From: Tim Tyler
Sent: 07 November 2007 21:20

I'm writing regarding the factual errors in the article:

"Watson's Folly"

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v449/n7165/full/449948a.html

The article claims Watson "retracted the outburst" - which is
false.

The article also claims Watson "acknowledged that there is no
evidence for what he claimed about racial differences in
intelligence" - which is also false.

What happened was that Watson apologized to those who had
*misinterpreted* his comments to be about genetic
inferiority:

``To all those who have drawn the inference from my words that
  Africa, as a continent, is somehow genetically inferior, I can
  only apologize unreservedly. That is not what I meant. More
  importantly from my point of view, there is no scientific
  basis for such a belief.''

Watson did not mention genetics or inferiority in his original
quoted comments.

Since these seem like serious errors, which convey inaccurate
impressions about Watson's comments to your readers, perhaps
you could print a correction?

It would be sad if these inaccurate comments remained in your
archives without some kind of retraction or correction being
made.

Or perhaps another editorial could explain how Nature joined
what Richard Dawkins described as the ''Illiberal and
Intolerant "Thought Police"'' who have been persecuting Dr
Watson in the press of late with misquotations and
misinterpretations?
--
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 |im |yler  http://timtyler.org/