More Social Darwinism for the 21st Century
By I guess Bryan Caplan isn’t the only member of the plutocracy channeling Gilded Age Social Darwinism. See Mitt Romney speaking about the differences between Israelis and Palestinians today. Noting the economic difference between Israel and Palestine, Romney stated:
“If you could learn anything from the economic history of the world it’s this: culture makes all the difference.”
His campaign responded to irritation about these comments that he also meant it as a difference between U.S. and Mexico.
Oh well then! Of course for a Gilded Age II plutocrat, culture is why people are rich and poor. It has nothing to do with colonization, racism, structural issues, rich nation investment in poor nations intended to exploit cheap labor. And between Israel and Palestine, the occupation and oppression has absolutely nothing to do with economic disparities. Certainly the fact that the Gaza Strip’s main lifeline to the outside world is smuggling tunnels to Egypt is strictly coincidental.
No, what really matters is that Jews are culturally superior to Palestinians. Of course, only the right kind of Jews. Not the ones in the U.S. that support Obama or the ones in Israel who oppose the oppression of Palestine. The Jews that exist primarily in American evangelical imagination, those are the good ones.
And as for Mexico, I mean, haven’t you all seen Speedy Gonzalez cartoons? How much more evidence does Romney have to present in order to make the case that American culture is better?