==Guttless?
Project much? It’s obvious you are still beating yourself up over not having the intestinal fortitude to finish your Ph.D. program, because you know that is exactly what I’m going to point out when you (of all people!) call me gutless. And while I appreciate the fact that your decision to dropout of grad school makes it difficult to look into the mirror each morning, I would appreciate it if you stop using me as your bed of nails.
==During the time of the “Robber Barons” and the reign of Stalin both Capitalists and Communists agreed that the theory of natural selection was philosophically antithetical to Communism.
You really are clueless, aren’t you dreamer. The chief philosopher and champion of the so-called “Robber Barons” was none other the Herbert Spencer, and he described the survival of the fittest in Lamarckian terms.
==That is why under Stalin and for years after learning or teaching Darwin’s theory would get you arrested, sent to Siberia and/or shot.
First, as Dr. Bergman points out, it was Stalin’s abandonment of Christianity in favor of Darwin’s atheist creation myth that led him down the path to communism (read: revolutionary evolutionism). Second, Stalinism was an abberation from Marxist-Leninism. Lenin did not want Stalin to succeed him, and the Communists who succeeded Stalin all denounced him for setting up a cult of personality. So trying to portray Stalin as representative of Communism in general is either naive or disingenous on your part.
==The Communists preferred Lamarck’s ideas of inheritance of acquired traits.
What a crock. Stalin flirted with Lamarck via Lysenko back when Darwin was being rejected and Lamarck was making a comeback amongst Evos throughout the West. And it is not surprising that Stalin held on to Lysenko’s bogus ideas even after the ascent of the neo-Darwinian synthesis, as the Communists lag behind the West in virtually everything—and this was particularly so during the atypical reign of Josef Stalin. But that does not negate the fact that Darwinism is what Stalin seized upon to renounce Christianity and justify his switch to atheism. And it was Darwinism that Marx and Engles seized upon as a naturalistic justification for their revolutionary evolutionism. And the same holds true for just about every other communist revolutionary before Stalin, or since. And finally, no matter which way you slice it, every single one of these communist bastards were revolutionary materialists who rejected God and embraced materialistic evolution in one form or another. This is precisely what we will see when your fellow Evos are finally forced to abandom the HMS Beagle. Like the Communists and the Western materialists who lived during the “eclipse of Darwinism”, they will simply replace it with a new God-denying evolutionary ship (”for we cannot allow a divine foot in the door!”). Of course, the main difference this time around is that there won’t be anything left to temporarily rescue Darwood’s atheist creation myth.
But thanks for again reminding everyone that I have an advanced degree in Molecular Biology while you are a (chortling to myself) Communications major. LOL!!! Communications!!! Ha Ha!!
The Communists under Stalin preferred the idea of inheritance of acquired characteristics (Lamarck's idea) and DESPISED the idea of natural selection (Darwin's theory).
Teaching or learning about natural selection for the majority of the time that Russia was Communist, and all of the time of the “Robber Barons” would get you imprisoned, exiled and/or shot.
The Robber Barons didn't think that poor people would acquire the traits of the successful (Lamark’s idea); they justified their eventual death and elimination in terms of natural selection; calling it “survival of the fittest”.
Lamarks idea was that any organism could become “fit” by its behaviors changing what it passed on to its descendants; not that the less fit would die off.
The Robber Barons embraced Darwin's theory as justification for their predatory practices.
The Communists of that time rejected Darwin's theory because they ALSO agreed with the Robber Barons that it sounded like a justification for unfettered CAPITALISM.
==During the time of the “Robber Barons” and the reign of Stalin both Capitalists and Communists agreed that the theory of natural selection was philosophically antithetical to Communism.
“You really are clueless, aren’t you dreamer. The chief philosopher and champion of the so-called “Robber Barons” was none other the Herbert Spencer, and he described the survival of the fittest in Lamarckian terms.”
—I’m a bit puzzled as to how your response is an objection to what allmendream said.
“First, as Dr. Bergman points out, it was Stalin’s abandonment of Christianity in favor of Darwin’s atheist creation myth that led him down the path to communism (read: revolutionary evolutionism).”
—Well, Dr. Bergman made the claim, but he doesn’t “point out” where he got the idea.
What do you mean by “revolutionary evolutionism”?
“What a crock. Stalin flirted with Lamarck via Lysenko back when Darwin was being rejected and Lamarck was making a comeback amongst Evos throughout the West.”
—1. The Lysenko period was after the “Eclipse of Darwinism” period and Lamarckism was essentially dead. and 2. Julian Huxley was being a bit silly in who he was considering “non-Darwinists” - most of them were not Lamarckists but were indeed Darwinists.
“And it was Darwinism that Marx and Engles seized upon as a naturalistic justification for their revolutionary evolutionism. And the same holds true for just about every other communist revolutionary before Stalin, or since. And finally, no matter which way you slice it, every single one of these communist bastards were revolutionary materialists who rejected God and embraced materialistic evolution in one form or another.”
—Marx seized (it still seems silly to call a couple of sentences among thousands of pages of private letters as “seizing”) from everywhere to try to justify his philosophy. I’ve seen Communists use the Bible to justify Communism. As for the communists being evolutionists, of course they were - just about all educated people, then as now, were evolutionists. With enough quote mining, one can find a few (very few) quotes where Darwinism was used to justify Communism - but the same is for EVERY OTHER economic and political system under the sun. One can find FAR more example of Darwinism used to justify capitalism.