From Clive Semmens
I would like to take issue with a couple of similes used in the article on
“gene police”
(4 March, p 28).
It talks of “a transposon—a good-for-nothing bit of selfish, parasitic
DNA that hangs around the genome like an unemployed relative”. Mention is also
made of “a placard-waving hooligan”.
These phrases may be intended to be funny; they may be intended to help
clarify the meaning; they may even be intended to be ironic. Whatever, they’re
needlessly offensive.
I have unemployed relatives. I have in the past been an unemployed relative.
None of us are good-for-nothing, selfish or parasitic. Of course some unemployed
folk are all those things, but in my experience most are not. Selfishness is
just as common among employed folk, and probably a lot more so among the
rich.
Advertisement
On the whole, people who carry placards don’t wave them, and they aren’t
usually hooligans either. A magazine like New Scientist shouldn’t be in
the business of reinforcing these kinds of stereotypes.
Clive.Semmens@arm.com
