Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2000 12:40:05 -0700 (PDT)
From: Wolf Factory <wolf_factory-AT-yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: White men et al.(reply to Elizabeth Deloughrey)


Elizabeth,
I am certainly not blaming the victim. The point I was
trying to make was in response to the idea raised
during this debate that racism confers no biological
advantage and hence can not possibly have a genetic
component. 
The point you make about the introduction of diseases
against which the islanders had no immunity is an
excellent point in favour of the idea that possessing
'brain alarm bells' that go off when encountering
someone from outside your group might not be such a
bad thing and may indeed confer an evolutionary
advantage.

Again I stress that I am not stating that racism is
certainly and without a shadow of a doubt a thing 'in
our blood'. However scoffing at the idea that racism
might have a genetic component will lead us no further
either. 

--- Elizabeth Deloughrey <emd23-AT-cornell.edu> wrote:
> >Some island races have been wiped out precisely
> because they seemed to lack the brain alarm bells.
> The white mans ships that landed on their shores
> brought with them the seed of their extinction.
> 
> WF:
> This sounds like blaming the victim to me. Do you
> have a citation for this
> argument? Everything I have seen written about this
> (Crosby, Curtin etc)
> suggests that it has much more to do with
> "biological imperialism"--the
> introduction of diseases from which the islanders
> have no immunity. (In
> addition to weapons, horses, etc) Liz
> 
>

--- Elizabeth Deloughrey <emd23-AT-cornell.edu> wrote:
> >Some island races have been wiped out precisely
> because they seemed to lack the brain alarm bells.
> The white mans ships that landed on their shores
> brought with them the seed of their extinction.
> 
> WF:
> This sounds like blaming the victim to me. Do you
> have a citation for this
> argument? Everything I have seen written about this
> (Crosby, Curtin etc)
> suggests that it has much more to do with
> "biological imperialism"--the
> introduction of diseases from which the islanders
> have no immunity. (In
> addition to weapons, horses, etc) Liz
> 
> 
> 
>      --- from list
> postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---


===="All the wolves in the wolf factory paused at noon, 
for a moment of silence."
........from laughing Gravy by John Ashbery.
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