Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Are Jews beyond criticism?

Nobel-prize-winning geneticist James D. Watson does not think so:

"In an interview profile for the magazine Watson asks rhetorically, "Should you be allowed to make an anti-Semitic remark?" He answered: "Yes, because some anti-Semitism is justified. Just like some anti-Irish feeling is justified. If you can't be criticized, that's very dangerous. You lose the concept of a free society."

Source

Watson has copped a lot of flak over that comment but it is clearly absurd to say that ANY group is beyond criticism and I cannot see that he is making any point other than that.

I will now go on to make two statements that I think are entirely defensible, one that is critical of the Irish and one that is critical of Jews. And bear in mind that I have plenty of Irish ancestry and have always been a cast-iron supporter of Israel:

The Irish have been very badly served by their religious loyalties

The overwhelming Leftism of American Jews shows that there are some ways in which they are NOT smart

You will find an extended version of the second statement above here -- in a major Jewish periodical. And I don't think anyone will argue with my statement about the Irish!

Some of the criticisms of Watson are grossly unfair. He is criticized for saying that Ashkenazi (Western) Jews have unusually high inborn IQs. Yet that is a perfectly respectable view among geneticists -- and he IS a geneticist. See here.

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