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Are British a superiorly intelligent race? Why torture a genius hero?

posted 9 years ago by roraio
23 replies | jump to latest

At least that's the inference I got after watching this film. Alan Turing, Isaac Newton, Stephen Hawkins etc. they're all British and geniuses of all time who have impacted the whole world. Never heard of Bulgarian or Kosovan geniuses, for example. Do you think British are a particularly intelligent race?

As intelligent as they are, the Brits also prove to be the most horrible in some regards - some of their old laws. Why was Turing tortured to the point of suicide? (I personally see chemical castration as torture now in 21st century) The film sort of conveyed that Turing was a homosexual but also sexually abstinent (after losing his school friend). Wasn't there a pardon he could get for the unimaginable help he provided to the UK government during the war? Wasn't his helping to save a whole nation enough? He would have probably done more for science and his country had he lived longer! They killed one of their own geniuses and war heroes! Having a distinct lifestyle does not render one indecent! What were the Brits thinking back in the 50s?

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[–] louiseculmer 9 years ago

britain was not the only country that had laws against homosexual sex. Some still do. in fqct there are some where it carried the death penalty. Turing himself chose chemical castration as an alternative to prison. He does not seem to have allowed it to stop him working etc. And frankly i don't think Turing should have been made an exception of. he was no more or less guilty than any of the other men who were prosecuted under the same law. he died from taking poison, whether it was suicice or an accident is not entirely clear. nobody killed him. the chemical castration may or may not have had something to do with his taking poision.

[–] mpboylanjr-54038 9 years ago

I have to think this is a troll. It's the oldest discussed topic on this MB. Also , it seems like your trying to drum up some kind of argument that there's never been geniuses in other countries , and the subject of the gay thing has been beaten to death. Many countries to this day have homosexuality listed as illegal. I think your fishing.

THERES NO ROOM IN MY CIRCUS TENT FOR YOU !!!!

[–] chas437 9 years ago

The Caucasian race is a superiorly intelligent race. The Germans were at least a decade ahead of the Allies in rocketry, for example.

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[–] chas437 9 years ago

I'm using a standard definition of Caucasians as people of European descent, as in the definition used by census takers.

While it may be said that the Germans were ahead of the Allies in rocket development for war purposes,

Yup, that's what I meant.

Also, I was merely using the Germans as an example of a nation other than England that developed game changing technology during WW2. I could have mentioned the Americans for their development of the proximity fuse or the atomic bomb.

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[–] nakedgirl 9 years ago

the baddest *beep* scientist in all of *beep* england

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[–] lostn 9 years ago

As intelligent as they are, the Brits also prove to be the most horrible in some regards - some of their old laws.

When was slavery abolished in the US again?

It's easy to judge a country unfavorably by standards of our time.

I want you to watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwz6B8BFkb4

A quote from Abraham Lincoln:

I will say, then, that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor
of bringing about in any way the social and political
equality of the white and black races; that I am not, nor
ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of
negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to
intermarry with white people; and I will say, in addition
to this, that there is a physical difference between the
white and black races which I believe will forever forbid
the two races living together on terms of social and
political equality. And in as much as they cannot so live,
while they do remain together there must be the position
of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man
am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the
white race.

[–] infracaninophile 9 years ago

A quote from Abraham Lincoln:

Fine, but to point to something from 100 years before Turing's case (for the record, your quotation is from the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858) fails to show that the U.S. is at least as backward as the UK was in the 1950's -- until the Supreme Court struck down the prohibitions against various "unnatural acts" which included practices common among married couples but forbidden to them as well, the laws in many U.S. states were far more punitive and included many more practices and populations than the Labouchere Amendment which prohibited "gross indecency" and which was the law under which Turing was charged.

The Supreme Court case in the USA that overturned a plethora of these laws at the state level was Lawrence vs. Texas and took place in 2003! Fifty years after Turing's case, far more punitive laws were on the books in the USA.

I think we have a case of the proverbial mote and the beam here (from the earlier poster).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mote_and_the_Beam

For a list of the states and their various puritanical laws, see this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodomy_laws_in_the_United_States

Edited to fix URL. Works now.

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[–] infracaninophile 9 years ago

Your second link

Thanks, I fixed it. Apparently there was an extra space in the HTML coding.

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[–] Mehki_Girl 9 years ago

Know do know Brits is not a race, don't you?

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[–] wildshadowstar 9 years ago

The guy that figured out how to separate plasma from blood was a black American. Brits nor Caucasians have intelligence pigeonholed.

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[–] SapphEyeR 8 years ago

As intelligent as they are, the Brits also prove to be the most horrible in some regards - some of their old laws. Why was Turing tortured to the point of suicide? (I personally see chemical castration as torture now in 21st century)

They probably thought of it as a humane cure for something they just couldn't wrap their heads around.

And they have plenty of company. While Western countries have progressed in this regard since the 20th century, there are many, many countries around the world today where being gay can get you punished by death.

So why single out the British?