Monday, February 21, 2005

Summers' Supporters

By now, I'm sure all of my readers have heard about the idiotic comments made by Harvard president and former Clinton Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers about the possibility that it is genetics that keep women from succeeding in science. Absolutely stupid. Lots of bloggers have commented at length on this. What is amazing me is how many people have defended the plausibility of Summers' comments. Lots of people evidentially believe that genetics play a big role in the success of people at various tasks in life.

Would these people be defending Summers if he said blacks may not have the genetic makeup to succeed at math and science. Because there's not a lot of blacks in science in this country. I ask this both to point out the obvious lack of mental integrity of Summers and his supporters as well as to say that these kinds of comments are on par with eugenics and scientific racism. Amazing that these observations are always made by white males who do succeed in their chosen professions. It must be because of our superior genetic makeup/racial background/catch phrase of the era.