Category Archives: Media Criticism

More Thoughts On Social Darwinism

Over at Althouse’s place:

Strangely enough, “progressivism” was broadly associated with eugenics and racism and yet the only people who remember that are the people accused of being social darwinists.

There’s a lot more to unpack here than I have time for, but a key point made by another commenter is that no one calls themselves a Social Darwinist — it is an illegitimate epithet reserved for the perceived enemies of same, whereas many have been, and continue to be proud to call themselves Marxists and socialists. And they should be ashamed to do so, given the history of the twentieth century.

Günter Grass

An open letter and history lesson:

All this is well known. I should like you to think about something that is less well known, Herr Grass, and that is the fact that the First and Second World Wars were entirely unnecessary. That’s right: the fact that they were fought in the first place is entirely the fault of people like you, and specifically of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who could have pre-empted them in 1905. Kaiser Wilhelm II and Günter Grass: a couple of soul-mates.

Like some of the commenters there, I always found The Tin Drum unreadable, in German or English.