I sit in Bump Nose's little group pleasantly absorbed in my reading. It's fascinating to say the least. The text book talks about how there were "races" once upon a time, some superior to others. It says there were different traits expressed in human populations over time due to the relative reproductive isolation of people in certain geological regions. This created genetic advantages among the various racial groups. Herbert Spencer applied Darwin's theory of natural selection and view of nature as a struggle for survival amongst inevitably stronger and weaker organisms to the human social structure. Thus the prosperity of the upper classes compared to the insufficient achievement of the lower classes was justified as was the imperial conquest of lesser peoples particularly on the continent of Africa. Due to the failure of the African tribes to create a society analogous to that of the superior Europeans and create adequate technology to defend themselves, the conquest of their resources was entirely justified.
Each of the imperialist powers, notably Germany, England and France, believed that their race was superior and therefore it was their "white man's burden" to go forth and civilize the less advanced racial groups. Said civilizing came in the form of liberating their land and resources for uses that were more economically efficient. Any death of the native peoples was justified in the context of "the greater purpose."
The imperialist powers reaped economic benefits through expanding their markets and obtaining raw materials for further industrialization. The colonies provided a solution to Europe's growing population and brought glory to the state. The Europeans brought the inferior races modern technology, such as advanced medical practices, essentially civilizing them. I accidentally brush a finger over the scroll button on my tablet and to my utter annoyance end up on a different page. I attempt to scroll back, yet find after a minute that I am nowhere near the page where I began. I put my finger on the button in the top right of my screen to find that I am 100 pages into my 346 page reading! Usually we only get about 50 pages! I scroll over the rest expecting something novel, or some egregious example of human weakness they wish to endlessly embellish. Yet to my utter shock they don't have the word weakness in there once. I blink.
12 clears her throat in order to get Bump Nose's attention and begins to speak. "I was wondering, what were some of the specific alleles that distinguished the Europeans as the superior race?" Bump Nose looks up with the slightest smile before sliding into his trademark "I'm about to start a big long lecture, cover your bleeding ears and defenestrate yourselves at once" grin. He closes his tablet and sits back with a sigh placing his pristine black boots on the very edge of his equally pristine desk.
"What children, truly defines superiority? 700 years ago in the 1800s the collective work of Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer and several political tacticians of the day brought forth a justification for imperialism and class distinction to the world. The poor worker and the ignorant savage were to be exploited on the grounds that they were inferior enough to allow themselves to be exploited.
A struggle for survival amongst organisms with superior and inferior attributes has been observed among other species, would it be that illogical to apply it to our own species as well? Can the notion of a superior race be justified by the processes of natural selection?" We stare at Bump Nose blankly. Is he actually agreeing with the textbook? Perhaps not entirely because he referenced "exploitation" in contrast to the "civilizing mission" and "glory" we learned about. He stares at us for a moment, perhaps toying with the notion that we might respond before launching back into his speech.
"In the 20th and 21st century these views were altered dramatically. To suggest that any ethnicity was superior to any other became the utmost exaltation of societal taboo. The innate xenophobia that had in different variations and degrees transcended perhaps all human civilizations was erased-at least in polite society-with severe vindication. The phenomena of a politically correct society began to emerge in the overdeveloped countries. Were they wrong to claim supreme equality amongst all people?" Again I regard Bump Nose blankly while subtly rolling my lower lip between my incisors. 14 breaks the silence. "Well they can't both be right?"
