Space Corps

Discussion (2) ¬

1. 
   Shannon Love

   December 9, 2012, 10:56 am | # | Reply

   Prior to the 1950s, the word “race” meant “species”. We still retain that old sense of the word in the phrase, “the Human Race,” meaning all humans. The scientific consensus of the time held that humanity was chopped up into various species or subspecies at all varying levels of non-Darwinian progressive evolutionary stages.

   That meant that back then, racism was really “specie-ism” and that fighting for one’s race meant fighting for one’s species. That’s why racism got so ugly there at the end of that period. The science of the day told racist they were fighting for the highest stakes imaginable.

   • 
     Bryan

     December 11, 2012, 1:17 pm | # | Reply

     Hi Shannon, thanks for the comment. We wanted to establish very quickly that any foolish demarcations of race were meaningless in the face of a truly alien threat. As a human family, there’s really not any time to draw arbitrary boundaries based on color or creed when your very existence is threatened. And, as Taylor will find in the Space Corps, even species isn’t even a barrier for fellowship.

     The Winnowers are eugenicists of the worst kind. We’ll get into their methods later, but in the meantime, thanks so much for reading!
     -Bryan