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6 MILLION AND COUNTING
DARWIN, HITLER AND GENOCIDE
THE DARWINIAN CRISIS IN AMERICA
REVIEWS
Not the the usual creation-evolution debate
October 19, 2008
By T. Peterson
Thirty years ago, when I was studying biochemistry in graduate school, we had to account for the enormous complexity of living cells. Although this complexity was formally explained in terms of evolution, the word "design" was most often used in casual conversation. At that time, we did not believe that thinking in terms of design made us creationists. Most of us were dismayed to learn that one of our number had gone over to the "dark side" and had made a career promoting creationism. At first the professors tried to debate him, but after they lost a few debates, they just ignored him.
After reading a number of books on the creation-evolution debate, I wanted to ignore it too. The creationists offered weak arguments, most of which could be summarized as, "evolution has this and that problem, so creationism must be the answer." The evolutionists were no better. Their argument could be summarized as, "creationism is not science, so evolution must be the answer." How can a serious scientist choose between such arguments? A pox on both their houses.
Because of this attitude, I had my doubts when I first opened this book. To my delight, I found that it represents a deviation from the usual creation-evolution debate. It does not try to settle the question, although it does provide numerous quotes to demonstrate that scientific arguments against Darwinism are almost as old as Darwinism itself. Rather than take one side or the other, it describes the origin and substance of the debate.
The thrust of the book is not about science per se, but rather the effect of ideas on society. Modern advertising and politics are both founded on the principle that ideas affect the behavior of the masses, and that by controlling these ideas, the population may also be controlled. At one time, the controlling ideas were mostly religious, but in our day, they are mostly secular. We easily recognize the benefits that accompanied this change, but we do not always recognize the price paid. As its title indicates, this book argues that one of these prices is genocide. This may strike many as surprising, but the book does make a good case for the proposition.
The book is an easy read. Readers must be patient, since some topics are introduced early on, but not fully explained until later chapters. There is plenty of real history and lots of references. I didn't check out every reference, but those I did were good.