Recently, we noted a PhD candidate in genetics, Razib Khan, holding forth for Darwin at a conservative thinkmag (National Review steps on Darwin’s rake every few years, it seems). Well then it turned out the guy has apparent racist links. Enough anyway to be a warning flag.
And, wouldn’t you know, a staunch Darwinist who left National Review under just such a cloud is now speaking up for him, as we learn:
Derbyshire was our antagonist at National Review, blazing away at “Creationists,” some years ago. That was before he rode off, leaving mainstream conservatism behind, on a horse called “Race Realism.” His writing now appears at racialist publications including VDare, Taki’s Magazine, and The Unz Review. The last is particularly vile, but Derbyshire runs his pieces at all three…
If you are going to argue for turning the mute button on against those who say biology gives evidence of design, excluding them as discussion partners, you do need to examine your own associations pretty carefully. Khan, it seems, has failed to do that. He wrote regularly for the Unz website, a home to sickeningly racist and anti-Semitic material, and his name still appears on their homepage…
Khan’s association with the alt-right, and Derbyshire’s, is not by chance. The thread of what the racist Right calls “Race Realism” has never been completely absent from Darwinian theorizing from Darwin himself down to today. See our colleague Richard Weikart’s book From Darwin to Hitler for more about this persistent taint. Derbyshire calls the opposite view “Race Denial,” which is another way of saying that the “denier” rejects racism. If you want to call it that, I’m glad to be a “denier.” David Klinghoffer, “The Return of John Derbyshire” at Evolution News and Science Today
Klinghoffer, tell Derbyshire he needs a louder mike. He should go tell it on the mountain. Worldwide.
Maybe the explanation is simpler than we suppose: People who are looking for the subhuman but can’t seem to definitely locate him in the past are compelled to look for him in the present.
Anyway, the good news is, you needn’t believe us if they are telling you themselves.
See also: Darwinian conservative has a troubling history re racist links Every so often, for whatever reason, a US conservative thinkmag steps on Darwin’s rake.
In any Darwinian scheme, someone must be the subhuman. Otherwise, there is no beginning to human history.
and
Was Neanderthal man fully human? The role racism played in assessing the evidence
Follow UD News at Twitter!