"Nobel laureate biologist James Watson was suspended Friday from his longtime post at a research laboratory and canceled his planned British book tour after controversial comments that black people are not as intelligent as white people."
Watson, 79, an American who won the 1962 Nobel prize for his role in discovering the double-helix structure of DNA, apologized Thursday for his remarks -- but not before London's Science Museum canceled his talk there, planned for Friday evening.
The museum said Watson's words had "gone beyond the point of acceptable debate.
The museum said Watson's words had "gone beyond the point of acceptable debate.
Click the link to read the rest. Whatever.
11 comments:
History points to the intellectual prowess of Africans and their decendents. I remember the leg bone found in the Congo carbon dated to 250,000 B.C. with prime numbers etched on it. I believe the difference between Black and White is the question of evil. Lets talk about that attribute.
Correction, 25,000 B.C.
Science and facts be damned.
Blasphemy of the state religion shall not be tolerated.
James Watson became a 100% racist because his impartial and intelligent genes are mutated as he grows older. This is an early sign of stupidity genetic disease and he needs to see a doctor for a gene therapy treatment quickly before a full-blown disease.
The problem is that intelligence cannot be measured. Any measure of it is relative to the cultural norms and values that are used to make the intelligence test. So for a scientist to talk about intelligence, the definition of it must be very limited and academic - nothing that can be fruitfully debated in public discourse.
Given Watson’s proclivity for un-thought-out and clearly un-researched generalized judgments of people, it seems like a waste of time to debate his proclamations and it would be better to relegate him to the asheap of history where it appears he’s headed. This really isn’t about being PC or not, it’s about personal bias being passed off as scientific results due to an over-inflated ego. He thinks his credentials will make him believed, no matter what he says. Unfortunately, credentials don’t make up for lack of careful research, or fading mental faculties.
I find it interesting that people put him in the same category as Darwin, whose theories were also heavily affected by his cultural biases and have been largely discredited - by careful observation and experiment - except as important milestones in the development of modern population genetics. Survival of the fittest is an assumption made based on patriarchal power-over (”might makes right”) thinking that is not borne out by the latest research which shows the collaboration and community trumps “fitness” in nature, in almost every case. Watson - and the rest of us - would be well advised to learn from that discovery.
As an African American I find his remarks painful. I wholeheartedly believe his opinion is wrong. However he is offering his opinion based on his observations and experiences. The unfortunate thing is that he is lambasted for offering his OPINION. Why do we not ask why he offers this opinion instead of immediately attacking him and sweeping him under the rug. He is obviously an intelligent individual with a brilliant scientific mind - so why are we not asking HOW he came to this opinion? Perhaps he sees (as I have seen) a de-evolution, if you will, of African American culture as portrayed in popular media. Our role models have gone from the righteous (Dr. King, Frederick Douglass, Thurgood Marshall, Marian Anderson, Katherine Dunham, etc.) to the ridiculous (Tu Pac, 50-cent, Snoop Dog, etc.) We have somehow become a people identified with criminal culture and, to find the blame, we can only look into the mirror. Those much greater than us have forged a path through racism, prejudice and hatred to get us to the Promised Land. Our generation must now carry forward and make sure we do not destroy that which our ancestors worked so hard to create. Perhaps Dr. Watson’s comments should be used as a wake up call.
This incident just serves to remind us all once again when scientists can become unscientific, when a good composer can be a bad singer, ... etc. Once any person crosses the line of ration and becomes so egocentric, fame just brings about a more speedy decline. If Dr.Watson had kept to his own specialized field of expertise, he would still be widely respected. But he surely should always remember his fame does casue him a sense of inconvenience, that he cannot speak so freely as the ordinary person on the street can when it comes to things like politics, race, religion, etc, JUST because he is so famous. That's the price I'm afraid, there's no free lunch. And he is suffering I think, hope his trail of weird comments can stop from here.
After reading this article I was curious so I looked at the Nobel prize website ( nobelprize.org ) in the section for Physics Nobels.
Out of 181 Nobel prize winners dating back to 1901 how many black winners are there? ZERO
What does this mean?
My response to anonymous...
I'm not going to be ugly because I actually am far too intelligent to behave badly. I will, however, answer your question.
First of all, I challenge your assertion that there are no black Nobel prize winners. That is false. Secondly, even if it were true, it simply means that the people who choose the winners are biased. Third, in the final analysis, I don't give two rips about winning a Nobel prize. I am only concerened with living a life that is pleasing to God.
But, anonymous, I appreciate your comments and I appreciate the respectful manner in which you phrased your question.
The comment "Out of 181 Nobel prize winners", I was speaking only about the ones in Physics.
Ok anonymous. You are probably correct on that. Still, though...who cares?
Again, however, I appreciate your very respectful comments. I believe that we should have dialogues about race without shouting at each other or being mean. Wouldn't it be nice when we can argue over things like which football team is better instead of which race is the most intelligent. There are intelligent people from every race and retards from every race.
We are all God's creations. Ultimately, that's all I care about.
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