Great post, brooklyn dude. Yes, he definitely did himself in with the "black employees" statement.

I think it is possible to frame questions regarding genetic differences in a sound, unbiased way and I do think that some good (and, admittedly some harm) could come out of pursuing these lines of research. My gut reaction to Watson being vilified is regret that it will be that much harder for the next scientist to even ask these questions.

But I agree, James "Have you ever dealt with any black employees?" Watson was not the right guy to broach the topic.