Answers, Please!
February 22nd, 2008 by tempe
Well, I was hoping that someone might venture a guess or two at the Shock Quotes I listed below. Since it doesn’t look like that will happen, I’ll just post the answers FYI.
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 man must be above that of woman”
Answer to the first two quotes: Charles Darwin
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.”
This quote is from Thomas Huxley, a colleague of Darwin’s (and sometimes referred to as “Darwin’s Bulldog” because of his tenacious defense of the theory of evolution). Incidentally, Huxley was the one who first coined the term “agnostic.”
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.
This one is from H.F. Osborn, a renowned anthropologist from the early 20th century.
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.”
Quotes 5 and 6 are both from George Hunter, and they appear in Hunter’s book A Civic Biology. In case the name of that book escapes you, it is the textbook that was being used in Dayton, Tennessee in 1925 and set the stage for the infamous “Scopes Monkey Trial.”
7. “The most merciful thing a large family can do for one of its infant members is to kill it.”
This is from Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood.
8. “Some propositions are so dangerous that it may even be ethical to kill people for believing them.”
This last quote is from Sam Harris, one of the popular “new atheists.” I’m sure it would be comforting to find out what exactly those dangerous propositions are…
It flat out amazes me how ignorant people are of the natural consequences of Evolutionary sociology. Thanks for these quotes Tempe.
There are scandalous and horrifying episodes in the history of atheism and secularism. There are scandalous and horrifying episodes in the history of Christianity and other religious beliefs.
Pulling isolated statements and events out from all these traditions does not make a particularly compelling case for the virtuousness or credibility of any of these points of view.
Yes, dear Random, but one must ask oneself a couple of things:
1) Are these views consistent within the particular belief system? That is, do they reflect a pattern consistent with the morality inherent in the system, or do they reflect a deviation from it?
2) Why exactly are those events within atheism/naturalism/darwinism so “scandalous” and “horrifying”? The worldview behind atheism does not provide an adequate justification for making such statements, imho.
I would also add, as of note, how often the “dirty history” of atheism gets hidden. Most Christians would say that the Inquisition (which, comparatively speaking, was rather minor in comparison to the effects of 20th century atheism) ran contrary to Biblical Christianity. It’s difficult to say that about Darwinism, since Darwin said some of those very things that you found offensive.