William, he is on his own on this one. He is in so deep that the current has taken him deep to the Atlantic and hypothermia is setting in on his mind. Seriously, how can he make such a convoluted statement? Intelligence is based on what you are testing for in a given instrument. If you are the majority of a given culture or society in the Western World and you have been ruling much of the world in around 1500 AD, you create the paradigm for what is regarded as knowledge and what is regarded as intelligence and then you create the instruments which in your view verify your paradigm of the world. The problem is that when you introduce "outsiders" which is how the collective Western Culture (or we in the establishment)treat people who are not part of the majority as people who must abandon their culture and ways of thinking and adopt our way of thinking immediately. Yet, we create institutions of learning and school districts which are often inferior in terms of funding, expectations, support, nurturing and yes even teachers who do not understand the culture. We also create an environment economically and socially where the child or even the college student is almost systematically a lottery winner if they escape through higher education because of disease, crime, poor schools, unplanned pregnancy, divorce, or unsupportive home environments. Dr. Watson is a brilliant man, but he is absolutely illiterate on this issue because there is no way instrument nor is there a concoction of instruments that can change the human heart or mind that has caused inequities in terms of race, ethnicity, gender and now socio-economic status. If he wants to really make a change why not research why and how people in power utilize their power to suppress those in the minority status' that I mentioned above. Most people do not realize, but the reality of the situation is that South Africa has the resources, wealth, nuclear power and a huge African majority (at least 70% or higher) with an African head of state but the Afrikaans (who are white) still control the wealth and knowledge industries despite having a population of less than 15% (I am being generous). Why is this so? Are the Africans dumb? No, they have only been free since the early 1990's. Nigeria is rich with oil and minerals too and yet it has huge issues because of this too. The Americans are even more interesting because African Americans have truly been free since 1965 to vote and they have not been economically free since the early 1970's when Nixon enacted the affirmative action laws. However, the Reagan and now Bush White Houses have systematically gone after affirmative action and even voting rights and have allowed jails to become packed with young blacks instead of colleges and schools. There is a problem when less than 14% of the population makes up a large percentage if not the majority of one's jails and the majority of dropouts and college students. This is systemic and for a person of his stature to miss this reality it simply incredulous and speaks to bigger issues with that individual and a society at large because his views are the views of the academic system, the governmental system and the society at large and he has been rewarded. The bottom line is that paradigms are often created and shaped by those in charged to profit the most even when it means there will be a lot of losers in market based cultures like ours which value capital over people of no-influence. The bottom line is that this is a fixed game, and just like the folks in Vegas who win big are few and far between the same is true of minorities who were former slaves in a culture that still oppresses them institutionally. Just my thoughts. -----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of William Bain Sent: Friday, October 19, 2007 2:32 AM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-L] racist comments by James Watson? I just wanted to note that the allegedly racist statements by James Watson have been partially retracted it seems. My only source on this I hasten to add is the online articel in today's Independent. Also, I haven't read the actuall interiview in which Watson's comments were made, and if anyone knows where to find that interview I'd be interested. Or other comments in the scientific and/or journalistic press. So the latest article I'm referring to is at http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article3075642.ece wb William Bain PhD Student Comparative Literature Department of Spanish Philology Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! 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