‘Scientific’ racism only a theory
About two weeks ago, Nobel laureate James Watson made a ridiculous statement. The scientific researcher that co-discovered the structure of DNA in 1994 claimed that Africans have lesser intelligence, naturally, than other types of people. Obviously the 79 year-old scientific researcher has gone senile and should probably pass along the test tubes to the next generation. On a scale of one to ten, with ten being a very stupid statement, James Watson’s ranks somewhere around a fourteen.
Watson, of course, aptly apologized for his remarks and resigned his position as Chancellor of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. While his appropriate actions in the aftermath of his racist gaffe are good, it still remains a shame that his remarks may give racist individuals what they can claim as "scientific" support.
Scientists everywhere, rightfully so, are now criticizing Dr. Watson for his insane claim. Science classes may now even hesitate to mention James Watson for the shame he caused the subject. After all, most everyone would agree that racism should not be taught as scientifically correct, especially in educational institutions. Unfortunately, what most people don’t realize is that racism is being taught in science classes all throughout public schools.
Of course racism isn’t outright taught. But racism is accepted as general scientific truth by educators and scientists alike. Before I confuse you anymore, let me give you the history. Carolus Linnaeus created the taxonomy system in the 18th century. As we were taught in elementary, middle and high school, Linnaeus used binomial nomenclature to name the different kinds of animals, and their species. He even went a step further and noted general characteristics about each animal.
Linnaeus classified humans as Homo sapiens, but also went a step farther. Noticing the difference in color, he made generalizations (called stereotypes today) about different types of people. He classified the Native Americans as reddish, stubborn and easily angered. He considered Africans to be black, relaxed and negligent. Asians, to Linnaeus, were sallow, avaricious, and easily distracted. Lastly, he classified Europeans as white, gentle and inventive. In essence, Linnaeus uses taxonomy to equate a slew of negative attributes to non-white people, and when he describes white people he uses synonyms for nice and smart.
If any scientist in the world were to say or publish those remarks they would be criticized and probably fired from their job. You can bet their ideas would never be taught in a science classroom. Except that Carolus Linnaeus is taught in science classrooms. In fact, he’s thought of pretty highly in the scientific community. This started a school of thought called "scientific racism" and was often used to justify injustices like slavery and more recently Nazism.
I wish that I could tell you that Linnaeus was the only racist scientist that our schools teach. Unfortunately he’s not. Charles Darwin made numerous racist points in his evolutionary masterpiece On the Origin of the Species. In chapter seven, Darwin says, "at some future period … the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate the savage races of the world. The anthropomorphous apes will no doubt be exterminated. The break between man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilized state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as now between the Negro or Australian and the gorilla."
Darwin makes it apparent that he views African-descended people and Australian aborigines as anthropomorphous creatures, which makes them an evolutionary link between the apes and what he calls the "civilized" white man.
Leading scientists have even argued that Darwinism is responsible for many injustices and atrocities that have occurred in just the past several decades. Dr. Richard Weikart of the Discovery Institute noted in 2004, "Darwinism played a key role not only in the rise of eugenics, but also in euthanasia, infanticide, abortion, and racial extermination, all ultimately embraced by the Nazis." He’s not the only one that feels this way. In 2001 African American State Representative Sharon Broome of Louisiana sponsored a resolution to condemn Darwinism as racist and for the role it played in Nazism.
Considering how politically correct our nation has become, especially in public schools, it is a wonder that racist scientific thought is still widely taught. It is also a wonder why there is such uproar when a Cobb County school board decides to put a sticker on a science textbook which proclaims that the theory of evolution is just a theory. Fortunately, Darwin’s backwards thinking "scientific" racism is only a theory. And that is how it should stay.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Nov 1 2007. Filed under Opinion.
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