On Ernst Haeckel and the Roots of Left Dhimmi Fascism

Recently my friend and colleague at Covenant Zone, Truepeers used the brilliant phrase: "Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny." I laughed when I read it. It's sort of true, and it's essential insight if one cares to solve the puzzle of which came first, the chicken or the egg. Peers is an ardent student of Canadian history, a passionate defender of the good aspects of the nation, and perhaps recalled the phrase from Stephen Jay Gould. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Peers came up with it off the top of his head. Then again, the Internet reveals: " Every biology student knows Ernst Haeckel as the originator of the "Biogenetic Law": ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny." Yeah, I knew that. Regardless, it does originate from our old nemesis here, the founder of the 'science' of ecology, Ernst Haeckel. That doesn't detract from the beauty of the phrase, and it does present a chance to reprise Haeckel here.

Not to go on at length about ecology this time round. Not to delve into ecology as the ground of "Blood and Soil" mysticism. No, the point is to leave yet another reference to Haeckel for further points later. I blame Peers for this, he having asked me persistently for a couple of years to define "fascism." Now that I'm around page 200 into it, I have soon to turn my attention to Haeckel again; and I use this opportunity to beg further insights and information from my readers. For those who know little or nothing about the man in question, this short run-down from an amazon book review and a bit of bio. from wikipedia will perhaps start a long and careful look into why we think we think the things we think:

Short review -- get this book. It's only 180 pages or so, but it's an excellent reference book on your shelf the next time some numbskull lazily hurls around the "Nazi" label against any political ideology he or she opposes. Very well documented and researched.

This book describes the origins of National Socialist thought (the "Volk" movement), and its connections to Darwinism, evolution, and nature worship. The author does an excellent job at the connecting the dots between Ernst Haeckel's evolutionary Monism and Hitler's philosophy. This should be read by all, because the evil ideology of National Socialism is irresponsibly misrepresented in pop culture as a capitalistic, Christian enterprise, when nothing could be further from the truth. An excellent companion to "Nazi Economics" by Barkai, another good myth-buster.

It's kind of scary how little people know about the intellectual origins of Nazism, how it's glossed over by professors and "intellectuals" who find that the skeletal backbone of National Socialism hits a little too close to home.

And here, a little less heated, is wikipedia:

Haeckel promoted Charles Darwin's work in Germany and developed the controversial recapitulation theory ("ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny") claiming that an individual organism's biological development, or ontogeny, parallels and summarizes its species' entire evolutionary development, or phylogeny.

Haeckel's political beliefs were influenced by his affinity for the German Romantic movement coupled with his acceptance of a form of Lamarckism. Rather than being a strict Darwinian Haeckel believed that racial characteristics were acquired through interactions with the environment and that phylogeny directly followed ontogeny. He believed the social sciences to be instances of "applied biology". Most of these arguments have been shown to be over-generalizations at best and flatly incorrect at worst in modern biology and social studies.

Haeckel was the first person known to use the term "First World War". Shortly after the start of the war Haeckel wrote:

" There is no doubt that the course and character of the feared "European War"...will become the first world war in the full sense of the word. " Indianapolis Star, September 20, 1914
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Haeckel

What, you might ask, has this to do with jihad, with our people murdered by crazed Muslim fanatics who continue to this day to plot to kill and/or enslave the world under the rule of the caliphate? It has much to do with Left dhimmi fascism, with our own people who are our own worst enemies, those who, hating America and our beautiful Modernity, seek to destroy America, hence Modernity itself, and return the world to pristine Nature and man to his prior feudal state as farm animal. We live with assumptions we seldom think of questioning, and here I hope to open up some of those assumptions of things as they are to explore just why they are as we think they are. What is fascism? How can I go on for years here about fascism without defining it properly? I find I cannot go on further without a real and definitive definition after all. Part of the answer is in the works of Haeckel.

I'll continue with this, and other themes related, as time allows.

Meanwhile, if you're in the mood for some fun, click the link to see some pomo musings about fascism. It's by Mark Mcintire, SBCC. Not me. I just liked it enough to post it for passers-by. Not me! I'm not that clever.