J
Jolly Rogers
Guest
http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article3067222.ece
excerpt:
Africans are less intelligent than Westerners, says DNA pioneer
One of the world's most eminent scientists was embroiled in an extraordinary
row last night after he claimed that black people were less intelligent than
white people and the idea that "equal powers of reason" were shared across
racial groups was a delusion.
James Watson, a Nobel Prize winner for his part in the unravelling of DNA
who now runs one of America's leading scientific research institutions, drew
widespread condemnation for comments he made ahead of his arrival in Britain
today for a speaking tour at venues including the Science Museum in London.
The 79-year-old geneticist reopened the explosive debate about race and
science in a newspaper interview in which he said Western policies towards
African countries were wrongly based on an assumption that black people were
as clever as their white counterparts when "testing" suggested the contrary.
He claimed genes responsible for creating differences in human intelligence
could be found within a decade.
The newly formed Equality and Human Rights Commission, successor to the
Commission for Racial Equality, saidit was studying Dr Watson's remarks "in
full". 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".
His views are also reflected in a book published next week, in which he
writes: "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."
The furore echoes the controversy created in the 1990s by The Bell Curve, a
book co-authored by the American political scientist Charles Murray, which
suggested differences in IQ were genetic and discussed the implications of a
racial divide in intelligence. The work was heavily criticised across the
world, in particular by leading scientists who described it as a work of
"scientific racism".
Dr Watson arrives in Britain today for a speaking tour to publicise his
latest book, Avoid Boring People: Lessons from a Life in Science. Among his
first engagements is a speech to an audience at the Science Museum organised
by the Dana Centre, which held a discussion last night on the history of
scientific racism.
Critics of Dr Watson said there should be a robust response to his views
across the spheres of politics and science. Keith Vaz, the Labour chairman
of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said: "It is sad to see a scientist of
such achievement making such baseless, unscientific and extremely offensive
comments. I am sure the scientific community will roundly reject what appear
to be Dr Watson's personal prejudices.
"These comments serve as a reminder of the attitudes which can still exists
at the highestprofessional levels."
The American scientist earned a place in the history of great scientific
breakthroughs of the 20th century when he worked at the University of
Cambridge in the 1950s and 1960s and formed part of the team which
discovered the structure of DNA. He shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for medicine
with his British colleague Francis Crick and New Zealand-born Maurice
Wilkins.
But despite serving for 50 years as a director of the Cold Spring Harbour
Laboratory on Long Island, considered a world leader in research into cancer
and genetics, Dr Watson has frequently courted controversy with some of his
views on politics, sexuality and race. The respected journal Science wrote
in 1990: "To many in the scientific community, Watson has long been
something of a wild man, and his colleagues tend to hold their collective
breath whenever he veers from the script."
In 1997, he told a British newspaper that a woman should have the right to
abort her unborn child if tests could determine it would be homosexual. He
later insisted he was talking about a "hypothetical" choice which could
never be applied. He has also suggested a link between skin colour and sex
drive, positing the theory that black people have higher libidos, and argued
in favour of genetic screening and engineering on the basis that "stupidity"
could one day be cured. He has claimed that beauty could be genetically
manufactured, saying: "People say it would be terrible if we made all girls
pretty. I think it would great."
The Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory said yesterday that Dr Watson could not
be contacted to comment on his remarks.
Steven Rose, a professor of biological sciences at the Open University and a
founder member of the Society for Social Responsibility in Science, said:
"This is
Watson at his most scandalous. He has said similar things about women before
but I have never heard him get into this racist terrain. If he knew the
literature in the subject he would know he was out of his depth
scientifically, quite apart from socially and politically."
Anti-racism campaigners called for Dr Watson's remarks to be looked at in
the context of racial hatred laws. A spokesman for the 1990 Trust, a black
human rights group, said: "It is astonishing that a man of such distinction
should make comments that seem to perpetuate racism in this way. It amounts
to fuelling bigotry and we would like it to be looked at for grounds of
legal complaint."
----------------------
Exactly what did Dr. Watson say that is supposedly racist? He simply spoke
the truth. Any intelligent person who interacts with Black people at any
level can anecdotally confirm that his research findings and comments
validate what they observe about Blacks on a daily basis. Every metric in
existence confirms that Blacks are of far lower intelligence and reasoning
ability than Whites. Their behaviors, decisions, and the outcomes in their
lives are a direct function of their lower intelligence. No amount of money,
goodwill, or patronizing egalitarian attitudes will change that. Blacks
belong in Africa, not civilized western countries where they do not fit in
and never will be able to conform to societal norms.
Black people are simply what they are. I do not mean that in a mean-spirited
or hateful way. In truth, I bear them no malice or ill-will. They are simply
what they are, and in western countries, that means they are in permanent
custodial care, which further means that responsible people have to pay for
their presence, both financially and in many other tangible and intangible
ways.
In summary, Dr. Watson is not a racist. Rather, his critics and detractors
are egalitarian imbeciles.
--
Jolly Rogers
----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Unrestricted-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
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excerpt:
Africans are less intelligent than Westerners, says DNA pioneer
One of the world's most eminent scientists was embroiled in an extraordinary
row last night after he claimed that black people were less intelligent than
white people and the idea that "equal powers of reason" were shared across
racial groups was a delusion.
James Watson, a Nobel Prize winner for his part in the unravelling of DNA
who now runs one of America's leading scientific research institutions, drew
widespread condemnation for comments he made ahead of his arrival in Britain
today for a speaking tour at venues including the Science Museum in London.
The 79-year-old geneticist reopened the explosive debate about race and
science in a newspaper interview in which he said Western policies towards
African countries were wrongly based on an assumption that black people were
as clever as their white counterparts when "testing" suggested the contrary.
He claimed genes responsible for creating differences in human intelligence
could be found within a decade.
The newly formed Equality and Human Rights Commission, successor to the
Commission for Racial Equality, saidit was studying Dr Watson's remarks "in
full". 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".
His views are also reflected in a book published next week, in which he
writes: "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."
The furore echoes the controversy created in the 1990s by The Bell Curve, a
book co-authored by the American political scientist Charles Murray, which
suggested differences in IQ were genetic and discussed the implications of a
racial divide in intelligence. The work was heavily criticised across the
world, in particular by leading scientists who described it as a work of
"scientific racism".
Dr Watson arrives in Britain today for a speaking tour to publicise his
latest book, Avoid Boring People: Lessons from a Life in Science. Among his
first engagements is a speech to an audience at the Science Museum organised
by the Dana Centre, which held a discussion last night on the history of
scientific racism.
Critics of Dr Watson said there should be a robust response to his views
across the spheres of politics and science. Keith Vaz, the Labour chairman
of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said: "It is sad to see a scientist of
such achievement making such baseless, unscientific and extremely offensive
comments. I am sure the scientific community will roundly reject what appear
to be Dr Watson's personal prejudices.
"These comments serve as a reminder of the attitudes which can still exists
at the highestprofessional levels."
The American scientist earned a place in the history of great scientific
breakthroughs of the 20th century when he worked at the University of
Cambridge in the 1950s and 1960s and formed part of the team which
discovered the structure of DNA. He shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for medicine
with his British colleague Francis Crick and New Zealand-born Maurice
Wilkins.
But despite serving for 50 years as a director of the Cold Spring Harbour
Laboratory on Long Island, considered a world leader in research into cancer
and genetics, Dr Watson has frequently courted controversy with some of his
views on politics, sexuality and race. The respected journal Science wrote
in 1990: "To many in the scientific community, Watson has long been
something of a wild man, and his colleagues tend to hold their collective
breath whenever he veers from the script."
In 1997, he told a British newspaper that a woman should have the right to
abort her unborn child if tests could determine it would be homosexual. He
later insisted he was talking about a "hypothetical" choice which could
never be applied. He has also suggested a link between skin colour and sex
drive, positing the theory that black people have higher libidos, and argued
in favour of genetic screening and engineering on the basis that "stupidity"
could one day be cured. He has claimed that beauty could be genetically
manufactured, saying: "People say it would be terrible if we made all girls
pretty. I think it would great."
The Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory said yesterday that Dr Watson could not
be contacted to comment on his remarks.
Steven Rose, a professor of biological sciences at the Open University and a
founder member of the Society for Social Responsibility in Science, said:
"This is
Watson at his most scandalous. He has said similar things about women before
but I have never heard him get into this racist terrain. If he knew the
literature in the subject he would know he was out of his depth
scientifically, quite apart from socially and politically."
Anti-racism campaigners called for Dr Watson's remarks to be looked at in
the context of racial hatred laws. A spokesman for the 1990 Trust, a black
human rights group, said: "It is astonishing that a man of such distinction
should make comments that seem to perpetuate racism in this way. It amounts
to fuelling bigotry and we would like it to be looked at for grounds of
legal complaint."
----------------------
Exactly what did Dr. Watson say that is supposedly racist? He simply spoke
the truth. Any intelligent person who interacts with Black people at any
level can anecdotally confirm that his research findings and comments
validate what they observe about Blacks on a daily basis. Every metric in
existence confirms that Blacks are of far lower intelligence and reasoning
ability than Whites. Their behaviors, decisions, and the outcomes in their
lives are a direct function of their lower intelligence. No amount of money,
goodwill, or patronizing egalitarian attitudes will change that. Blacks
belong in Africa, not civilized western countries where they do not fit in
and never will be able to conform to societal norms.
Black people are simply what they are. I do not mean that in a mean-spirited
or hateful way. In truth, I bear them no malice or ill-will. They are simply
what they are, and in western countries, that means they are in permanent
custodial care, which further means that responsible people have to pay for
their presence, both financially and in many other tangible and intangible
ways.
In summary, Dr. Watson is not a racist. Rather, his critics and detractors
are egalitarian imbeciles.
--
Jolly Rogers
----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Unrestricted-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----
