Dr Watson - How the mighty fall

[Kyt]

I read the ST article on Sunday and completely disagreed with what Dr Watson (of DNA fame) had to say about race. I thought it would raise some eyebrows but in the current climate of racial fragmentation it would be brushed under the carpet. I decided not to start a thread on this earlier because I was undecided as to whether I should give him even more publicity.

However, and I have to admit I'm rather pleased, he completely misjudged the reaction(s) he'd get.

The Sunday article:
http://entertainment.timesonline.co....cle2630748.ece

And the backlash:

Museum drops race row scientist
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7050020.stm

Festival bars race row scientist
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/7052279.stm

Lab suspends DNA pioneer Watson
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7052416.stm

[spidge]

For an intellectual he is quite stupid.

[Kyt]

I have to admit that I never liked him ever since I discovered the way that he and Crick left out Rosalind Franklin, who shoudl have got equal recognition for the DNA work. And some of his other utterances on the "inferiority" of women have been just as bad as the comments above.

[Antipodean Andy]

I saw his comments briefly, rolled my eyes and moved on. Doesn't matter how many degrees and awards and published papers you've got, you can still be a moron.

[Kitty]

Hmm, on the face of it he is being antagonistic for the sake of it - then i think and i see the same thing being done by my lecturers, albeit on a smaller scale, in order to stimulate discussion and arguments.
I am not saying i agree with what he is saying about gender and race, i do not.
But then again, why should someone be promoted purely for the colour of their skin?
This is a nasty little one to figure out.

[Kyt]

Originally Posted by Kitty

But then again, why should someone be promoted purely for the colour of their skin?.

Flip that around and the question is equally valid - why should people be denied promotion purely because of the colour of their skin?

[Kitty]

Honey, i don't give a damn what colour their skin is. if they can do the job they can have it. But then again if they cannot why should they be given the job merely for political correctness sakes?

Like I said, a nasty little one to figure out what he is getting at.

[spidge]

There are some strange occurrences at my daughters college who brought a few teachers from Indonesia to sponsor friendship between the two countries.

The schools run a LOTE (Language other than English) scheme for Indonesian, French and Italian.

The Indonesian teacher spoke beautifully in his own language but the children could hardly understand his English.

What other subject did they give him to teach...........ENGLISH

I thought that was bloody ridiculous and let my feelings known to the principal. My daughters education should not be jeopardised to satisfy the schools whim.

Simply this person was not suitable/qualified for the subject he was teaching.

[CTNana]

Hi All
Must confess I too find this a bit of a dilemma but must stress that I categorically do not agree with his reported comments.
1. I haven't heard / read what he actually did say, only those that have been reported or misreported.
2. I thought that part of the freedom, that so many paid so dearly for, was the right of free speech. The additional price of this is the distasteful garbage which springs forth from BNP, Abu Hanza and their ilk. I totally disagree with many viewpoints but would defend, in the main, the right to voice it. Freedom of speech isn't just a one way street.
3. Doesn't it just give more power to the elbow of extremist groups when people are banned? Surely the better way to handle it is to challenge each ridiculous allegation.
4. I always get very concerned when legitimate points of debate or areas of study are stifled for the sake of this dreadful phrase "political correctness".

I take issue with Kyt about turning Kitty's argument on its head because two wrongs do not make a right and with reference to Spidge's comments in post 8, we shouldn't hesitate or feel embarrassed to rectify something stupid like this but it always seems to get turned around to engender feelings of guilt. I had a similar problem, when as a school governor I opposed the withdrawing of all Enid Blyton and William Shakespeare material from the school library.

I do think that there is sometimes a very fine line between patriotism and racism and that part of the problem is that we have lost the ability to laugh at ourselves.

My experience of examining studies across quite a wide range of topics is that to few are used in the sample to have any statistical significance and that many leaps of faith are made in reaching the conclusions. If Dr Watson's work fell within this category, then let it be exposed!!!!

Hope that didn't offend anyone but I was exercising my right (perhaps it should be in the Rant 'n Rave thread!) too!!!

Still confused about it all
CTNana

[Kitty]

Good point Sgt. However i have been thinking on this report and come to a few conclusions. And when my brain works again I will try and post them. But will probably forget.