Gairney Bridge

“Shock quotes” is my term for a favorite tactic of skeptics/atheists who wish to attack Christianity by turning to a particular passage in the Bible (usually the Old Testament), find a passage that teaches something they don’t like or think is out of accord with modern sentiments, quote it without any consideration of surrounding context or historical/textual considerations, and pat themselves on the back for the job they think they’ve done well. Of course, when pressed into answering why the practice is objectionable, or when asked to justify their own ethical claims, or when it is demonstrated that they are being biased in this approach (they would usually not handle other forms of literature in such an arbitrary manner), then the bob-and-weave begins to brim to the surface. My own experience has been that it usually boils down to personal subjective opinions (”I just don’t like that!”), which are pretty much irrelevant in such discussions.

Well, two can play that game. I’ve compiled a list of quotes below. Feel free to commit on how revolting they are. The challenge, however, is to see if you can come up with the person who said (or wrote) the following statements. They are quite revealing! I’ll post the answers next week, or as folks answer them correctly in the comments.

As a hint, the first two quotes are from the same person, and the third is from a colleague of that same person. Only the last quote is from someone alive today. Enjoy.

1.  ”At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world.”
2. “The chief distinction in the intellectual powers of the two sexes is shown by man’s attaining to a higher eminence, in whatever he takes up, than can woman — whether requiring deep thought, reason, or imagination, or merely the use of the senses and hands…. We may also infer … [that] the average of mental power in must must be above that of woman.”
3. “No rational man, cognizant of the facts, believes that the average Negro is the equal, still the superior, of the white man. … It is simply incredible [to think] that … he will be able to compete successfully with his bigger-brained and smaller jawed rival, in a contest which is to be carried own by thoughts and not by bites.”
4. “The standard of intelligence of the average adult Negro is similar to that of the eleven-year-old youth of the species Homo sapiens.”
5. “If such people [i.e., the physically and mentally handicapped] were lower animals, we would probably kill them off to prevent them from spreading. Humanity will not allow this, but we do have the remedy of separating the sexes in asylums or other places and in various ways preventing intermarriage and the possibilities of perpetuating such a low and degenerate race.”
6. “At the present time there exist upon the earth five races or varieties of man, each very different from the other in instincts, social customs, and, to an extent, in structure. These are the Ethiopian or negro type, originating in Africa; the Malay or brown race, from the islands of the Pacific; the American Indian; the Mongolian or yellow race, including the natives of China, Japan, and the Eskimos; and finally, the highest type of all, the Caucasians, represented by the civilized white inhabitants of Europe and America.”
7. “The most merciful thing a large family can do for one of its infant members is to kill it.”
8. “Some propositions are so dangerous that it may even be ethical to kill people for believing them.”