Ok. I brought it up because "I don't see race" is a popular rebuttal to any attempt to discuss racism - as if sticking our heads in the sand will protect us from predators. I'm sure you've seen this, too. So when I see it, there's some reflex involved.

Science itself is, of course, not influenced by the race of the scientist. However, racism has been rationalized by "science" for centuries, which is what Watson was doing. That's what the article is about. I kind of wish the author had reached back to debunked nonsense like phrenology to show the history of how "scientific racism" works, but it is what it is.

I thought the author's point that using exceptionalism to reinforce "scientific racism" was really interesting and important. I think there's a lot of valuable ground to discover if we analyze racism itself through the lens of science, to figure out why so many people will make irrational excuses to justify a morally repugnant belief system.