On Race
Much of the ideas presented in this piece were inspired by Richard Dawkin's book, The Selfish Gene.
More children of a doting mother survived because the absent minded mother did not notice when her children wandered onto the freeway. Since apples fall near the tree, and since doting mother begets doting children, should not the absent minded mother gene be wiped out from the gene pool over the course of a few generations. Why then are there still absent minded mothers?
The diligent crow finds a way to procreate. So does the un-doting cuckoo. The crow slaves while the cuckoos have all the fun. If the crow is to maximize its chances, it need to evolve to be able to identify a cuckoo egg from its own. Evolution, in case you did not notice, is a scary perpetual warfare with bigger guns being brought into the maidan with each passing generation.
Our genes are selfish and make us behave in ways that seek to ensure their own survival. Our genes make us identify "ours" from "others". Could it be that our genes have built in mechanisms that make us discriminate against people of "other" races? I ask myself, how much good are we doing to ourselves by such discrimination? Not much is my guess. And here is my circle of insults to prove my point.
A Tamil is a konga to a Kannadiga who is a Madrasi to a North Indian who is a Bihari to a West Indian who is a Uncultured Indian to a Bengali who is a Bloody native to an Imperialist Britisher who is a poodle to a President who is an idiot to a Tamilian. The circle is complete. If you are somewhere on it, dont look up or down. Be assured that both sides lead right back to you. The insult, my friend, is on you.
There may be questions about the gene being selfish, but there is no question that it is stupid. So, are we doomed to wallow in our own prejudices for ever? Not according to Mr. Dawkins. I paraphrase him when I say that man's redemption lies not in his instincts but in his intelligence. Our intelligence evolves faster than our instincts. The question is whether our intelligence will ever evolves enough to realize the simple truth that the Scandinavian shares 99% of his genes with the Rwandan. In a very direct way, we demean ourselves when we demean others. I am sure the race of Man will figure this out sooner rather than later. We seem to be doing so much better now than we were merely 60 years ago, when Hitler and Lindenburg talked their thoughts.
ps: Those of you who were interested in the comments about instinct vs intelligence may enjoy this article by Arnold King.
More children of a doting mother survived because the absent minded mother did not notice when her children wandered onto the freeway. Since apples fall near the tree, and since doting mother begets doting children, should not the absent minded mother gene be wiped out from the gene pool over the course of a few generations. Why then are there still absent minded mothers?
The diligent crow finds a way to procreate. So does the un-doting cuckoo. The crow slaves while the cuckoos have all the fun. If the crow is to maximize its chances, it need to evolve to be able to identify a cuckoo egg from its own. Evolution, in case you did not notice, is a scary perpetual warfare with bigger guns being brought into the maidan with each passing generation.
Our genes are selfish and make us behave in ways that seek to ensure their own survival. Our genes make us identify "ours" from "others". Could it be that our genes have built in mechanisms that make us discriminate against people of "other" races? I ask myself, how much good are we doing to ourselves by such discrimination? Not much is my guess. And here is my circle of insults to prove my point.
A Tamil is a konga to a Kannadiga who is a Madrasi to a North Indian who is a Bihari to a West Indian who is a Uncultured Indian to a Bengali who is a Bloody native to an Imperialist Britisher who is a poodle to a President who is an idiot to a Tamilian. The circle is complete. If you are somewhere on it, dont look up or down. Be assured that both sides lead right back to you. The insult, my friend, is on you.
There may be questions about the gene being selfish, but there is no question that it is stupid. So, are we doomed to wallow in our own prejudices for ever? Not according to Mr. Dawkins. I paraphrase him when I say that man's redemption lies not in his instincts but in his intelligence. Our intelligence evolves faster than our instincts. The question is whether our intelligence will ever evolves enough to realize the simple truth that the Scandinavian shares 99% of his genes with the Rwandan. In a very direct way, we demean ourselves when we demean others. I am sure the race of Man will figure this out sooner rather than later. We seem to be doing so much better now than we were merely 60 years ago, when Hitler and Lindenburg talked their thoughts.
ps: Those of you who were interested in the comments about instinct vs intelligence may enjoy this article by Arnold King.
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