Intelligent Design

What Michele Bachmann and Charles Darwin (Don’t) Have in Common

Posted on Author Cornelius HunterComments(3)
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In a recent political debate presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann raised the topic of vaccines. She accused Rick Perry, governor of Texas, of abusing his authority when he imposed vaccine mandates. What does this have to do with Charles Darwin? Darwin was also concerned about vaccines. But the so-called Father of Modern Biology had a different sort of concern. Darwin worried that vaccines preserved the lives of those who otherwise would have succumbed. “Thus,” warned the Sage of Kent, “the weak members of civilized societies propagate their kind.” And that, he ominously concluded:  Read more

3 Replies to “What Michele Bachmann and Charles Darwin (Don’t) Have in Common”

  1. 1
    Neil Rickert says:
    September 19, 2011 at 11:06 pm

    If Darwin said that, then he was mistaken. Science changes with evidence, and quite a bit has changed since Darwin’s time.

    If Darwin were President he certainly wouldn’t be mandating vaccines as did Perry.

    We don’t know that. If he were still around, he might have learned a thing or two, and changed some of his early ideas.

  2. 2
    markf says:
    September 20, 2011 at 2:24 am

    Cornelius has taken this paragraph out of context. See Cornelius full post (click on “read more”) there a couple of comments showing the context. Darwin would have supported vaccines. For example he follows the quoted text with;

    The aid which we feel impelled to give to the helpless is mainly an incidental result of the instinct of sympathy, which was originally acquired as part of the social instincts, but subsequently rendered, in the manner previously indicated, more tender and more widely diffused. Nor could we check our sympathy, even at the urging of hard reason, without deterioration in the noblest part of our nature.

  3. 3
    Eugene S says:
    September 20, 2011 at 3:43 am

    I think that it is difficult to say whether he would or would not support vaccines taking into consideration how changeable we are. Our views may seriously change in the course of a single day under the influence of the media or our own stomach 🙁

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