http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2001/05/04/darwin/index.html
Let’s suppose you were living in a state which was one of the most Bible-thumping states in the US. Suppose, too, that your state was one of the most racist. But I repeat myself- obviously either condition implies that you’re living in the Bible belt.
Under such conditions, wouldn’t it be a natural, fundie porn-ish maneuver to try to blame racism on Darwin? Never mind all that stuff about “Sons of Ham” or “if slavery were wrong, the Bible would forbid it” or “Phineas priests.” Obviously Ota Benga trumps the Hottentot Venus, once you enter the world of fundie porn.
It just makes me want to puke. That’s it. It inspires waves of nausea. This represents complete misinterpretation and ignorance of even the simplest tenets of evolution. There is so much misinformation here that I don’t even know where to begin. As we have been through a million times on this board, modern biology (of which evolution is a part) actually reaches the conclusion that races are a social construct with no basis in molecular genetics. If races don’t scientifically exist, you can’t very well have racism, can you?
Well, maybe next week the distinguished Solons from Louisiana will pass their resolution condemning the Bible, on the grounds that some have used it to justify racism. I’m sure it was just an oversight that they haven’t done so already, in fact.
I was wondering when someone would bring this up. This is the stupidest thing I’ve seen in weeks. Yeah, that’s right…everone knows that slavery was instituted after Charles Darwin published “The Origin of Species”. And it wasn’t until we finally got creationism back in the schools that we ended segregation…
Thanks(?) for bringing this to my attention. I was born and raised in LA. I moved to NY about twenty years ago. LA has a big problem with racism and it really upsets me to see someone try to blame racism on Darwin rather than actually doing something to combat the real problem – ignorance.
MEBuckner
It is not the distinguished Solons from Louisiana who are proposing this resolution. salons.com is just reporting the resolution proposed by the distinguished(???) representative Sharon Weston Broome. By my reading of the Salon story, Salon thinks that this is sad.
You do make a valid point about the Bible though. Growing up in South LA, I heard that blacks were inferior because they bore the mark of Cain several times. I don’t recall ever hearing Darwin used to justify the supposed inferiority of any race.
Hmm, you think maybe Louisiana state legislators are evidence “that some humans have evolved further than others”?
Seriously, though, I’m sure everyone is aware that Darwin was long used (or more accurately, perverted) as scientific proof that some races were just more evolved than others. I mostly find it amusing that dumbass creationists are dragging up this specious connection between Darwin and racist thought to push their agenda. Once again, it just shows the utter ignorance about the theory they’re attacking.
Ah, Louisiana. Always so quick to make my state look good in comparison!
sigh I had the opportunity to live in Louisiana for 14 years (between '72 and '86, minus two years I was in the service). Hence, I’ve had the opportunity to see its history and politics up close. It’s not a pretty sight. Nothing they do surprises me any more.
Well, somebody with a racist agenda will use anything to justify it. I’m sure somebody could think up a creative way to justify racism via gravity if they tried hard enough.
IMO, the fact that some jerk latches onto something (be it the bible, darwin, newton, the sun, bugs, whatever) claiming falsely that it supports his personal politics doesn’t say anything either positive or negative about the source, only about the person making the claim.
Thanks(?) for bringing this to my attention. I was born and raised in LA. I moved to NY about twenty years ago. LA has a big problem with racism and it really upsets me to see someone try to blame racism on Darwin rather than actually doing something to combat the real problem – ignorance.
MEBuckner
It is not the distinguished Solons from Louisiana who are proposing this resolution. salons.com is just reporting the resolution proposed by the distinguished(???) representative Sharon Weston Broome. By my reading of the Salon story, Salon thinks that this is sad.
You do make a valid point about the Bible though. Growing up in South LA, I heard that blacks were inferior because they bore the mark of Cain several times. I don’t recall ever hearing Darwin used to justify the supposed inferiority of any race.
I experienced this very thing recently here at the SDMB. In the Hovind Evolution Challenge thread, I brought up his ludicrous claim about Darwin’s racism. Of course I defended the good name of Darwin, but I’m not sure I did an adequate job. grienspace, a seemingly reasonable chap otherwise, was convinced that Darwin was a horrible racist, despite my best efforts to present evidence to the contrary. Perhaps he had already made up his mind before our discussion, but I eventually became frustrated and went on a semi-rant.
Darwin wasn’t himself racist, but he had the misfortune of associating with scientists who pushed forward the theory of eugenics and what became known as Social Darwinism. Darwin himself did repudiate these movements as gross misapplications to his theories, but until WWII, those applied ‘sciences’ were going strong. Those who didn’t care for evolution in the first place naturally blamed Darwin for the development of human eugenics and Social Darwinism (I ought to know; in one of the most infamous threads ever on this board, I mistakenly made that connection that a moderator used as resolution).
