Racial discrimination has always been a topic of discussion in human society.
In modern civilized society, will we still encounter such fashionable rhetoric?
This "old trick", which seems to have been circumvented, has once again become a hot topic.
Who brought this old account back to the forefront?
That's right, it was James Watson, the world-renowned and revered "father of the DNA double helix", who once again caused an uproar by publicly making blasphemous remarks about black intelligence.
What did Watson say?
Why would he make such discriminatory comments about black races?
Is such a statement reasonable?
Is it reprehensible?
"Blacks are born with low intelligence"?
"I wish all people could be born with equal IQs, but that's not the case. In January 2019, the 91-year-old Watson bluntly said in an interview with reporters that after comparing the genes of blacks, whites and yellows, he found that blacks are "unevolved and fully human", and they lack some key genetic mutation fragments, resulting in lower intelligence than other races.
Immediately after the publication of this extremely controversial remark, it aroused strong dissatisfaction and condemnation from the American society.
People have questioned Watson:
"How can a Nobel laureate make such discriminatory remarks?"
"Doesn't this reduce humanity to the lowest level?"
"How can he presumptuously comment on the intelligence of a race?"
Not only that, after learning of this, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory immediately announced the revocation of Watson's position and honorary title in order to set the record straight. It can be seen that even the world-renowned scientific champions will be spurned once they make inappropriate remarks involving racial discrimination.
Some people may ask, "Is it true that scientists are discriminating when they tell the truth, and maybe there is a scientific basis for that?"
That's right, science should be taboo-free and truth-seeking. However, any point of view should be based on sufficient research and argumentation. Regrettably, Mr. Watson did not cite any convincing research data to support his claims.
On the contrary, it is generally accepted in the scientific community that differences in intelligence between races are mainly due to differences in environment and educational level. There is no such thing as a "race gene" that determines intelligence.
As Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, points out: "Most scientists who study intelligence agree that the average difference between blacks and whites on IQ tests is primarily due to differences in environment and is not genetically related." "
It can be seen that Watson's remarks are not only blatant discrimination against black people, but also lack basic scientific basis, and are completely arbitrary and one-sided. This is the greatest sadness of Watson's remarks.
The life trajectory behind the discovery of the DNA double helix
So, who is Watson, who has been caught in the whirlpool of public opinion several times due to improper remarks?
Tracing back to the roots, it is not difficult to find that this scientific giant, who won the Nobel Prize for his discovery of the double helix structure of DNA, has a legendary life story that reflects the bizarre nature of humanity.
A gifted "prodigy" who went to college at the age of 15. When he was a postdoctoral student at the age of 23, he was attracted to his friend Ron Crick, who was also researching the structure of DNA, and entered the door of genetic research.
In 1953, at the age of 25, Watson and Crick jointly discovered the double helix structure of DNA, which established the theoretical basis of modern molecular biology and is regarded as one of the three major scientific discoveries of the 20th century, which are equally important to relativity and quantum mechanics.
In this way, from obscurity to the pinnacle of scientific research, Watson interpreted the weight of the word "talent" with his own practical actions. But just when people admired him immensely, his other side began to gradually reveal.
Perhaps from the beginning, Watson was not a humble man. After winning the award that year, he stubbornly stressed to reporters that it should be him, not Crick, who was the key to discovering the structure of DNA.
Later, at the Nobel Prize ceremony, Watson's unreasonable insult to a female student was even more heart-wrenching. Until the eve of his death, Crick was haunted by Watson's actions.
It can be said that complacency and arrogance are the hotbeds for the gradual accumulation of anger in Watson's character. And all this is not a footnote that leads to his growing age and abnormal words and deeds?
Combing through the trajectory of Watson's life, it is not difficult to find that although he made immortal scientific achievements, the subsequent physical and mental struggles and depravity cast a haze over this glory.
A star that could have risen was stopped halfway due to a distorted personality, which is undoubtedly the supreme irony of a generation of scientific giants. People can't help but ask, why did a person who had reached the pinnacle of life at the age of 25 end up being an "old monster" who did not choose his words and acted incorrectly?
Perhaps, the world's high expectations and admiration for him have made Watson unable to face the thorns on the road of life completely peacefully. Perhaps, once upon a time, this "genius boy" has lost the foundation of humility in the wave of fame.
Is the true and false geometry of "negro mental retardation"?
We have to express our doubts and doubts about this overly arbitrary statement. Because there are too many contradictory examples in both science and real life.
First of all, from the point of view of scientific research, there is currently no conclusive evidence that there are innate genetic differences in intelligence between different races. On the contrary, numerous studies have shown that intelligence is primarily the result of the influence of the acquired environment and educational level.
Take the Nobel laureate as an example, in the history of mankind, there is no shortage of outstanding scientists from black people. For example, George Washington Carver, a black educator, agriculturist, and botanist, and Benjamin Banneck, a black mathematician, astronomer, and inventor, to name a few.
Their accomplishments are a powerful refutation of Watson's biased remarks that "black people have low IQs." If, as Watson said, black people are destined to be imbecile, why are there so many brilliant black scientists?
Secondly, from the perspective of social life practice, a large number of outstanding figures in the economic, cultural and other fields have also emerged in the black community, such as Mandela, Obama, Jackson Jr., etc., all of whom have used their extraordinary achievements to demonstrate that black people can embrace the world as equals.
It can be said that Watson's remarks not only ignore the objective facts of scientific research, but also despise many outstanding representatives of the black community, which is really a superficial and one-sided perception.
It is true that the overall development of the African continent lags behind that of other regions, but the root cause of this is not the so-called "racial genetic" differences, but the result of long-term internal and external troubles and serious weakness of environmental and educational conditions.
Once these factors of decline are eliminated, Africans will be able to grow alongside people in other parts of the world. Judging the prospects of a race through the narrow lens of "racial discrimination" is too arbitrary and unfair.
In addition, from the perspective of humanitarianism, Watson's remarks are undoubtedly a kind of harm and blasphemy to human nature that violates the basic bottom line. Discriminating against and degrading any race is an open challenge to civilized society.
In this global village, each of us is created equal, all human beings are born with dignity, and no one is superior to others by virtue of skin color or ancestry. This is not only the basic value that modern civilized society should uphold, but also an important coordinate for the progress of human civilization.
"God created man equal, but man later went down a fork in the road. As this sentence says, if we continue to rest on our laurels and play the game of racial discrimination, humanity is doomed to never embark on the path of true civilization.
Write at the end
What is the bottom line of the value of a civilized society?
What is the ideal direction that human beings should pursue?
Do you have anything to say about this?