Darwinism and pop culture: Darwin was an advocate of Social Darwinism

British physicist David Tyler reminds us of what no one ever need have doubted, except for the Darwin cult, Darwin was indeed an advocate of Social Darwinism and a racist. Not unusual for his time, to be sure, but he gave many vicious ideas "scientific" status - and that was unusual.

Traditional racism depended on travellers' tales and crazy interpretations of the Scriptures. But many otherwise decent people believed that racism was "scientific," thanks to Darwin and Darwinism. Excerpt:

In this Bicentennial year of Darwin's birth, there are many who want to drive a wedge between Darwinism as a scientific theory and Darwinism as a philosophical, social or political theory. Here in the UK, we have a Templeton Foundation-funded project called "Rescuing Darwin" which seeks to do exactly this. Darwinism, it is claimed, is essentially a scientific theory and it needs to be rescued from the atheists, the social-engineers and others who are taking it far beyond the domain of science. Here is an excerpt from the report "Rescuing Darwin".

Sorry, won't work. The public attraction of Darwinism is precisely the crackpot causes it supports.