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On a day-early podcast, with Noah Rothman still on vacation, the COMMENTARY Remnant of Abe and Christine and John takes Bernie Sanders very, very seriously. And makes fun of Joe Biden some. And talks about reparations and Israeli taxicabs. Give a listen.
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At around 42 minutes in, @johnpodhoretz talks about the difficulty of trying to explain the idea of the “missing link” to one of his children.
With an older son or daughter, such a situation could be a teachable moment in which a particular award winning documentary could helpfully educate them about a deplorable part of history that should not be forgotten.
It seems inconceivable now (because most have forgotten) that the consensus scientific establishment of the early 20th century supported “educating” the public with the understanding that some races were more evolved than others. (Darwin’s subtitle to his Origin book: “the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life”.) Black humans were placed on display (e.g. at the World’s Fair exhibits and in zoos), sometimes in cages together with primates, as living illustrations of the idea of the “missing link” between man and other primates.
It may seem unbelievable that this had the support of mainstream scientists and the elite (e.g. The New York Times), but please see this award winning documentary (freely viewable).
Human Zoos: America’s Forgotten History of Scientific Racism.
https://humanzoos.org/
Because unexposed bad ideas are free to carry on, shameful history should not be forgotten as if it never happened.
p.s. One cannot fully understand the elite’s widespread acceptance of supposed racial superiority in the first half of the 20th century without knowing about how it drew perceived legitimacy from the evolutionary views of scientists.
Thanks for fixing feed…the last few episodes ended as poor men’s versions of ‘Mad Dogs and Englishmen’…
Abe is 100% right in pointing out that reparations would only perpetuate and “reify racism” rather than end it. It would indeed be “a nightmare.”
The fact that the notion of reparations is being taken seriously again is absolutely insane. It’s madness.
Kipling got it right in THE GODS OF THE COPYBOOK HEADINGS.
Culturally speaking, no lessons remain “learned” for very long.