> There have also been speculations that the H. sapiens mutations
> could have happened simultaneously in more than one place. When I
> look at the incidence of some benign mutations today, I feel that
> parallel evolution is possible. For example, look at the number of
> people with Down's syndrome and dwarfism.
>
> Nevertheless, the potential racism aspect of the parallel
> hypothesis has probably made it less popular than the African
> hypothesis.
Down's Syndrome and dwarfism are not instances of evolutionary mutation,
but genetic degradation which tend to lead to medical problems, thus
hardly benign. It would be a disservice to any nationality to
equate them with those unfortunate individuals who bear such
genetic problems. In fact, doing so reeks with the ideas of those who
developed the field of eugenics, like Margaret Sanger, who wished to
breed a "higher race" and control the breeding of undesirable "races"
and classes other than her own through sterilization and abortion. Such
genocidal policies are one reason many want organizations like Planned
Parenthood (founded by Sanger) to stay the hell away from our reservations.
For myself, I don't believe evolution to be an idea compatible either
with reality or native North American spirituality. It seems to have
considerable cachet only because it psychologically justifes the status quo
of European hegemony and its extreme materialism and utilitarianism.
The terrible and illogical trail one embarks on with evolution is hinted at
by the remarks that when one is faced with the consequence of parallel
evolution, racism, one turns to other less likely evolutionary alternatives,
for reasons completely apart from the "science" one claimed to extol as truth.
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