Africans less intelligent than Europeans;Lab suspends DNA pioneer Watson
Dr Watson, the Nobel Prize-winning DNA pioneer,has drawn severe criticism over remarks he made in a British newspaper at the weekend.
In the interview, he was quoted as saying Africans were less intelligent than Europeans.
The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory had already distanced itself from the scientist's comments but its trustee board has now suspended him.
A statement from the Long Island, New York, institution said the action was being taken "pending further deliberation by the board".
Unreserved apology
Dr Watson was due to give a lecture at the Science Museum in London on Friday as part of a book tour. But the museum cancelled the event, saying the scientist had gone beyond the point of acceptable debate.
The Bristol Festival of Ideas has also cancelled an appearance by Dr Watson.
And further critical comment of Dr Watson's views has come from Dr Craig Venter, the scientist/businessman who led the private effort to decode the human genome, and who, by coincidence, is also visiting the UK to promote a book.
"Skin colour as a surrogate for race is a social concept not a scientific one," Dr Venter said. "There is no basis in scientific fact or in the human genetic code for the notion that skin colour will be predictive of intelligence."
He was further quoted as saying that his hope was that everyone was equal but that "people who have to deal with black employees find this is not true".
Posts
10 comments:
TRUH HURTS
Look around you and about Africa - especially Sub-Saharan Africa - they' ve never invented even a toothpick; all our ideas and the things we desire are inspired by the West. So there you are...it is either that Africans are less intelligent or if they are equally intelligent then they've not had the sense of urgency to put it to good use.
Tell your fellow Africans to stop whining and put some resolve to apply their minds to the betterment of their lives...
Well, I not only take that as a weak challenge, but also an insult. I guess its ignorant people like you who are not aware of all the black inventions around us. Get educated you moron!!
Africa is called the "Cradle of Civilization" for a reason, you ingrate. This is where the human species drew its first breath and where all knowledge has been expanded upon from. "Civilization" as we know it was not "invented" in Europe and many people (all of African descent) contributed.
However, the overdeveloped world needs to look at how the earth has survived for so long and take some lessons from indigenous societies, including those in Africa. Because, the truth is that all this technological invention which has supposedly made life so much easier, is killing the planet earth, it's animal species and the human animal. All are now endangered.
Most scientist agree, it may already be too late to cut back on carbon emissions to make a difference to climate change devastation.
By the way, I do believe the toothpick was invented in Africa.
TRUTH HURTS
Well, all those who "feel insulted" to beef up their arguments with facts not try and hurl insults back...presumably at Dr. Watson & Co. Infact, that in itself is what proves to Dr. Watson that our ability to reason is of a lower pedigree for when the typical african encounteres criticism that requires critical thinking and rational persuation he immediately results to insults and superstition
A rational critique from an opposing view point is in the tradition of intellectualism but the contributions made in opposition to Dr. Watson & Co are merely emotions without the benefit of intellect; such that the more the African moves to oppose this viewpoint the more he shows to the world how little he upholds reason, for all he does is to deny his state only to appear the next day with a begging bowl. And that is the main difference between Africa and the West - REASON/LOGIC! Thus there is need to think more critically of the situation for as much as Africans may not like to be reminded of what and where they are, that second glance in the mirror may be the only hope for the long awaited reneissance.
Attack my logic/reason with facts that refute what I have said:
1) All people are of African descent.
2) All knowledge originated in Africa. As did prehistoric man (African), who as I said, invented the toothpick.
3) The overdeveloped countries need to look to indigenous societies for the way they have been able to sustain life here on earth for centuries without having endangered the earth itself.
Three additional points:
1) The slave trade
2) Colonialism
3) Neocolonialism
The above three tools have been used by so-called "civilized" countries to get a leg up, to exploit, to plunder and to keep countries in Africa and in the global south "underdeveloped".
The global south is where most products are produced, while the global north does most of the consuming. Therefore the techniques as outlined above have been implemented to keep the global south the source of cheap labor and to exploit the global south's rich resources. People who are living hand to mouth have no time to invent, innovate or experiment. Although some extraordinary individuals have excelled in those arenas. One quick example that I can think of is Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop of Senegal. I would recommend that you educate yourself by reading some of this great man's books on African history. Also, learn about his contribution to CSI or Crime Scene Investigations because of his pioneering methods of measuring the melanin content of Egyptian mummies.
One final point; it has been the practice of the global north to foment conflict, unrest, war, famine, poverty...etc in order to keep the global south "with a begging bowl" as you so awkwardly stated. The leadership of the global north has not learned that we are all connected and that we must all be conscious of those connections because eventually their morally bankrupt actions will have dire long term consequences that will be visited on them and their populations.
Hopefully, my logic/reason has met with your criteria and will spur you to investigate and learn about the beautiful, talented, intelligent people of Africa. Good luck.
TRUTH HURTS
Perhaps this is the most fundamental lesson that Africans must learn…that something becomes of value to the one who can utilize it i.e. the value of resources is in their uses. Lets face it, it takes a white man to come and tell you that there is something precious down at the coast of Mombasa called Titanium, and he gets about to the business of mining it. Thus a fundmental question arises…why should the Canadian have use for titanium and the African have none the use, even though the African has the advantage of proximity to the potential resource? Yet again that thing that Africans love to hate creeps up – REASON/LOGIC! By virtue of the Canadians applying logic to nature they have been able to make use of many of its potential resources; whereas the beliefs of the Africans were embedded in superstition the beliefs of the West increasingly became engrained to reason. One must then follow on to ask – how did this happen? Some fervent defenders of the supremacy of Africa will have us believe that Africa is the “cradle of mankind”, forgetting that this sentiments can be traced to Charles Darwin who took it upon himself to undertake a systematic and rational approach to the study of living and extinct species. Perhaps this serves to reinforce the view that Africa is by all means living on borrowed ideas… even the name Africa itself is foreign – it was baptized in the early expeditions from Europe. With regard to slavery, as opposed to the days of forced slavery, slavery has now become a voluntary past time for Africans with hordes of them desperate to leave the cradle to become slaves in America or Europe in the false belief that their lives will be changed for the better. So the notion that Africa by virtue of being the cradle is also the origin of knowledge is far from true. Indeed if we trace the roots of modern civilization, its beginnings point to Mesopotamia and most importantly to their devising of and extensive use of the wheel. These advantages were later extended to the Egyptians and the Greeks and subsequently in the post renaissance period the Wright brothers gave the wheels wings to fly in 1912. It was the wheel that inspired the Daimlers to build a motor engine, which is a series of levers and pulleys whose centre of motion is based on the wheel. By extension it was the wheel that brought about the necessity for a source of energy that would keep the wheels of the motor running not only to fuel motor vehicles but also to run industrial plants – the hallmark of western progression and advancement; hence there arose the age of oil. We can only ponder as to why the knowledge of the wheel went up north from Egypt (whose chariots were a sight to behold) instead of going down south to the people of Kush and further down to the “cradle of mankind”. Whatever the circumstances, the fact remains…Africa never invented the wheel and had not been introduced to the idea as late as the 1900s and even when it was introduced it preferred to go on borrowed wheels (Bauer, 1957). When one sees a Sub-Saharan African on a bicycle or a Benz on one hand, one can look upon that as meeting the criteria of millenium development goals, on the other hand, it is depressive to think that at no point in history did he partake in the history of the advancement of the wheel (perhaps this absolves Sarkozy); as a result he cannot claim, even remotely, the ownership of the idea of the wheel and by virtue of having no claim to it, the idea becomes borrowed. So when will Africa seize to live on borrowed wheels…perhaps it may do so when it can build its own wheels and yet again this is a call to reason…the very resource Africa does not utilize and the most precious and abundant of all resources. Truly if Africa is to get into motion and progress it needs to find its own wheels… the wheels of logic and reason…
As for Dr. Diop and is melanin antidotes, it is good for those who can utilize it...the West; for it is the West that has the urgent need and logic to trace its beginnings to the land of Egypt - to give thanks to the fact that the Wheel turned North...and not South!
YOU SAID:
"As for Dr. Diop and is melanin antidotes, it is good for those who can utilize it...the West; for it is the West that has the urgent need and logic to trace its beginnings to the land of Egypt - to give thanks to the fact that the Wheel turned North...and not South!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Your "logic" is rather twisted -- you cannot have it both ways. Either Africa is too backwards to have ever invented anything or so rich in history that the North wants to claim the Egyptian heritage for itself. Which is it?
However, I should thank you for making my point. Civilization traces its roots to Africa. Though some would have you believing that Egypt is not a part of Africa by some weird "logic".
Ironic isn't it that Mesopotamia or Iraq as it is better known at present -- where you claim the wheel was invented -- has been destroyed by "the world's only superpower". Who is busily going about the business of plundering it for its oil at the cost of over a million lives. Their goal being to use this carbon resource to feed the hungry wheels of "progress."
As you may or may not know that oil hunger is coming to Africa in the form of a military occupation (AFRICOM). So this will be good news for you. Africa will be the next stop in the "oil wars".
Stand ready with the bouquet of flowers for your Imperial liberators.
When your "superiors" come in force to Africa (not just with the current passive-aggressive dispensing of guns and ammo) but with "shock and awe" violence and terror-- perhaps you will get to ask them why they have come to destroy the cradle of civilization.
I suppose it makes sense though because according to your "logic" they have already attempted to destroy the cradle of mankind.
We may not want to think that we are related to the racist James Watson... but unfortunately we are ALL CONNECTED by our African heritage.
Oh my Oh my....look at the africans in kenya....infact Kenya is at the heart of the cradle isn't it....they are killing and maiming each other over ballot boxes - I guess this is the African version of democracy! The Kenya we thought to be civilized and progressive has just retarded to typical african skirmishes based on tribal sentiment!The Kenyan election was never about party policies it was a tribal joust pitting several tribes against another tribe! The African is not concerned about policy; he stupidly routes for his tribal chief to attain the top seat in the superstitious belief that thereafter maana will fall from state house! But on the aftermath of the skirmishes the African went hungry and began to learn the hard way that politics is mainly about the stomach and the general well being of the citizens irregardless of tribe; and because the African could not come to this conclusion through reason he had to discover it through tradegy - never mind that Hume had warned mankind that in the absence of Government men tend to lead hard, short and brutish lives...no one need have taken him more seriously than the Africans! Not forgeting These Kenyans...who seem ever anxious to validate Dr. Watson's school of thought.
...And if there was a jury out there, they have no option but vindicate Dr. Watson, who under the harshest of circumstance had the courage to voice the truth and though it may hurt...it can also set the African free from his false sense of being and set him on the road to the proper sense of being.
Post a Comment