{"id":636,"date":"2007-11-08T09:39:00","date_gmt":"2007-11-08T08:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2007\/11\/described-as-holding-extreme-darwinian-views.html"},"modified":"2014-11-14T05:56:48","modified_gmt":"2014-11-14T04:56:48","slug":"described-as-holding-extreme-darwinian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2007\/11\/described-as-holding-extreme-darwinian.html","title":{"rendered":"Described as holding “extreme Darwinian” views…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

On Wednesday, an 18 year old boy, Pekka-Eric Auvinen, went on a killing spree at his high school in the Finnish village of Jokela, and then killed himself. Before committing the murders (seven students and a teacher), he posted a series of videos on YouTube under the heading \u201cManifesto of a Natural Selector\u201d. news.com.au<\/a> reports that:<\/p>\n

Wearing a shirt proclaiming \u201cHumanity is overrated\u201d, Auvinen told the world of his plan to murder those he saw as \u201cunfit, disgraces of human race\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Some samples of what he posted in the run-up to the tragedy:<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot say that I am of the same race as this miserable, arrogant and selfish human race. No! I have evolved a step higher \u2026 I\u2019m a natural selector and will eliminate all those I see as unfit,\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The BBC reports<\/a> that he is \u201cdescribed as holding \u201cextreme Darwinian\u201d views \u2013 although they don\u2019t say who described him in that way. No doubt this will be picked up on by those who would like to reject the theory of evolution. So let\u2019s put the record straight.<\/span><\/p>\n

Darwinism (more correctly \u201cevolution by natural selection\u201d) is all about passing your genes on to the next generation. If an individual kills himself, this is not a good Darwinian strategy. If an individual behaves in a way that is going to get himself killed or locked up by others, then this too is not a good Darwinian strategy. In fact, in Darwinian terms, Auvinen is a failure: an evolutionary dead end.<\/p>\n

Avuninen misappropriated Darwinian terminology, but in no way can his actions be described as a logical consequence of Evolution Theory. What is clear is that Auvinen was a disturbed young man, who was legally entitled to hold a firearm and who was inspired by images of violence in the media. In fact, more than anything else, Auvinen was suicidal.<\/p>\n

An interesting aside is that suicide is well known to be contagious. According to the US National Institute of Mental Health<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Research finds an increase in suicide by readers or viewers when:<\/p>\n