People horrifically fucking up facts about evolution and genetics too support their stupid beliefs or to seem smart and “rational” is probably one of my big pet peeves
Yeah. An enormous number of racists, misogynists, homophobes and transphobes I’ve met eventually whip out something about evolutionary biology and they never, ever, ever, ever have the slightest shadow of even a half-right idea what any of it means or ever cite a claim ever actually made by a scientific study.
Here’s a quick handy reference list or anyone who isn’t sure:
- Homosexuality does exist in almost all social species.
- “Alpha males” are not a real phenomenon and in fact the most aggressive males tend to be the least reproductively successful.
- “Survival of the fittest” simply means that the success of a species hinges on how well it “fits” its environment. It does not mean that stronger or smarter individuals are supposed to succeed. Those things can even be a detriment in nature by wasting too many resources.
- “Race” is not a biological concept. Someone who looks different from you has the same human genes, just a different grab-bag of dominant traits.
- Evolution is not a march towards higher complexity, more intelligence or even more adaptability. It’s just a fluctuation of characteristics dictated by environmental pressures and mutation. A slime mold isn’t “less evolved” than a hawk, just adapted for success under different parameters.
- People didn’t evolve from apes. We share a common ancestor with apes.
- No human on Earth is “closer” to an evolutionary ancestor than any other. We all descended from the same one.
- Neanderthals were also a “sibling” species of ours. We didn’t evolve from them.
- Some of us did, however, cross-breed with Neandethal man. It is exclusively non-African races, such as white people, who still carry hybrid human/Neanderthal genes. Whoops, sorry “white purity” skinheads, you’re actually mixed with a whole other species.
Addendum: a large portion of what is labelled as “evolutionary psychology” on the internet should be taken with a HUGE grain of salt
polarblog liked this
mniemanie liked this
yeehaw-trans reblogged this from transmedfrog
regilis reblogged this from thelanguagemermaid
moonlit-pinetrees reblogged this from cashewmonster
large-angry-ground-squirrel liked this
starystart reblogged this from thelanguagemermaid
starystart liked this thelanguagemermaid reblogged this from large-angry-ground-squirrel
the-misadventuring-teens liked this
foxkindle liked this
wojo4hitz liked this
chimerakay liked this
nickisadragon reblogged this from queennati
nickisadragon liked this omnipotentdarkeness liked this
gothpresenting liked this
icecrowns reblogged this from polyglotplatypus
ghostkiid reblogged this from kitsunoki
andromeda-galaxys-blog liked this bi-di-doo reblogged this from raised-in-a-small-sburb
thespectrequeen reblogged this from transmed-hoe
thespectrequeen liked this
transmed-hoe reblogged this from radicalbutnotrad
transmed-hoe liked this
not-even-5ft reblogged this from parks-and-emotional-wreck
un-com-pleted liked this
ozzystar2 reblogged this from tentiginouslogophile
ozzystar2 liked this
loudturtledaze reblogged this from chibilostsoul
friendofthegods reblogged this from cafe-bustelo
lizardstigma liked this
lizardstigma reblogged this from cafe-bustelo
cafe-bustelo reblogged this from birchsoda
we-are-beautiful--we-are-doomed liked this
chibilostsoul reblogged this from goopy-cat
chibilostsoul liked this
birchsoda reblogged this from errantpixxi
yellowmarshmallows reblogged this from siseja
kindastupidbutkindanot liked this
unpureunchaste liked this
filthy--boys--secrets liked this errantpixxi reblogged this from maybedeadbutstillpretty
errantpixxi liked this
lilyginnyblackv2 liked this
justme-justine reblogged this from pxmpkxn-queen
professor-quirrell liked this
maybedeadbutstillpretty reblogged this from fetchalgernon
fat-rhinos reblogged this from pxmpkxn-queen
howtobeaprophet liked this
- Show more notes