LARGETONY Blog

You have all heard of the Scopes Monkey trials, I’m sure. But did many of know that it all took place just a few hours from where I live? But that was back in the in the 1920’s, right? Nowadays people are much more evolved when it comes to matters of evolution. Right?

Actually not as much as you think. Some people have, at least, acknowledged the presence of science with the hot new theories of intelligent design. You know. God planned all this science. But, in a lot of places, (like the little Tennessee county where the trials were held) people still pretty much look at evolution as EVILution. They hold on to their ideas of creation with the tenacious, determined grip of…say…a monkey.

But have you ever thought about the fact that often the people who have so much trouble accepting evolution also happen to be the same people who have trouble accepting others? They don’t accept Jews. They don’t accept blacks. The don’t accept gays. God created only straight white Christians and he didn’t make them out of no monkeys. Let all those others believe in evolution, if they want. They probably did come from the monkeys. Jews are as hairy as a monkey. Blacks have lips like a monkey. And the gays? Well…just try and take a banana from one of them and see what happens.

Okay, so I went to the extreme there. And I apologize if I offended anybody with that, but understand I was not delivering that from my point of view, but from the point of view of a close-minded bigot (is that redundant?).

Some of the guys I work with are, to at least some degree, racist. And I’d say nearly all of them are homophobic. And just as the name implies, this lack of acceptance generally comes from fear. Not from what are the stereotypical fears (Jews will take your money, blacks will take your women, gays will take peeks at your willy in the steam room) but from a much more subtle, and probably more dangerous fear: The fear of the unknown.

Fear of the unknown, fear of what is different, is what drives the protective instincts of animals. Even the human animal. Animals go on the attack because they fear something that is different from the world they know. Even the human animal. I read somewhere a long time ago that what separates humans from other animals is the ability to reason. That ability is part of what helps us overcome our primal fears. But, because “reason-abilty” is something that you learn from various experiences, it is something that must evolve.

You following me here? If you are somewhat evolved and reasonable, you probably (hopefully) are. If you are not evolved (or don’t accept such things) you are probably not. What I am trying to say, in my own long-winded way (maybe this post will evolve into something) is that those people who operate solely on their fears (racists, bigots, and all the various phobes) simply have not evolved beyond their basic animal instincts like the rest of us have (and hopefully will continue to). I mean, that’s the thing about evolution. It doesn’t stop.

That’s the one thing that gives me hope. Because evolution doesn’t ever stop, maybe the unevolved eventually will evolve. (My God, how many times can I say evolve? Somebody take the hammer out of my hand before I kill someone.) Maybe one day the light bulb may come on with a big bang and they will stand up and take the first step in overcoming their animal fears…and then next, and then the next….step by step.

And maybe that’s something the rest of us need to remember: Evolution is a process. It takes time. As much as you want them to, you can’t make people change over night…or even in seven days. I mean, who do you think you are? God?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 31st, 2006 at 11:46 pm and is filed under topical. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.