This is a prime example of why no one should ever apologize for an intellectually defensible statement. No good can come of it. You’ll lose your job and be made an outcast whether you apologize or not. At least Watson and Larry Summers would have maintained their integrity if they had refused to back down. By apologizing they gained nothing, still lost their jobs, and are still being smeared as racist (or sexist, in the case of Summers). By apologizing you do nothing but strengthen the hand of the thought police.
A similar thing happened to Don Imus, though in his case what he said was stupid. He owed the Rutgers basketball ladies an apology. However, that should have been the end of it, and it certainly would have been the end if he had insulted whites, Christians, or someone similarly unprotected by the current “soft totalitarian” political atmosphere. Instead, he went on Sharpton’s show and did the total grovel routine, and still got fired. Admittedly, what he said was stupid and offensive, but was it worthy of a firing, even when he was willing to apologize?
This nonsense will only get worse. We’re already seeing people who don’t approve of homosexuality or “diversity” being sent off for “rehab”. I hate to think of what our nation will be like in fifty years if this keeps up.
He made a mistake by making it an off the cuff thus is so statement. Had he put this issue into the form of a question (as science begins) then he would be on his way to bringing his lab billions in grant dollars. But now the PC inquisitors having waved their tom-tom rattles over their heads will have their way.