#fan fact: Spencer also supported social Darwinism

[vesiclesalt]

Daily latin-biology #2

Evolution came from the latin word "evolvere" which means to unroll, usually a scroll.

It was used in science before Darwin, but typically more in the sense of the development of an idea or individual. In the Theory of Evolution, means the development of an entire species.

Funnily enough, the word was only used once (the closing paragraph!) in Darwin's "Origin of Species". He prefered calling it descent with modification.

The term was popularised by biologists such as Herbert Spencer.

[krisihistoryblog-blog]

Does Nazi Racial Thought have a Darwinian descent?

 Darwinism is a theory of biological evolution developed by Charles Darwin and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to compete, survive, and reproduce. We are all familiar with it as it has been on the curriculum for decades – but did it inspire Hitler to pursue his racial policies?

A less widely known follow up theory is Social Darwinism. Despite its name, Social Darwinism derived most directly from the writings of Herbert Spencer. He created the idea of the struggle for survival – suggesting that it led to an inevitable progress in society. This broadly meant evolving from the barbarian stage of society (less culturally developed) to the industrial stage (by which humans had evolved enough intellectually to be able to create industrial states).

It was the start of a belief that some races were a lot more ‘developed’ that others, which is a key aspect of racist beliefs in general.

Spencer also coined the term “survival of the fittest”. He was responsible for much of the foundations of Social Darwinism, however Charles Darwin did state that human progress was driven by evolutionary processes – meaning that intelligence was refined by competition.

Historical opinion on whether or not Darwinism played through in Nazi Racial thought varies a lot. Historian George Mosse argues that human evolution was incompatible with Nazi ideology, as they stressed the immutability of the German race. Anne Harrington suggests that Nazis liked some aspects of Social Darwinism, especially the struggle for existence, but not human evolution.

 Most people would think the idea of a common ancestor did not appeal to Nazis, as it would imply human equality, however in the 20th century, most German Darwinists emphasized the inequality and variation. Haeckel and other Darwinists saw evolution as evidence against human equality, not supporting it.

Mein Kampf

In 1925, Hitler’s autobiography, Mein Kampf (My Struggle) was published. According to the introduction, the aim of the book is to explain his philosophy and his goals. Race superiority is a large theme in the book.  In his speeches and writings Hitler often invoked Darwinian concepts, such as evolution. In one of the chapters, “Race and People”, evolution plays a central role in his argument. Furthermore, that is the only chapter which was also separately published as a pamphlet, which meant it circulated widely and promoted Nazi ideology.

 In the chapter, Hitler explains his beliefs surrounding that he calls “iron laws of nature”. He was very against the mixing of races, as he thought that would go against the natural process of human evolution:

 “If nature does not wish that weaker individuals should mate with the stronger, she wishes even less that a superior race should intermingle with an inferior one; because in such case, all her efforts throughout hundreds of thousands of years, to establish an evolutionary higher stage of being, may thus be rendered futile.”

 He goes into giving examples of places where racial and cultural mixing has occurred on a large scale and places where it hasn’t, in order to show the difference, and what he considered the preserving of a “pure” racial stock. Hitler gives North America as an example of where (at the time) there wasn’t large scale racial mixing.

 “…has kept its racial stock pure and did not mix it with any other racial stock, has come to dominate the American Continent and will remain master of it as long as that element (North American) does not fall a victim to the habit of adulterating its blood.

In short, the results of miscegenation are always the following:

a)            The level of the superior race becomes lowered;

b)            Physical and mental degeneration sets in, thus leading slowly but steadily towards a progressive       drying up of the vital sap.”

 These beliefs may seem quite extreme to people today, but at the time they were a very common value. To give some historical context, Mein Kampf was published in 1925, which coincided with the Great Migration period (1910 -1920). In those years thousands of African Americans moved into industrial cities in America to full the labour shortages after World War One.

This, quite sudden, change in the racial proportions that made up the Northern cities increased racial tension. Segregation was legally enforced, and inter-racial marriages were illegal – which explains the lack of miscegenation. There was also a wide spread belief of White Supremacy – which is very prominently shown by the KKK which was actually at its peak in 1925. Kathleen M. Blee. a sociology professor at the University of Pittsburgh states: "In some places I studied in Indiana," she says, "the local KKK was listed in the city directory, along with sewing clubs and agricultural societies."

 The point of the passage focusing on evolution in this chapter of Mein Kampf is to apply these principles to human racial relations. Thus, making it apparent that Hitler had evolved but were also still evolving, and through his racial policy he aimed to advance human evolution.

 As well as the Aryan race, Hitler also seemed to be a fan of the Nordic race - mostly found in Scandinavia, Northwestern Europe, and countries surrounding the Baltic Sea, such as Germans and Finnic peoples. He believed the Nordic race had developed its key traits such as propensity for hard work, physical prowess, due to the harsh climate. The reason being that in a harsh climate only the most adaptable, strong, most cooperative individuals would survive to pass on their traits.

  Darwinism in the Nazi Biology Curriculum

 Like the majority of Europe, evolutionary biology had been entrenched in the curriculum long before the Nazi take over and continues to be long after their fall from power. Nazis continued to stress evolution, including the evolution of human races. Textbooks espoused Darwinism and rejected Lamarckism (the hypothesis that an organism can pass on characteristics that it has acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime to its offspring).

The picture above is of a race education class, 1943.

 So, to what extend was Darwinism the inspiration of Nazi Racial thinking?

 It is important to note that anti-Semitism was widespread across Europe and Asia and pre-dates the Nazi regime, and so does racism. An example being the large-scale pogroms across the Russian Empire targeting Jews, which started in the beginning of the 19th century. The most commonly known example or racism is the slave trade, also pre-dating the Nazi regime. As prejudice is a deeply rooted issue in human nature it is very hard to pin one event or theory as the cause for another. Thus, it is very hard to pin down the inspiration to the Nazi racial policy as it had many factors varying from geographical location, to genetics, to involvement in the war, and religion.

However, it is clear through Hitler’s entrenched belief of the, to him, direct link between human evolution and racial superiority, that Darwinism does play a fairly significant role in his beliefs.

 While doing research on this, I didn’t find anyone addressing the fact that Hitler could have just been using Darwinism to explain his beliefs as by then it was a largely accepted theory. Giving a theory that leading scientists supported as the basis of Aryan racial superiority would make his beliefs more credible, as opposed to basing them purely off of personal experience or just the common discontent with foreigners, Jews or just different races. Although humans tend to build their beliefs from personal beliefs and emotions, when someone, especially a politician is putting forward an argument which they want to be popularly supported, they do need facts to back it up.

 This is exactly what arguments on racial superiority lack. Throughout history, including today, we do see lots of people from all races believing theirs is the best. People tend to have a certain amount of pride in where they’re from – whether it be a region or country- and while this isn’t inherently wrong in my opinion (excluding extreme cases or violent expressions of such beliefs) it just proves how subjective these beliefs are. Therefore, if someone was trying to convince a whole nation that one race is superior to the other, to the point where the supposedly inferior one has to be eliminated, they would really need some scientific, economic, political etc., figures and facts that they base it on.

 Hitler uses well known and current examples when justifying his belief on the mixing of races and keeping the races “pure”, which on one hand could just be seen as the logical thing to use when presenting an argument as current issues are the most relevant. However, on the hand, using very current examples, which are kind of common knowledge, could be seen as a tactic to target a wider variety of people, some of whom wouldn’t be as informed of the reasoning behind the mentioned examples, this making it easier to pursue them the reason is simpler.

 So, to give a short answer to an issue on which there is no major agreement on, a need for a public support may or may not have been the reasoning behind Hitler basing Nazi racial policy on Darwin’s theory of human evolution.

[thisdaynews]

The alt-right manifesto that has Trumpworld talking

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/the-alt-right-manifesto-that-has-trumpworld-talking/

The alt-right manifesto that has Trumpworld talking

An alt-right supporter marches in Portland, Oregon. | Karen Ducey/Getty Images

politics

An anonymous book author has lit the online right on fire — including some in the president’s orbit.

The most important political book of the past year just might be a grammatically challenged manifesto in favor of nude sunbathing written under the pen name Bronze Age Pervert.

Where Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” inspired generations of libertarians to enter politics, and Aaron Sorkin’s “The West Wing” did the same for idealistic liberals, a cohort of young, right-wing men are today gravitating toward “Bronze Age Mindset.” The self-published book urges them to join the armed forces in preparation for the onset of military rule.

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Since its publication in June 2018, the book has gained a following online, and its author, known to his fans as BAP for short, has come to the attention of notable figures on the Trumpist right. Earlier this month, the book was the subject of a 5,000-word review by Michael Anton, a conservative intellectual who served as a spokesman for Donald Trump’s National Security Council. Anton concludes by warning, “In the spiritual war for the hearts and minds of the disaffected youth on the right, conservatism is losing. BAP-ism is winning.”

Anton is just one of the Trump world figures who has taken notice. “It’s still a cult book,” said another former Trump White House official. “If you’re a young person, intelligent, adjacent in some way to the right, it’s very likely you would have heard of it.”

Right-wing agitator Mike Cernovich said he knows of young staffers in the White House who are fans of Bronze Age Pervert’s Twitter account — where the author posts photos of buff, shirtless men and promotes far-right positions on the culture war — though he does not know if they have read the book.

The 200-page book mixes Nietzschean philosophy with critiques of contemporary Western society, denigrating homosexuality, Judiasm, Islam, feminism and much else along the way. “Inside every noble Greek was an unquenchable lust for power,” is one fairly typical statement. “Modern world not bad just because modern,” is another, displaying the author’s habit of lapsing into broken English by dropping articles. The book claims that the leaders of the European Union have “tiny moleman eyes.” Many of its passages are profane and unprintable.

The book’s ascendance in online, far-right circles is indicative of the latest phase of the culture war that has fueled Trump’s presidency.

Most of the well-known figures associated with the alt-right or “alt-lite” — Milo Yiannopoulos, Gavin McInnes, Richard Spencer — have been successfully demoralized, deplatformed or otherwise banished from the public square. But this has not eliminated the underlying source of their relevance: disaffected young men, mostly white, with internet access.

In large part, what’s left in the online spaces they inhabit are pseudonymous figures like Bronze Age Pervert, whose output tends to be more intellectualized, even esoteric.

While the loose alt-right network that became infamous in 2016 was filled with attention-seeking provocateurs who cheered on Trump’s rise, the new voices in this space are alienated and ambivalent about Trump. And far from being inspired by his signature call to “Make America Great Again,” their view of contemporary American society is decidedly dystopian.

Bronze Age Pervert is active on Twitter in a network of similar, pseudonymous accounts with names like Just Loki and 17thCenturyShytePost that revel in mythic, aristocratic pasts while trafficking in racism and anti-Semitism.

The memes — catchy ideas and images that are widely shared online — produced in such far-right internet circles, such as Pepe the Frog, regularly intrude on mainstream political discourse, sometimes even getting adopted by Trump himself. And the current fixations of these figures offer a glimpse of the concepts gaining traction there.

Figures in this space frequently refer to their belief that elite media is preparing Americans for a future in which their quality of life is greatly diminished and they are reduced to eating insects for protein.

“What is up with all these ‘we need to learn to eat cockroaches and maybe each other haha’ articles,” tweeted Just Loki on Wednesday, linking to a Newsweek article referencing cannibalism. “Perfect beer food—wash down your meal worms with a nice IPA!” tweeted 17thCenturyShytePost sarcastically in response to another article about eating insects earlier this month.

And because this corner of the internet fixates on population genetics and has a high affinity for Slavic and northern European cultures, there is a fascination with the Udmurt people, a small ethnic group that lives mostly in Russia, and the fact that a high proportion of its members have red hair.

The accounts also oppose mass migration, echoing the themes of the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory invoked by the gunman who perpetrated the Christchurch, New Zealand, massacre, and apparently again by the El Paso shooter. The idea, articulated in a 2011 book by the French writer Renaud Camus, claims that European elites are secretly conspiring to replace their countries’ white majorities with immigrants from Africa and the Middle East.

In his book, Bronze Age Pervert describes Western societies as ruled by “bug men” and “lords of lies,” urging readers to pursue a life of “sun and steel” — that is, tanning and weightlifting.

Across 77 chapters of cryptic musing, the book describes social justice as “disgusting parasitism,” opines that women who succeed in traditionally male domains are “spiritual lesbians,” and complains that the U.S. intelligence services employ too many Mormons.

Anton, in his review, earnestly reckons with the book’s critique of Charles Darwin and notes that at one point it cracked the top 150 bestsellers on Amazon. Anton writes that the book was given to him by Curtis Yarvin, an internet philosopher who writes under the name Mencius Moldbug, favors a return to monarchy and reportedly communicated with Steve Bannon through an intermediary while Bannon was in the White House.

After encountering the book’s intentional spelling and grammar mistakes, Anton gave up on it until former White House speechwriter Darren Beattie urged him to read it in its entirety. Beattie was fired from Trump’s White House last year after it was revealed he spoke at a 2016 conference attended by Peter Brimelow, whom the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as a white nationalist. Beattie, who denounced the firing as guilt-by-association, now works as a speechwriter for Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, a close ally of Trump’s in the House.

Much like the Trump phenomenon itself, it can be difficult to tell where to place “Bronze Age Mindset�� along the spectrum between elaborate joke and deadly serious. Reached via direct message on Twitter, Bronze Age Pervert, declined to discuss his real-world identity. In a rambling note, said he was influenced by a book about homosexuality in the Nazi army and claimed, “I’m largely responsible for the Trump administration’s push for universal worldwide sodomy promotion,” an apparent reference to the administration’s campaign to abolish laws that criminalize homosexuality. (This appears to be a joke. A source close to the White House who is familiar with the initiative scoffed at the claim.)

Satirical nonsense aside, events such as recent mass shootings inspired by far right ideas, as well as acts of violence by believers in the fantastical QAnon conspiracy theory, underscore the gravity of this corner of internet culture.

“There’s a whole generation of younger guys who are reading this and buying into this, but there aren’t a lot of paths to channel that constructively,” said one organizer on the Trumpist right, who declined to be named in an article that contained the term “alt-right.”

“Insofar as people are worried about radicalization on the right towards violence, one of the things I worry about is this generation of younger guys are going to conclude there’s no space for them or their voice in the political process, and the only way they can express themselves is in these ugly, corrosive ways,” the organizer said. “In my opinion, the way to help these people is not to turn them 180 degrees, but to turn them 15 degrees.”

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