Vol.64/No.34 September 11, 2000
Letters
Write more on evolution
Brian Williams's article ["The battle over teaching evolution heats up," August 28 issue] is an excellent exposition of the need to combat the injection of religion into the state. Note how the presidential candidates from the Democrat and Republican parties have proclaimed their faith emphatically and loudly at every opportunity. (George Walker Bush during the primaries even went so far as to claim Jesus Christ as his favorite philosopher, and given the denouncements heaped upon the state by said "philosopher," isn't there a question of why Mr. Bush would seek political office? Of course little needs to be said of Albert Gore's choice for vice-president--the Gore campaign and the media have made sure we are all quite aware that Joseph Lieberman's primary qualification for that position is his faith.)
I would only add that evolutionary scientists are also not above "[fetishizing] existing class relations and [obfuscating] an understanding of the development of human society and the modern class society," as Brian Williams put it. The whole endeavor of sociobiology and "evolutionary psychology" are to root class rule and the differential oppression of various sectors of the working class in "our" genetic makeup as the result of biological evolution. This used to be known as "biological determinism" or "Social Darwinism." But then Karl Marx made the observation that the central ideas of any age are the ideas of its ruling class, thus this betrayal of science by scientists should come as no surprise. An article on this might be helpful, however.
I also have a question. Are we going to see a full treatment of the Nader candidacy? The petty bourgeois left, including the protesters at both Democrat and Republican conventions, are quite openly--and furiously --debating and advocating a vote for Nader and the Green Party (which is also overdue for some exposure from your paper).
John Warne
Indianapolis, Indiana
The letters column is an open forum for all viewpoints on subjects of interest to working people. Please keep your letters brief. Where necessary they will be abridged. Please indicate if you prefer that your initials be used rather than your full name.
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