. . . and then other people who are expert in the field kick their butts.
No, I’m not talking about Al Gore. James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, recently insulted the entire continent of Africa, and a good bunch of North and South America, and western Europe. No, Dr. Watson, race is not a predictor of intelligence.
Greg Laden provides the boot action at his blog, Evolution. Bookmark it. As certain as your heritage is passed to your children by a double-helix structure in the structure of your cells, some fool will repeat Watson’s argument. Veterans of quote-mine wars warn that creationists right now are filing the statement away for use in some future debate, where they will claim falsely that “the science of genetics is evil because it promotes racism.”
So keep that Laden piece handy.
And if all of this is news to you as a social studies teacher? Read the piece thoroughly. Check out Laden’s links, ask questions if you’re unclear on anything he says. Laden takes questions. P. Z. Myers takes questions (and a tip of the old scrub brush to Pharyngula for point out Laden’s post). Comments are open here.
See, this is how science and free discussion work: People get awards for the good ideas they have, and they pay the price for stupid ideas. Discussion, among the experts, is based on real data, real research. Ideas win when they have the data to back them up, not on the word of some authority, regardless whether the authority is well schooled, of the right or far-right political party, or supernatural.
It’s a model for our students.
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Update: Even more from Mr. Laden, as he notes in comments. You have plenty of bookmarks available, right?
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
[…] and here though I wonder if going as far as “moron” was necessary. For the record, I found Greg’s comments through another blog I read a lot, Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub, a great blog on accurate […]
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[…] and here though I wonder if going as far as “moron” was necessary. For the record, I found Greg’s comments through another blog I read a lot, Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub, a great blog on accurate […]
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[…] Hat tip to Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub. […]
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Yes; Watson just seems to get more poisonous with each passing year. Particularly revolting were his remarks calling Rosalind Franklin “autistic” because she didn’t socialize the way Watson thought she should have. A class act, that guy.
OFF-TOPIC ALERT: I see that whatsisname is hijacking this thread, so I hope I am privileged to cross-post my comment from over there:
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[Re: analogy between public defenders and public health care]
It is actually an excellent analogy. Public defenders are paid with tax dollars, because the public harm resulting from having indigent defendants go unrepresented justifies it. Similarly fire departments and police protection. Do you have a “right” to have some stranger keep your house from burning down, or prevent you from being mugged? Sure you do — even when those services are difficult or expensive to provide, and even when you cannot pay for them. This use of the term “right” is well respected, and perfectly sensible in Gore’s context. Nearly everyone recognizes that some basic level of health care is, indeed a right; that’s why an emergency room will stop your bleeding even before they see your insurance card. It is perfectly reasonable to argue with a particular level of care being interpreted of “basic” — but it is not reasonable to insist that Gore is “idiotic” to state the obvious. Except, of course, in libertarian paradise, where everyone is voluntarily healthy, and gets a pony!
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Al Gore: Now He’s Braying about Health Care
Not satisfied with promulgating pseudo-scientific BS about global climate change, Al Gore is now bloviating about health care. Kevin,MD expresses considerable disappointment with the former veep’s position, at the center of which is the idiotic notio…
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Hey, thanks for the link. The next post down on the line is an extension of the one you cite, with more meat and less flame. Which I suppose could make it rare and bloody…
Well, whatever, it’s this one:
Cheers,
GTL
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