How Darwinism Ruined America

 

John G. West is a senior fellow at Disco and associate director of the Center for Science and Culture. He has written a book titled Darwin Day in America: How our politics and culture have been dehumanized in the name of science.

I haven't read it yet but I intend to. I subscribe to the old-fashioned, quaint, notion of "know your enemy."¹ Here's a short summary posted on the website.

Darwin Day in America tells the disturbing story of scientific expertise run amuck, exposing how an ideological interpretation of Darwinian biology and reductionist science have been used to degrade American culture over the past century through their impact on criminal justice, welfare, business, education, and bioethics.

At the dawn of the last century, leading scientists and politicians giddily predicted that science—especially Darwinian biology— would supply solutions to all the intractable problems of American society, from crime to poverty to sexual maladjustment.

Instead, politics and culture were dehumanized as scientific experts in thrall to the assumptions of philosophical materialism began treating human beings as little more than animals or machines. In criminal justice, these experts denied the existence of free will and proposed replacing punishment with invasive “cures” such as the lobotomy. In welfare, they proposed eliminating the poor by sterilizing those deemed biologically unfit. In business, they urged the selection of workers based on racist theories of human evolution and the development of advertising methods to more effectively manipulate consumer behavior. In sex education, they advocated creating a new sexual morality based on “normal mammalian behavior” without regard to longstanding ethical and religious imperatives.

Based on extensive research with primary sources and archival materials, John G. West’s captivating Darwin Day in America tells the story of how American politics and culture have been corrupted by scientistic ideology. Marshaling fascinating anecdotes and damning quotations, West’s narrative explores the far-reaching consequences for society when scientists and politicians deny the essential differences between human beings and the rest of nature. It also exposes the disastrous results that ensue when experts claiming to speak for science turn out to be wrong. West concludes with a plea for the restoration of democratic accountability in an age of experts.

This is really confusing. I've been told that America is a Christian nation and it certainly looks that way from the outside. Christianity seems to dominate American culture and all the polls indicate that Americans are among the most religious nations in the industrialized world. All the politicians promote god thinking and the Bible at every opportunity. At times it seems like half the radio stations are preaching Christian virtues.

In the face of all this religion and godliness, how did a few evil, misguided, scientists² manage to subvert an entire country? I guess I'll have to read the book to find out.

---

1. So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself. Sun Tzu: The Art of War.

2. For the record, I oppose social Darwinism and all its implications. So do 99.99% of scientists.