"ALL OUR social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours -- whereas all the testing says not really." The speaker of this quotation taken from an article appearing in the Times of London is not a white supremacist or neo-Nazi, but a once-brilliant scientist James Watson -- co-discoverer of DNA's double helix -- whose recent bigoted and unsubstantiated claim created a firestorm of controversy.
Although the initial response to this statement was overwhelmingly negative (outside of white supremacist publications), a series of columns by William Saletan appeared in the mainstream online publication Slate.com defending Watson's claims that racial identity affects individual intelligence.
While Watson's comments could be dismissed as the senseless ravings of a single bigot, the publication of these columns in a mainstream publication should be sign to all Americans that the fight against explicit racial prejudice is far from won.On a more subtle level, these columns also signify that the unique conditions of new media publications risk legitimizing extremists by giving them a soap-box in mainstream media outlets.
Citing a series of supporting studies -- most notably a compilation of studies from controversial psychologist Arthur R. Jensen and from J. Philippe Rushton, who has written regular essays for the white-nationalist Web site vdare.com -- Saletan argues that a racial hierarchy of intelligence exists with Asians and Jews, on average most intelligent, blacks the least and whites somewhere between.
In substantiating his claim, Saletan not only cites works published by "scholars" widely considered to be racist by the mainstream academic community, but he also resurrects discredited arguments used by nineteenth-century proponents of scientific racism. Most notably, Saletan echoes 19th century proponents of head-measurement, arguing that Asians have larger brains than whites, and are therefore more intelligent, and that African-Americans have smaller brains than whites, and are correspondingly less.
Rebutting Saletan's claims is almost too easy to be worthwhile in a short column. Sufficed to say, the claims of proponents of racial hierarchy are excoriated by the mainstream scientific community -- including the American Federation of Scientists, which issued a statement saying that Watson's claim about racial intelligence hierarchy is "racist, vicious and unsupported by science" according to an Oct. 26 article in the Los Angeles Times. Moreover, claims of essential racial characteristics are belied by the arbitrary nature of racial categorization and the overwhelming genetic similarity across racial lines.
As wrong as Saletan's claims may be, their publication in a mainstream outlet such as Slate.com should worry any fair-minded American. By running a column using pseudo-science to justify racial prejudices, slate strengthens racist ideology by making it appear mainstream and supported by impartial scientific evidence.
Unfortunately, most Americans probably assume that such arguments are a relic of decades past. In order to make sure that the scientific racism of the nineteenth century does not gain strength in the 21st, fair-minded Americans must work to confront such claims wherever they appear, and pressure mainstream publications not to publish articles which rely on racist and inaccurate studies.
The publication of this article should also act as a wake-up call for consumers of new media such as online publications and blogs. While such publications offer a multiplicity of viewpoints, they are not subject to the same checks and balances to which traditional publications would be subject.
While a newspaper or magazine would most likely endure boycotts and protests if it published such an article, online media outlets are not accountable to communities such as cities or interest groups. Moreover, online publications often appear less "personal" than newspapers or magazines and are more likely to go unnoticed when they publish columns based on inaccurate and offensive information. As such, concerned citizens must work harder to counteract such claims and hold online publications accountable just like traditional media outlets.
Although the nation has made much progress toward racial equality since the days when scientific racism was a commonly accepted in mainstream newspapers and magazines, Americans must remain vigilant lest such discourse gain a foothold in new media. Otherwise, century old manifestations of racial oppression could gain new life in the newest modes of communication.
Adam Keith's column appears Tuesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at akeith@cavalierdaily.com.
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