Darwin’s Theory of Evolution Justifies ‘White Male Supremacy’, Claims Woke University

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  • Source: Breitbart
  • 05/10/2021
British naturalist Charles Darwin has become the latest historical scientist to run afoul of the “decolonise the curriculum” movement, with Sheffield University reportedly claiming that Darwin’s theory on evolution was used to “justify white male supremacy”.

A handbook produced by the university informs lecturers and pupils that celebrating “white saviour” figures such as Darwin serves to overshadow less privileged scientists and scholars and that the “whiteness and Eurocentrism of our science” should be deconstructed, according to The Telegraph.

The guidance, which was seen by the right-leaning newspaper, is said to add that “It is clear that science cannot be objective and apolitical,” and “the curriculum we teach must acknowledge how colonialism has shaped the field of evolutionary biology and how evolutionary biologists think today”.

The passage on Darwin also claims that his famed trip on the HMS Beagle — when he collected plant and animal specimens used to develop his theory of natural selection — was in fact a clandestine mission to map colonies for the British Empire.

This claim has been disputed by Oxford University historian Professor Nigel Biggar, who told the paper: “During Darwin’s lifetime the British Empire was busy emancipating slaves across the world.

“The ‘decolonising’ assumption that ‘colonial mapping’ was all about oppression is false, and the judgement that Darwin should be damned by association is morally stupid,” the professor said.

The school’s reported attack on Darwin is also questionable, particularly when taking into account his staunch abolitionist views. He famously declared that slavery “makes one’s blood boil” and termed the elimination of the practice a “sacred cause”.

Charles Darwin biographer Professor James Moore noted: “Almost everyone in Darwin’s day was ‘racist’ in 21st-century terms, not only scientists and naturalists but even anti-slavery campaigners and abolitionists.”
Darwin by Corin Royal Drummond is licensed under flickr Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)