Blacks are Innately Less Intelligent?

James Watson, one of the three Nobel Prize winners for unraveling the mystery of DNA, states that blacks in Africa are genetically less intelligent than Westerners. What exactly is Watson’s definition of “intelligence” and how does he come to his politically incorrect assertion?

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.

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.

Watson is 79; is he delusional????

…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".

If the tests were done on blacks with mixed blood, do they score higher intelligence ratings?

Without a detailed analysis of test data and testing protocol, the reader has no idea about the potential validity of Watson’s assertion. Certainly the assertion flies in the face of accepted dogma about the inherent equality of the races.

It is the job of scientists to challenge the traditional party line when data suggests contrary conclusions. Of course, scientists, like all people, are subject to political correctness, special interest and just plain stupidity. You need no further evidence of that than the brouhaha over “global warming.” A couple of guys named Copernicus and Galileo would heartedly agree with my premises.

Is Watson on to something here or is he just an old bigot? I know what Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton will say, but they are just bigots in their own right and not worth listening to.

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."

If you don’t like what someone says, just brand him a racist. Racial hatred laws? Gee that sounds awfully European to me. In America, we have a tradition of free speech that includes protecting the speaking of stupid and hurtful things.

The American political correctness crowd is moving continuously toward the European model of PC where people can be punished for their speech absent the behavior of acting out physically on the thoughts. That is not the American tradition, and I ask which system has the most freedom?

Whether or not Watson is correct in his assertion will remain a controversy for years to come. It is not nice to think so, but what if he were correct? If nothing else, it will bolster the cause of the truly racist, and that would be a social travesty.

Link in this blog:
Africans are less intelligent than Westerners, says DNA pioneer

Update 10/19/07: What does he believe?
DNA pioneer breaks his silence on racism row