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DNA pioneer stripped of honours


Eldorado

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"For the past decade the laboratory, like much of the scientific community, has engaged in a delicate balancing act with regard to Dr. Watson: holding him at arm’s length for reinforcing unfounded racial stereotypes, while still honoring him for his contributions to science.

Dr. Watson, with Francis Crick and Rosalind Franklin, helped discover the double-helix structure of DNA in 1953, and he went on to help to shape the subsequent revolution in molecular biology.

But his recent comments “effectively reverse the written apology and retraction Dr. Watson made in 2007,” and “require the severing of any remaining vestiges of his involvement,” Cold Spring Harbor’s chief executive, Bruce Stillman, and its board of trustees chairwoman, Marilyn Simons, said in a statement."

Full report at the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/science/watson-dna-genetics.html

Over at Sky News:

"He had told a magazine in 2007 he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" as "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - where all the testing says not really".

While Dr Watson also said he hoped everyone was equal, he added: "People who have to deal with black employees find this is not true." "

Full short report: https://news.sky.com/story/dna-pioneer-james-watson-stripped-of-honours-after-reckless-race-remarks-11606108

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*As far as we  know*... ALL humans (homo sapiens) come from South Africa.

So some genetic groups have different traits than others?   environmental adaption. What's the biggie?

Just look at gender differences. I believe we all agree that the average man is taller, stronger, faster than the average women. And it shows.

Look at top league sports teams. How many women have ever cracked that level before in ANY sport..?  count them on one hand, right?  Does that mean that men look down upon women? Hell no.  That is simply what nature gave both genders. no biggie.

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2 hours ago, seanjo said:

What testing?

Dr. Watson was referring to intelligence tests. These are typically biased in favor of the culture that devised them (white). Any disparity in scores between groups of Africans and Whites is apparently due to differences in cultures, and access or lack of access to educational opportunities.

IQ tests were originally designed to identify 'slow learners' in schools in Europe, so that they could receive extra academic help, or be placed in classes appropriate to their abilities. Using these tests to reinforce pre-existing racialist theories of white superiority is a very serious misuse of them.  

Edited by bison
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The double helix was discovered with the help of research stolen from Rosalind Franklin. She should have shared the Nobel prize with Watson and the other two scientists, but her contribution went unrecognised. They would not have been the first to discover the double helix without her work. To add insult to injury, Watson painted her as someone who might not be "totally uninteresting" if she "took off her glasses and did something novel with her hair." Watson has been a sexist and a racist throughout his career and got away with it, for the most part because of his early accomplishments. He should have been stripped of his honours long before this.

Source link as well as additional info on Watson's disgusting views:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/10/28/photo-finish-2

https://slate.com/technology/2014/12/james-watson-selling-nobel-prize-dna-structure-discoverers-history-of-racism-and-sexism.html

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1 hour ago, Kittens Are Jerks said:

"took off her glasses and did something novel with her hair."

LOL, I'm laughing at Watson because that it is just sooo ridiculous, and I know it is otherwise not a laughing matter.

Maybe that whole nobel prize award should be reviewed. Maybe take from Watson and give to Franklin. 

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This man was at Methuselah's funeral!  He's NINETY.  The only people in the deep south today who mostly get a pass from black folks for the use of the "N" word are men and women of that generation.  It is simply understood that they come from a different era and old people are a lot like young children.  They don't have filters.  Anyone who ever read Sherlock Holmes would know that Doyle was a sexist and racist by today's standards.  Should his honors be revoked, his writings banned?  The entire world seems to have gone and gotten itself irretrievably butt-hurt.  What's more, they seem to have a need to punish anyone who disagrees with them.  It reminds me of a bunch of unruly Kindergartners. 

Edited by and then
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4 hours ago, Eldorado said:

"He had told a magazine in 2007 he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" as "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - where all the testing says not really".

While Dr Watson also said he hoped everyone was equal, he added: "People who have to deal with black employees find this is not true."

That's undeniably racist. Although the saddest thing is how about the only thing someone can say or do that's universally considered racist is something like this that just outright calls black people for instance inferior. :hmm: 

Call Mexicans "rapists, violent criminals, drug dealers, and thugs" then it's racist. Call illegal immigrants the same thing and you get away with it cause illegal immigrants aren't technically a 'race'. Call for a ban on Arabs from entering the US and that's racist. Call for a ban on Muslims entering the US and once again, you get away with it because Islam "isnt a race".

We all know that the majority of these group's ethnicities are, and when taken in context with the bigger picture there's a clearly consistent theme in all these policy proposals. It isn't just coincidence that most of Trump's policies here negatively affect and/or reduce the population of racial minorities in the US. It effects racial minorities the most because that's what it's all about, race. It's just that no one has the guts to outright say it. 

Anyone with half a brain cell can hear these supposed 'dog whistles' of racism. They're simply careful with their wording so as to not say their race outright so they can get away with it. If only more people responded to these so-called 'dog whistles' of racism in the same way as they did this scientist guy here...

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2 hours ago, and then said:

This man was at Methuselah's funeral!  He's NINETY.  The only people in the deep south today who mostly get a pass from black folks for the use of the "N" word are men and women of that generation.  It is simply understood that they come from a different era and old people are a lot like young children.  They don't have filters.  Anyone who ever read Sherlock Holmes would know that Doyle was a sexist and racist by today's standards.  Should his honors be revoked, his writings banned?  

No. Unless, of course, he continues to write in the same way today when there is no excuse for not knowing better. 

Like Watson. 

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2 hours ago, and then said:

This man was at Methuselah's funeral!  He's NINETY.  The only people in the deep south today who mostly get a pass from black folks for the use of the "N" word are men and women of that generation.  It is simply understood that they come from a different era and old people are a lot like young children.  They don't have filters.  Anyone who ever read Sherlock Holmes would know that Doyle was a sexist and racist by today's standards.  Should his honors be revoked, his writings banned?  The entire world seems to have gone and gotten itself irretrievably butt-hurt.  What's more, they seem to have a need to punish anyone who disagrees with them.  It reminds me of a bunch of unruly Kindergartners. 

If he’d made the comment in the 50s “time and culture” would have excused him. He didn’t, he said it in the 21st century. Now, I can get that certain engrained opinions are hard to shift, but a scientist should be the sort of person who moves with the times.

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15 minutes ago, Sir Wearer of Hats said:

If he’d made the comment in the 50s “time and culture” would have excused him. He didn’t, he said it in the 21st century. Now, I can get that certain engrained opinions are hard to shift, but a scientist should be the sort of person who moves with the times.

Whatever.  The thought police need to twig to the idea that not everyone agrees with their outlook or their concept of superior morality.  People will tire of the self-censoring and the pendulum will swing wildly back to some behavior that will cause the poor, delicate souls to lose their minds in outrage.  Then what?

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Just now, and then said:

Whatever.  The thought police need to twig to the idea that not everyone agrees with their outlook or their concept of superior morality.  People will tire of the self-censoring and the pendulum will swing wildly back to some behavior that will cause the poor, delicate souls to lose their minds in outrage.  Then what?

Then the opposition party wins the midterm elections as the truly morally bankrupt expose and marginalize themselves through their irrational devotion to a destructive ideology.

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36 minutes ago, Setton said:

No. Unless, of course, he continues to write in the same way today when there is no excuse for not knowing better. 

Like Watson. 

"Knowing better" implies that his speech breaks some law.  It doesn't.  Or if it does then that law is ridiculous.  The man is 90.  He spoke his mind about an issue he has every right to hold an OPINION on.  Let the thought police destroy his reputation if you like.  A day will come when maybe it will be YOUR opinion they'll call hateful.  Screw them and the horse they pranced in on, IMO.   

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1 minute ago, Farmer77 said:

Then the opposition party wins the midterm elections as the truly morally bankrupt expose and marginalize themselves through their irrational devotion to a destructive ideology.

Then those who they try to silence for the outrage of being dissenters will start killing people.  Win-win?  Don't be a fool and expect people to bow to PC boolshite forever, company man.

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Just now, and then said:

Then those who they try to silence for the outrage of being dissenters will start killing people.  Win-win?  Don't be a fool and expect people to bow to PC boolshite forever, company man.

I think you may have missed my point. The event you're pining for has happened and is already waning.  Its too late for your violent fantasies to be relevant, you got Charlottesville and they gave it a shot but couldnt carry the momentum,the reality is the vast majority just want to be cool.

 

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Everyone and anyone can become of victim of the thought police these days.

His first protest ever cost him his career, reputation and sense of self

When Adam Smith got in his car, drove up to a Chick-fil-A drive through window and began confronting an employee about LGBT rights, he thought he was doing something positive.

For him, it was one step in undoing anti-gay messaging he says he was taught as a child.

But his first act of protest ever would soon cause his life to unravel.

Smith filmed the 2012 encounter in Tucson, Arizona as part of a larger demonstration against the fast food chain. Its chairman, president and CEO Dan T. Cathy — a noted Christian — had publicly said he was "guilty as charged" for backing the "biblical definition of family," and donated money to groups believed to be anti-gay.

cont...

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/outintheopen/reputation-1.4589616/his-first-protest-ever-cost-him-his-career-reputation-and-sense-of-self-1.4596546

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4 minutes ago, Michelle said:

Everyone and anyone can become of victim of the thought police these days.

This kind of response to this kind of topic is why folks get labeled racist.

 

 

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55 minutes ago, and then said:

"Knowing better" implies that his speech breaks some law.  It doesn't.  Or if it does then that law is ridiculous.  The man is 90.  He spoke his mind about an issue he has every right to hold an OPINION on.  Let the thought police destroy his reputation if you like.  A day will come when maybe it will be YOUR opinion they'll call hateful.  Screw them and the horse they pranced in on, IMO.   

You're quite right, his views do not break any laws, and yes, he does have the right to voice them. The lab that removed his honours, however, also has the right to dissociate itself from those views. Watson's reputation has been questionable for decades, so the recent incident has done little to destroy a reputation already in tatters.. Watson's only significant accomplishment was made when he was in his mid-twenties (and even that would not have happened when it did were it not for the theft of another scientist's work). He made no significant discoveries after that, even though other colleagues did. The only way he could keep himself on the scientific stage was to make ludicrous claims that had no scientific merit whatsoever. He was out of his depth, and yet, still managed to stay in the spotlight. Perhaps that was his objective all along.

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1 hour ago, and then said:

"Knowing better" implies that his speech breaks some law.  It doesn't.  Or if it does then that law is ridiculous.  The man is 90.  He spoke his mind about an issue he has every right to hold an OPINION on.  Let the thought police destroy his reputation if you like.  A day will come when maybe it will be YOUR opinion they'll call hateful.  Screw them and the horse they pranced in on, IMO.   

Funny. I thought you were all for a private organization's right to hire and fire whom they chose for whatever reason. Like how the NFL had the right to fire the black athletes who kneel. Just Capitalism at work and all.

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2 hours ago, and then said:

Whatever.  The thought police need to twig to the idea that not everyone agrees with their outlook or their concept of superior morality.  People will tire of the self-censoring and the pendulum will swing wildly back to some behavior that will cause the poor, delicate souls to lose their minds in outrage.  Then what?

Not being a **** is some sort of radical position that offend people?

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23 hours ago, Eldorado said:

 and “require the severing of any remaining vestiges of his involvement,” Cold Spring Harbor’s chief executive, Bruce Stillman, and its board of trustees chairwoman, Marilyn Simons, said in a statement."

This is troubling to me.   Take his name off of some trophies if warranted, but don't delete any of his involvement.  That is altering history.

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This has come to mind a lot lately...

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

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His honours where granted because of his work in molecular science, not in moral phillosophy. I think they are WRONG to retract them !

As for his comments on Africans and intelligence; these are highly unpopular opinions. But are they wrong ? 

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19 hours ago, Aquila King said:

It effects racial minorities the most because that's what it's all about, race. It's just that no one has the guts to outright say it. 

 

I think you've been saying it every other post.

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On 1/13/2019 at 6:44 AM, seanjo said:

What testing?

IQ testing.  Like it or not on average Asian's score highest and Africans score lowest.  Now here is the thing, the real difference on average is only a couple of points between all races, so the average people are all really quite equal.

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19 minutes ago, OverSword said:

IQ testing.  Like it or not on average Asian's score highest and Africans score lowest.  Now here is the thing, the real difference on average is only a couple of points between all races, so the average people are all really quite equal.

We will likely never get accurate test results because the subject matter is too hot. Even if Academia would sanction a racially based IQ test, can we trust the results to be not be tampered with?

The unspoken fear of doing these kinds of tests is that they may prove racists correct. This is hilariously ironic because one would have to be a racist to assume that one demographic will not do well. The Liberal Elite have always had a thick vein of racism running through them but they don't see it. It's called "the bigotry of low expectations" - they see black people as inferior so they lower the bar because they don't expect them to be...average. Handing them awards and praising them at every opportunity like one would with a 5 year old. Let's hang every drawing on the fridge because you did a great job for your demographic. Every problem in the black community becomes a consequence of white power because again - black power don't have any power so we must shape the world for them. What a horrible way to think. I see comments here all the time supporting the "bigotry of low expectations". Just because someone is black, doesn't mean they are helpless or even want your help. Besides, racists aren't waiting on an IQ test to find reasons to be a racist. I doubt such a test would make any noticeable change in the world unless the MSM decided to blow it up. Which they would.

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