Pcricketer
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before the question. Again, welcome! --Dweller (talk) 15:44, 10 January 2008 (UTC)
"Monkey"
editHi. Your contributions are very interesting, but without a source, they read as orginal research. Do you have a reliable source to back up your claims? Without one, the text will almost certainly be removed. --Dweller (talk) 16:15, 10 January 2008 (UTC)
Hi Dweller! I see that you are an Australian Wikipedia Administrator. Thanks for all your hard work. My edit was removed by Ansell, another Australian! Anyway, which of my original two claims below do you want backed-up?
'Note that calling an individual "monkey" is widely accepted in the Indian sub-continent as calling him or her "foolish". However, although it is a term for primate and not for Great Ape- the actual evolutionary ancestor of humans, "monkey" is also widely accepted in the West as pointing to an individual's ethnic ancestory. This acceptance can be better understood in the background of the West's struggle with racism, wherein the ethnic ancestory of colored people was frequently quoted to support the claim of their inferior evolution.'
- Claim 1 - Great ape:
The great apes are the members of the biological family Hominidae which includes humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. References - "Great ape" is a common name rather than a taxonomic label and there are differences in usage. Subtly, it may seem to exclude human beings ("humans and the great apes") or to include them ("humans and non-human great apes"). Homo sapiens is not at any especial remove from other members of the biological family, and humans are therefore described here as great apes. Also refer to Monkey.
- Claim 2 - Racism in the West:
Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man, 1901. pp. 241-242 - "At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes will no doubt be exterminated. The break between man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilized state, as we may hope, even as the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as now between a Negro or Australian [aborigine] and the gorilla."
Huxley, Thomas. Lectures and Lay Sermons, 1865. pp. 115 - "It may be quite true that some negroes are better than some white men, but no rational man, cognizant of the facts, believes that the average negro is the equal, still less superior, of the average white man. The highest places in the hierarchy of civilization will assuredly not be within the reach of our dusky cousins."
Conklin, Edwin. The Direction of Human Evolution, 1921. pp. 34 - "Comparison of any modern race with the Neanderthal or Heidelberg ["ape men"] types shows that all have changed, but probably the Negroid races more closely resemble the original stock than the white or yellow races." Dr. Edwin Conklin was a leading evolutionist, professor of biology at Princeton University from 1908 until 1933, and the president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1936.
As you may also know from your reading of the history of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Adolf Hitler had said that "the white races would win over the negroid and yellow races." But when Jesse Owens, a black man, won four gold medals in track competition, Hitler tried to ban all blacks from further participation.
Dr. Osborne, Evolutionist - "Black people, according to them, are closer to 'ape men' than White people or Asians! Black people have not evolved as far, and are closer to 'the original stock.'" Also, "Every consideration should lead those who believe in the superiority of the white race to strive to preserve its purity and to establish and maintain the segregation of the races, for the longer this is maintained, the greater the preponderance [superiority and influence] of the white race will be (ibid., pp. 53).
http://www.rlhymersjr.com/Online_Sermons/04-06-03PM_Imperialism.html
In light of this, you have to admit that this background is crucial to understanding this controversy. Denying the West's unfortunate history of racism is not telling the truth or helping Wikipedia.
Only warning
editEr, I'm an admin, but I'm not Australian. And I'm back here to warn you that making personal attacks on other editors is not tolerated. A repetition of the kind of comments you made at the article talk page will end in your account being blocked. --Dweller (talk) 14:01, 14 January 2008 (UTC)