Watson apologises, and gets suspended
Following James Watson’s unfortunate choice of words the other day, he’s apologised publicly:
I cannot understand how I could have said what I am quoted as having said (…) I can certainly understand why people, reading those words, have reacted in the ways that they have.(…)
To all those who have drawn the inference from my words that Africa, as a continent, is somehow genetically inferior, I can only apologize unreservedly. That is not what I meant. More importantly from my point of view, there is no scientific basis for such a belief
This has not, however, stopped his employers, the Cold Spring Harbor Lab from suspending him pending further deliberation.
Posted on 
October 19th, 2007 by 
Simon Greenhill
3 Responses to “Watson apologises, and gets suspended”
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Email Henry Updates to Me
October 19th, 2007 at 5:24 am
Re James Watson’s unfortunate comments. I happen to think he’s absolutely right about the overall concept but he just doesn’t have the capacity to convey his ideas in an acceptable manner. Let’s face it, Jews are more intelligent, blacks are better atheletes, Europeans know how to live and Wasps are great politicians.
October 19th, 2007 at 6:01 am
Mr james wastson is a sick man, a useless father to his children and i shame to the british people, i have white friends who are dumb and stupid as fish, limited to only 3 secs thinking, people like james waston should go die, you study is no use, may God the creator of all things have pity on you old soul, son of bitch
October 19th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
This is for Deborah:
Certain kinds of people(some in scientific pursuits who should know better)have been making comments like this for *years*. Deeply held social prejudices can often be bolstered by misuse or misunderstanding of scientific data and ignorance of social conditions. I’m afraid Watson is both ignorant of social conditions and basically is bolstering his own deeply-held biases with what he thinks is scientific data. Unfortunately for him, there is no proof at all that any particular “race” of people is any less intelligent(however defined) than any other “race”. However, it *is* true that there are *individual* differences in intelligence. And nobody doubts *that*. But whole populations? I don’t think so.
Anne G