OT: Entitlements [was Re: Python usage numbers]

[John O'Hagan]

On Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:26:36 -0800 (PST)
Rick Johnson <rantingrickjohnson at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Feb 14, 6:44 pm, Chris Angelico <ros... at gmail.com> wrote:

> 
> But WE are the fittest! Because we are INTELLIGENT!

And the whales say: But WE are the fittest! Because we are BIG!
And the rabbits say: But WE are the fittest! Because we are FERTILE!
And the snakes say: But WE are the fittest! Because we are VENOMOUS!

(Apologies to all animals mentioned for ascribing to them gratuitous
capitalisation and exclamation marks.)

Please read Darwin. He explicitly defined "fittest", in the context of
evolutionary science, to mean sufficiently well-adapted to immediate local
conditions to be able to reproduce. There is nothing generalisable about this.
Intelligence is only useful in human ecological niches; and if the world were
underwater you would gladly swap it for gills.

But I don't think you'll read Darwin, or any real science on the subject.
You'll cling to your popular-science cartoon version of evolution because you
need it to support your false, odious worldview, which finally emerges from the
swamp: 

> > Why were Negros treated as slaves in the US?
> 
> Because they allowed themselves to be subjected. Sad, but true.
> 
> > Why were
> > Australian Aboriginals treated like animals?
> 
> Because they allowed them selves to be subjected. Sad, but true.
> 
> > And the one I hinted at
> > above.
> 
> Because the Jews allowed themselves to be subjected. Sad, but true.

You have just demonstrated that you are the worst kind of racist. Not only have
you blamed the victim on a truly monstrous scale, you have assigned blame not to
individuals, but to entire "races". You are saying that something inherent in
each race caused them to "allow" their own subjugation. 

Calling it "sad" does not get you off the hook. Your cover was always
thin but now it's blown.