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Darwinism’s True Colours?

It turns out that a teenager who killed seven students and one adult at a school in Finland claimed his inspiration came from Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. Describing himself as "a cynical existentialist, anti-human humanist, anti-social social-Darwinist”, Pekka Eric Auvinen declared, "I, as a natural selector, will eliminate all who I see unfit, disgraces of human race and failures of natural selection."

A pretty shocking interpretation, but it’s by no means the first time Darwin’s theory has been taken to that kind of extreme. It was Darwin's cousin Francis Dalton who developed the idea of eugenics – the genetic improvement of the human race by selective breeding. This led directly to the Nazi doctrine of Aryan supremacy and all its offshoots; their attempts to breed a 'super-race' of people in human stud farms, the forced sterilization of at least two million people, and ultimately, the holocaust.

The fact is that if you accept Darwin’s principle of ‘the survival of the fittest’, you can't argue with either Auvinen or the Nazis. Anyone can to do whatever they like to better themselves and strengthen their position. If they are smart enough to get away with it, the god of evolution smiles on them.

Evolutionary ideas are good news for the rich and powerful. They are bad news for the poor – in fact, for anyone lacking jungle survival skills! If your interests and gifts lie in art, music, dance or drama, for example, you had better mind your back – there is ultimately no place for you in the world. In fact, there is no place for culture, civilization, morality or the rule of law; far less for honour, compassion, kindness or selflessness.

It’s dog eat dog and every man for himself.

If Darwin was right, most of us are in big trouble…

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