Obama says Republicans practice "Social Darwinism"
From Reuters:
I guess Darwinism is OK when it is used on poor people. Just don't teach it in our public schools.ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Republicans controlling the federal government practice Social Darwinism, a discredited philosophy that in economics and politics calls for survival of the fittest, according to a Democratic U.S. senator. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, a fast-rising Democratic star, told Florida party members that only a philosophy among Republicans of sink or swim explains why some Hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans still live in cars while Republicans in Washington prepare next week to enact $70 billion in tax breaks.
"It's called the 'Ownership society' in Washington. This isn't the first time this philosophy has appeared. It used to be called Social Darwinism," Obama said late Saturday at the Democrats meeting at Walt Disney World. "They have a philosophy they have implemented and that is doing exactly what it was designed to do. They basically don't believe in government. They have a different philosophy that says, 'We're going to dismantle government'," Obama said.
Republicans running the federal government believe, "You are on your own to buy your own health care, to buy your own retirement security ... to buy your own roads and levees," Obama said, referring to flood barriers that gave way in New Orleans during Katrina last August...
Social Darwinism applies Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection from biology to human culture. Popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the theory advocates free competition and a minimalist role for government in society. Darwin himself rejected the application of natural selection to human society...
posted by Craig Ziesman at 10:55 PM
1 Comments:
We should pen a book entitled, "The Death of Outrage", or "Requiem for Dissent", or maybe we could just reread Aesop's Fables- i.e. The Emperor's New Clothes- and implore people to emulate the little boy by the side of the road who yells out, "He doesn't have any clothes on..." much to the feigned shock and dismay of the populace... First there was Malthus who, based on nothing, made the a priori decision that we would run out of food due to over-population so we better make sure we keep inferior ones from reproducing...then Darwin...then Herbert Spencer with Social Darwinism asserting that christian charity designed to help the less fortunate, "goes against the natural order of things..." So enamored with this justification of his right to treat the less fortunate aas dirt, Carnegie, Rockefeller, et. al. give a huge humanitarian award to Spencer for providing them with the scientific support for their action. Galton develops Eugenics along the way, and armed with the a priori assertion that Blacks, Hispanics, Italians, Indians, Greeks, Orientals are inferior, Carnegie promises lab funding for pseudo scientists like Thorndike, Terman, Spearman, Goddard,Dewey et. al. who develop the first "Standardized Tests", and intelligence tests that "prove" what Spencer and company already thought up out of mid-air- Witness the propaganda of "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND"...tests longer then the bar exam for 3rd graders...since the public schools have done such a good job of raising everyone's expectations and hopes for something better, the Government has to knock those expectations down a few pegs by testing everyone to death and creating an "ethos of failure" upping the dropout rate and insuring what Horace Mann and others stated was the primary purpose of public schools- To develop a compliant unquestioning workforce. The school s are set up to guaranteee that very few "rocket scientists" sneak thru, because, if too many did, there would be revolution since there would be no jobs for these people. The upshot of all of this is that we are guaranteed that there will be someone to flip your burgers and clean the bathroom at you hotel...after all, we really don't think big business will bring back the jobs when everyone starts doing well in the tests, do we? This is why Lou Dobbs is a fraud because he refurses to recognize that the schools are purpoefully dumbing down our kids so that the toilets will have someone to clean them. Katrina is a dramatic, "one shot deal" example. Think about it folks...Intelligent people run our government...do you really think that incompetence is the reason for the post hurricaine disaster of Katrina? Herbert Spencer is applauding the government's fake screw-up. I'd love to talk more, but I want to get back to The Emperor's New Clothes...
Doctor Dan
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