from the page you linked too:
Quote:
The central mechanism of Darwinism is natural selection of the fittest, requiring differences in organisms from which nature can select. As a result of natural selection, inferior organisms are more likely to become extinct, and the superior groups are more likely to thrive and leave a greater number of offspring.<sup>1</sup>
The biological racism of late 19<sup>th</sup> century Darwinism is now both well documented and widely publicized. Especially influential in the development of biological racism was the theory of eugenics developed by Charles Darwin’s cousin, Sir Francis Galton.
|
Hmm, biological racism in place of racism? I like this train of thought..
We shall call evolution 'biological racism', and we all know ALL racism is bad (including the biological, cross special variety). So of course, evolution is very bad!
Oh it goes on, with evidence:
Quote:
|
Less widely known is that many evolutionists, including Darwin, taught that women were biologically and intellectually inferior to men. The intelligence gap that Darwinists believed existed between males and females was not minor, but of a level that caused some evolutionists to classify the sexes as two distinct psychological species, males as homo frontalis and females as homo parietalis.<sup>4</sup>
|
Oh I see, not darwin but 'darwinists'. Darwin actually never used these term did he? Let's examine reference 4:
Love, R.,
Darwinism and Feminism: The ‘Women Question’ in the Life and Work of Olive Schreiner and Charlotte Perkins Gilman; in: Oldroyd and Langham,
The Wider Domain of Evolutionary Thought, D. Reidel, Holland,pp. 113–131, 1983.
Ok, so that's clear, darwin was not a sexist(at least I have not seen it demonstrated anywhere), nor a racist (except a 'biological racist', aka a darwinist). Also interesting to note, these terms have not made their way into modern science, surprisingly enough. I suppose some where along the line, this sexism was stamped out. Or are there some remnants left in contemporary evolutionary theory?
And to answer your question, people listened to darwin because his insights were revolutionary regarding our knowledge of the natural world.