"It would be interesting to see if he's had his DNA done."
Scientist - Griffin hijacked my work to make race claim about 'British aborigines', Times Online, 23 October 2009
Lots of traffic online about the British National Party's leader's TV appearance, but his distortion of science is what caught my eye. I have a degree in genetics, and I'm painfully aware of science's shameful history of lending support to racism, so it's an area of particular interest to me.
The scientist Griffin quoted, Oxford geneticist Stephen Oppenheimer, readily debunks Griffin's claim that "British aborigines" have lived in the British Isles for 17,000 years. I especially enjoyed the additional comments from Christopher Stringer, head of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain project:"The idea that there's any such thing as a pure, white British race is just not scientifically verifiable. All of us are hybrids in some sense. My Y chromosome seems to come from Ireland, my mitochondrial DNA seems to be European. It would be interesting to see if he's had his DNA done. He says he wants only indigenous Britons, but who are we? The reality is messy."
ETA: Channel 4's useful FactCheck on Griffin's statements.
ETA ETA: The hypocrisy of British tabloids over Griffin exposed, shock horror. :)
Lots of traffic online about the British National Party's leader's TV appearance, but his distortion of science is what caught my eye. I have a degree in genetics, and I'm painfully aware of science's shameful history of lending support to racism, so it's an area of particular interest to me.
The scientist Griffin quoted, Oxford geneticist Stephen Oppenheimer, readily debunks Griffin's claim that "British aborigines" have lived in the British Isles for 17,000 years. I especially enjoyed the additional comments from Christopher Stringer, head of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain project:"The idea that there's any such thing as a pure, white British race is just not scientifically verifiable. All of us are hybrids in some sense. My Y chromosome seems to come from Ireland, my mitochondrial DNA seems to be European. It would be interesting to see if he's had his DNA done. He says he wants only indigenous Britons, but who are we? The reality is messy."
ETA: Channel 4's useful FactCheck on Griffin's statements.
ETA ETA: The hypocrisy of British tabloids over Griffin exposed, shock horror. :)