'...eh?

[Sequoia]

4. "....and argued in favour of genetic screening

and argued in favour of genetic screening and engineering on the basis that " stupidity" could one day be cured."


"Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man."

Bertrand Russell

Let's hope his lectures will all be canceled. Idiot.

Oh, and where was the white guy who built the pyramids? Oh, I get it...Charlie Heston!

[MedleyMisty]

5. Repost of my thoughts from the Lounge thread

Even if the tests really show that, did he control at all for differences in nurturing and environment? And were the tests culturally fair, or did he use one biased towards white Western Europeans and their American descendants?

And if he did use a non-biased test (which I highly doubt) why can't he see that two people can have the exact same genetic potential for intelligence but if one grows up in a financially and emotionally secure house full of books with plenty of leisure time for enrichment and learning and another grows up in dire poverty and violence it just might have an effect on their test scores?

God, this crap is why it's so hard to convince people that gifted kids need special education, because people like this dude get the idea of innate differences in intelligence tied to racism and people end up thinking that gifted education is "elitist" and just a way to get more money to rich white kids. And it's the gifted kids who aren't rich who get screwed because they tend to not have options outside public school.

[Warpy]

6. He and Crick stole the discovery from a woman, Rosalind Franklin,

and Watson went on to blacken her name in a book, afterwards.

I'd fully expect the man to be vicious toward anyone who isn't just like him: a white male.

Because he had to steal a woman's work, he knows he's inferior. He's just pointing the finger at "outsiders" to cover it up.

[DeSwiss]

20. This is true. n/t

[knowledgeispwr]

7. Sad. I was reading about this on a Spanish news website...

concretely, www.20minutos.es. Unfortunately, most of the comments were variations of a) "I already knew that" or b) sarcastic answers like "ya think so?" or "what a piece of news!"

I'm going to assume that much of that is reactionary backlash to growing immigration in Spain.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. The guy needs to lose his job.

This is like when the president of Harvard said that women aren't good at math.

[Xithras]

10. I'm pretty sure he's retired.

He just gives the occasional scientific lecture now.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. Nope.

According to the other article in the dupe thread, he's still a director at some scientific institute.

[Xithras]

15. Probably a figurehead position.

Research institutions generally have a lot of directors who's "work" is limited to the occasional review meeting to chart the institutions course and check up on its current projects. They generally like to have high profile scientists on the board, because it gives the institution credibility and helps them to attract new talent.

I really doubt they'd fire him, but I'd be surprised if they didn't encourage his retirement in the very near future.

You have to remember that, from a scientific standpoint, he's still highly respected in his field and probably always will be. Comments like this simply reinforce the belief that he's a "genius asshole". Since science is all about separating fact from opinion, his personal opinions probably won't be held against him in light of his scientific achievements. Still, I'd expect the institute to encourage his retirement just to avoid the negative publicity these comments will bring to them.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. Yeah, and he's got no business being in such a position.

"You have to remember that, from a scientific standpoint, he's still highly respected in his field and probably always will be."

From a scientific perspective, he hasn't done shit in years and he's of no use to anybody except for his name. And that's in the toilet.

[Xithras]

9. These types of comments are dangerous.

He does cite a valid scientific fact: "There is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual capacities of peoples geographically separated in their evolution should prove to have evolved identically. Our wanting to reserve equal powers of reason as some universal heritage of humanity will not be enough to make it so."

Technically, this part of his argument is 100% true. Because evolution is the adaptation of creatures to their local environment, there is no reason to believe that we would have all evolved identically. The differences in skin color and facial features is a simple illustration of that fact. What the not-so-good doctor is not paying attention to is the fact that NO reputable studies have EVER found any kind of serious statistical differences between the intelligence levels of the various races once economic and educational opportunities were factored out. He vaguely cites "studies" indicating that blacks are less intelligent, but I'd challenge him to actually NAME those studies and defend their methodologies.

Fact is, human potential intelligence levels fall into a fairly uniform range throughout the globe and across the races. While an unpopular opinion, there is research indicating that some factors for intelligence are genetically based. There is no research, however, indicating that any particular race has any genetic predisposition toward any particular portion of the human inteligence scale. The uniformity of the scale is so great, in fact, that most people believe that modern human intelligence levels were achieved before major human migration began, and the races began to form, about 80,000 years ago. The evolution of intelligence predates the evolution of the races.

He is citing a scientific truth, and then gracefully appending a vague falsehood to the end of it to support his own racist beliefs. That's a dangerous combination.

[knowledgeispwr]

13. Well said! I agree.

Unfortunately, some people will use the fact that Watson is a Nobel Prize winner as justification for their prejudiced beliefs and actions. What this really shows is that being conceded with a high honor does not mean you are always honorable.

[justjones]

18. Dangerous combination is an understatement....

given his credentials as a Nobel prize winning scientist for his part in the unraveling of DNA. I am afraid of any influence he may have over how any genetic differences that may found between races is interpreted = Racist eugenics redux.

[ben_meyers]

12. And so Mr. Gore

Your fellow Nobel Laurette claims that blacks are inferior to whites. Does his winning the Nobel give him any credibility? How about your Nobel? What does this say about your "Global Warming" scare?:sarcasm:

I wonder about the timing of this.

[InvisibleTouch]

14. Didn't Stephen Jay Gould debunk that crap years ago?

"The Mismeasure of Man" :

http://www.amazon.com/Mismeasure-Man-Stephen-Jay-Gould/dp/0393314251/ref=pd_bbs_3/102-1621881-7995354?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192645847&sr=8-3

[momto3]

17. Dr. Watson is a miserly old bastid.

I have been told by many scientists that have met him that he is cranky, miserly and most generally unpleasant to everyone who meets him.

And yes, he and Crick got the Nobel prize for the discovery of DNA, but it was Rosalind who was able to prove that DNA was a double helix by crystallization. She was bypassed for the Nobel.

[NorthernSpy]

19. how can blacks be expected to compete in the face of a steady downpour of propaganda...

... that warns against hiring them?

Dr Watson told The Sunday Times that he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – whereas all the testing says not really". He said there was a natural desire that all human beings should be equal but "people who have to deal with black employees find this not true".

Conservatives want to be free to spread anti-black propaganda regardless of the consequences blacks, but they also demand to be held harmless when their propaganda activities do harm someone -- leaving the victims of their incitement without any recourse whatsoever.

Nobody propagandizes just because he likes the sound of his voice; there is always some particular end he desires to bring about. This is not about anyone "bravely" confronting "taboo subjects". It doesn't take much bravery to defend an established social hierarchy. The political right will always rush to reward and protect anyone who does that.

Watson and his defenders want to hurt blacks. They want to limit their prospects in this society. They want to incite contempt for them. They want to persuade bosses, teachers, co-workers, everybody -- to shove them out, and they want to get away with it.

That is what this is about.

[DeSwiss]

21. From the article.....

Dr Watson arrives in Britain today for a speaking tour to publicise his latest book, "Avoid Boring People..."

- Well, its too late for that.....

[Catherine Vincent]

22. Any comment from Justice Thomas or Alan Keyes?

n/t