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Thursday, April 05, 2012

Daily Puzzle

I can not figure out to what historical period this Senator is referring. Is it to the debate between Bishop Wilburforce and Huxley?

McClatchy:
http://blogs.mcclatchydc.com/washington/2012/04/gop-senator-wants-an-apology-for-obamas-social-darwinism-label.html

GOP senator wants an apology for Obama's "social Darwinism" label

Nebraska Republican Sen. Mike Johanns is calling on President Obama to apologize for comparing a House Republican budget to "social Darwinism" this week.
"Using phrases often cited in reference to some of mankind's darkest days is nothing more than a shameful attempt to divert attention away from the fact the President himself has failed to offer a credible proposal," Johanns said. "The President owes Congressman Ryan and the American people an apology for using such distasteful, heated rhetoric."
Obama ripped Republican priorities Tuesday, charging them with looking to starve government while giving the wealthiest tax breaks. He called the budget plan by Wisconsin Rep. Tim Ryan a "Trojan horse.
"Disguised as deficit-reduction plans, it is really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country. It is thinly veiled social Darwinism."
I underlined the relevant section. Do you think the Senator has Darwinism mixed up with Eugenics and the American Eugenics Society and their influence in the early twentieth century?
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2 comments:

Unknown said...

I think the Senator is ignorant. He would certainly not be the first. Obama's metaphor is perfect, as it refers to the first Gilded Age in this country, when among the plutocratic class social Darwinism was all the rage. Obama is not far off the mark characterizing the GOP's current plan for society the way he does. The Ryan budget contemplates further huge transfers of wealth to the plutocratic class of our day at the expense of the dwindling middle and increasing poor classes in the U.S. It is as callous as any Nineteenth century scion of business would have it in its plan to cripple social supports for the country's needy.

I am not surprised at all that a U.S. Senator hasn't a clue about the history of his country, but I'm also aware that the GOP script is to attack everything about Obama except maybe his breathing.

Montag said...

Yes. It is perfect.
Its perfection lay in it ability to vilify a noxious plan, but also to further vilify it by associating it with other past ideologies which had been condemned by it.

Yet it is a conception which is not all that familiar to most people. SO they learn, and as they learn, they realize how strong a condemnation it is...
It teaches by letting people find out for themselves.