Two Cousins: Francis Galton Site

[Margaret McGhee]

Fred, Just as a matter of record, if, as you say, I

. . was obviously convinced that Jim’s “attraction to this area”—the “writings of this famous racist” Galton—is something sinister, apparently b/c it doesn’t conform to whatever (I) deem is an appropriate ideology or whatever makes (me feel) sic good.

. . then I would have no reason to ask him to clarify his “attraction to this area” that keeps coming up as a recurrent theme in the threads that he initiates - as I politely did.

He seems to have some cause celebre but never states it directly. I'd much rather have him state it than try to impute it from his posts indirectly - which doesn't seem fair to him.

And JimB - You have obvious disdain for the socialist eugenicists of the past. It seems to me that those (socialist or not) who propose that heredity is determinative in human development are the ones who have historically supported sterilization for the feeble minded, repopulating lands with those of better genetic stock (as reflected in your Francis Galton link) - and things like that.

Those who support the notion that culture is highly determinative in human development (as I do) are the ones who like to claim that anyone, regardless of race or gender or family genetics, could potentially become the next great scientist or musical composer. I would never subscribe to eugenics.

You said,

Second, I do not want done again to anyone what the socialists did on behalf of the public good to millions of rebels, deviants, and individualists called Jews (Grynberg, 2002). (The most recent episode was targeted at Ed Wilson in the '70s. Leaders: the Marxists Richard Lewontin & Steven Gould).

Are you suggesting that Gould had something to do with the holocaust? What evidence can you point me to that Gould was a Marxist? The next time you look under the counter for that bottle of patience you might check the label more carefully.

Margaret