The Watson Affair

 
This Watson dust-up is going to get very interesting. First we have all those people who were quick to condemn Jim Watson as a low-life racist bigot on the basis of a few sentences in a newspaper article. That's before even hearing what he had to say about it.

Then we have the Science Museum canceling his talk on the grounds that they don't tolerate bigots. This is an incredible thing to do. Watson has been a well-known figure in scientific circles for half a century. It's just not credible that all of a sudden he has become such a racist that he's no longer welcome. He may be lots of things that people don't like but being a ugly racist isn't one of them.

On the other hand, we have the Newcastle Centre for Life and the Cambridge Union who are going ahead with plans to hear Watson speak. According to the Telegraph [Nobel Prize scientist 'mortified' at racist slur],

His earlier comments caused outrage among politicians and equality campaigners and led to the Science Museum cancelling a talk he was due to give. However, his planned appearance at Newcastle's Centre for Life on Sunday will go ahead, organisers said yesterday.

Linda Conlon, chief executive of the centre, said: "James Watson has been a regular visitor to Life and has often been outspoken and controversial. His views are not those held by the Centre but many people are keen to hear what he has to say. This discussion is part of a well established and popular lecture series, which gives the public an opportunity to explore and challenge topical life science issues."

The Cambridge Union said it would go ahead with a speech Dr Watson is due to deliver on Tuesday.

Roland Foxcroft, President of the Cambridge Union Society, said: "James Watson was invited to address the Union over two months ago. He was invited to discuss his past scientific achievements and the launch of his new book. We were unaware that he would make the comments that appeared in the Sunday Times Magazine, and we certainly did not invite him to speak to the Union in order to air these views or to support them.

"The Standing Committee of the Union has decided that the event should proceed in the name of the values of free speech and academic freedom with which we were founded. We would like to reiterate that Dr Watson's invite stands on the basis of his discovery of DNA and not on the basis of his social views."

Good for them. I'm glad to see that someone has some gumption. Now let's see how this plays out over the next few days and whether some politically correct people are willing to admit they went too far.

Admittedly, second-guessing Watson is complicated. But what upsets me the most is the totally irrational knee-jerk response of labeling him a racist. That just doesn't make sense. If he were the kind of racist that people are claiming he wouldn't have held the positions he held and he wouldn't have any friends in the scientific community.

Those friends have now commented [Nobelist's Race Comments Spark Outrage].

"Jim has a penchant for making outrageous comments that are basically poking society in the eye," Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, said Thursday.

Collins, who has known Watson for a long time, said his latest comments "really ... carried it this time to a much more hurtful level."

In a brief telephone interview, Collins told The AP that Watson's statements are "the wildest form of speculation in a field where such speculation ought not to be engaged in." Genetic factors for intelligence show no difference from one part of the world to another, he said.

Several longtime friends of Watson insisted he's not a racist.

"It's hard for me to buy the label `racist' for him," said Victor McElheny, the author of a 2003 biography of Watson, whom he's known for 45 years. "This is someone who has encouraged so many people from so many backgrounds."

So why does he say things that can sound racist? "I really don't know the answer to that," McElheny said.

Biologist and Nobel laureate Phil Sharp at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who's known Watson since 1971, said, "I've never considered Jim a racist. However, Jim likes to use statistics and observations to provoke people, and it is possible that he is provoking people by these comments."

Calling Watson "one of the great historical scientific figures of our time," Sharp said, "I don't understand why he takes it upon himself to make these statements."

Mike Botchan, co-chair of the molecular and cell biology department at the University of California, Berkeley, who's known Watson since 1970, said the Nobelist's personal beliefs are less important than the impact of what he says.

"Is he someone who's going to prejudge a person in front of him on the basis of his skin color? I would have to say, no. Is he someone, though, that has these beliefs? I don't know any more. And the important thing is I don't really care," Botchan said.

"I think Jim Watson is now essentially a disgrace to his own legacy. And it's very sad for me to say this, because he's one of the great figures of 20th century biology."

Watson has a history of "poking society in the eye" that's for sure. For some reason, this time it backfired big time. I guess it depends on whose eye is being poked. The Watson affair is sad because I have a fondness for curmudgeons. I hope it isn't a sign that any dissent from standard dogma will be severely punished.

What is this standard dogma? Francis Collins puts it well when he says, "Genetic factors for intelligence show no difference from one part of the world to another." This is something that nobody can question without being called a racist. See Race and Intelligence for more discussion and a possible exception.

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