For over 10 years (actually more like 20) I’ve been saying some of my best friends are Neanderthals.  For a much shorter time I’ve been saying that there should be more attention paid to the fragility of humans evolved to push the frontiers of the ecological range of humanity (although I had the seeds of this idea 8 years earlier).  For an even shorter time I’ve been saying that the recent explosion of autism may be exhibiting that fragility in the form of higher incidence among people related to those at the frontiers of humanity in Europe, specifically the Finns or possibly the Saami, as technologically amplified mixing of human ecologies put them in contact with other human ecologies, specifically, that of Asian Indians.

It has been known for some time that both Neanderthals and autists (at least in their early development) have approximately 10% larger brains than neurotypical humans.  What hasn’t been known in the published literature until just this last month is not only (as previously reported here in MR) that Neanderthals may have contributed substantially to human macrocephaly (larger brains) but the macrocephaly of autists may not be a sign of pathology—rather part of their genetic heritage.

This is particularly poignant for me because when I posted back in 1994 “some of my best friends are Neanderthal” I had in mind specifically a friend who was working in Palo Alto, CA at a startup of about 100 employees where 4 families would have children diagnosed with autism within the next few years (one of those diagnoses was downgraded to Aspergers).  One of those children was the first born son of the “Neanderthal” friend of mine.  That boy remains profoundly autistic—unable to talk at all. (I also have a blood relative with Aspergers born to an Rh- mother whose brother suffered from autism—which anecdotally reinforces the “frontiers of the ecological range” susceptibility hypothesis but I admit these anecdotes are more poignant than necessarily relevant.)

I should close by referencing the website of an “aspie” (person with Asperger’s syndrome) Swede who has gathered a lot of data over the years supporting his own Neanderthal theory of autism.  He doesn’t do much in the way of providing any explanations for why there should be a dramatic increase in autism but he does do a good job of compiling generally relevant studies for arguing how Neanderthal lineages may be susceptible.

PS: There is only one published study I know of that supposedly “debunks” the above-mentioned ethnic correlate with autism—and that study (conducted by neighbors of the Berkeley “autism epidemiologist” who refused to look into the microcluster in Palo Alto I reported above) lists a number of predictors of “autism”—one of which is a black mother.  The problem is other predictors, such as high education of the mother, advanced age of the mother, negatively correlate with being a black mother.  This could mean that black mothers are particularly prone to bear “autists” if they are educated and/or delay motherhood but it could also quite easily point to a pre-existing different developmental pathway leading to similar symptomatology, but which has not been contributing substantially to the increased incidence of autism.  Certainly there are no accepted biological tests to discriminate “autists” from other pathologies and much of the difficulty we see in statistical analyses of autism may simply be the confusion of these various developmental pathways leading to similar syndromes.

Transaction, a social sciences publisher, has republished Frank Salter’s “On Genetic Interests, Family, Ethnicity, and Humanity in an Age of Mass Migration”.

The blurb states:-

From an evolutionary perspective, individuals have a vital interest in the reproduction of their genes. Yet this interest is overlooked by social and political theory at a time when we need to steer an adaptive course through the unnatural modern world of uneven population growth and decline, global mobility, and loss of family and communal ties. In modern Darwinian theory, bearing children is only one way to reproduce. Since we share genes with our families, ethnic groups, and the species as a whole, ethnocentrism and humanism can be adaptive. They can also be hazardous when taken to extremes. On Genetic Interests canvasses strategies and ethics for conserving our genetic interests in an environmentally sustainable manner sensitive to the interests of others.

“[This] is a fresh and deep contribution to the sociobiology of humans, combining genetics with social science in original ways.”—Edward O. Wilson, Harvard University

“The book greatly expands Hamiltonian ‘kin selection’ by making ethnies in control of territory the central arena of ‘selfish genery’ in a modern world of mass migration.”—Pierre van den Berghe, University of Washington, Seattle

“Salter argues that all humans have a vital interest in genetic continuity that is threatened by mass migration. Salter advocates non-aggressive ‘universal nationalism’ as part of a balanced ‘fitness portfolio’ that includes investments in three levels of genetic interests—family, ethny, and the species as a whole. The synthesis is persuasive; the policy formulations provocative.”—Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Max Planck Society

“Five stars for Salter—he has provided us with a deep and compelling explanation of what most people know and what guides much of their behavior, but fear to acknowledge publicly.”—Michael T. McGuire, UCLA

“We are indeed all part of each other, as John Donne insisted even before the help of evolutionary genetics. But we are more part of some than others, and the nature of these boundaries of ethnic kinship has been ignored, avoided or denied. After Salter’s virtuoso synthesis we can no longer duck these issues which become more important daily.”—Robin Fox, Rutgers University

Frank Salter is an Australian political scientist who has been a researcher with the Max Planck Society, Andechs, Germany, since 1991.

This edition has a new introduction.  It would be very interesting to know the differences, and how - if they are substantive - Salter arrived at them.

I’ve previously pointed out how the amygdala is a very good candidate brain structure for the focal point of race replacement via parasitic castration.  There is now further study examining how amygdala activation predicts decision bias:

The subjects made these decisions inside a functional MRI scanner, allowing the investigators to record patterns of neural activity throughout the brain during the task. They asked whether activity in any brain region was correlated with a tendency to make biased decisions. To accomplish this, they summed the scans taken when an individual subject chose to “Keep £20” or to gamble rather than “Lose £30,” and subtracted the scans taken when he or she chose to “Lose £30” or to gamble rather than “Keep £20.” This analysis identified areas of the brain that were more active when subjects were choosing in keeping with the framing effect than when they were not. The results showed that framing-driven choices were correlated with increased activity of the amygdala…

Note the “Lose £30” or “Keep £20” choice was with respect to an original £50 so the choices are supposedly equal.  The researchers claim this points to “irrational” brain activity in those who were most biased toward the “Keep £20” choice.  My contention is that, as with other secondary sexual functions of the amygdala particularly in males, the territorial competition aspect is central to understanding this supposedly “irrational” brain activity, to wit: If one presumes that the agent with which one is gaming is attempting to acquire your assets/territory, one quite rationally considers the possibility that the phrase “Lose £30” could be interpreted by foes as “Lose at least £30” and like-wise the phrase “Keep £20” could be interpreted to mean “Keep at least £20” by friends.

Certainly these are not interpretations that give one’s opponent “the benefit of the doubt”—as we are continually admonished to do by moral authorities of the current secular theocracy—yet they are entirely rational from the perspective of an adversarial game situation.

Again, a functional amygdala is an asset and a primary target for destruction by the adversary.

Nick Griffin and Mark Collett have been found not guilty at Leeds Crown Court of the remaining charges of inciting racial hatred.  The pair were charged in April 2005 after the BBC inserted mole Jason Gwynne into the Party in 2004 to secretly film footage for the documentary “The Secret Agent”.  The verdict by the jury of seven women and five men was unanimous.

A goose has been shot here, namely that the Party can be routinely vilified out of pure bile and prejudice by the liberal Establishment, right and left.  A thresshold in its reportage by mainstream media has therefore been crossed, and the BNP now has the opportunity to move more freely if gradually closer towards its (unsoundly) sleeping constituency.

The poem I reproduce below was penned by a schoolgirl, Rebecca Sullivan as a (probably rather tiresome) homework assignment.  Her subject matter was Remembrance Day: the 11th of the 11th.  To continue with the BBC News report:-

Her teacher was so moved by the poem - which describes a world in which war dead are all but forgotten - she sent it to the Royal British Legion.

Officials decided to include it in a service at Trafalgar Square after deciding that it stood out from the hundreds of poems the Legion receives each year.

Rebecca wrote her piece after being moved by the poems of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon which she read as part of a school project.

Here then, with apologies for any excessive lugubriousness, is the poem - which I found myself forced to read from a slightly different but no less poignant perspective.

There Lie Forgotten Men

They lie there in their thousands
The last rays of sunlight
Catching the white of the gravestones
Lending a poignancy to the moment
Numbering in their thousands they lay
Deserving remembrance
And yet the scarred green fields are empty
Nothing remains here
The processions of people vanished with the years
Their sacrifice all but forgotten

She stands there alone
At the edge of the silent place
And she is shocked
New wars brew and these forgotten men
Will play no part in them
The dead silence warn no ears but hers
In great halls in moments of great decision
What they fought for is forsaken
And by days end new gravestones
Appear on the blood red ground

She finds what she seeks
‘Sgt John Malley Age 27’
His life brutally ended
And she stands by his grave
But he can give no answers
And she weeps for him
For the empty hole he left behind
And for the new emptiness
Soon to join the black chasm
And her tears join the flood

Our fine national media today reported the end of the trial of three Pakistanis, Faisal Mushtaq, 27, Zeeshan Shahid, 28, and his brother Imran Shahid, 29, for the kidnap and most cruel murder of 15-year old Kriss Donald in Glasgow in 2004.

Kriss’ murder was the worst racially-motivated killing ever to occur in Britain.  The life sentences reflect that and Kriss’ family have indicated satisfaction at their minimum terms of 27, 22 and 23 years respectively.  The sentencing statement of the judge, Lord Uist, can be read here, courtesy of the BBC.

The BBC also courteously informed us that racism and race crime is not actually an Original Sin of white people.  No, it has been “redefined “, apparently.  Now it can include black and Asian thugs.  One can only wonder what their race crimes were before the redefinition.  A bit of noisy joshing around, I suppose, while knifing some poor white bastard for purely economic reasons.

It has taken some appalling murders and the black v brown riots last year in Lozells to drag the liberal mind reluctantly towards this “redefinition”.  And now we see why the coverage of Kriss’ case has been so shamefully absent until today.  It’s the same reason the BBC felt compelled to put the “redefinition” piece on-line.  They are trying to slip-slide away from the charge that for decade after decade they have played a venomous game with race.

Remember this?

Racial violence: The ugly facts

Late one night last November, Sanjay heard a noise outside the front of his house. A circle of rowdy teenagers were on the lawn. They were throwing small stones at the door and window of his house where he lives with his mother and two sisters.

“Go back to your own country,” one shouted. “Get out and don’t come back.”

The other things they said were too awful to repeat, said 20-year-old Sanjay - not his real name.

Sanjay lives in a council house in Greenwich, south-east London, just a few miles from where Stephen Lawrence was murdered in 1993. While most racial incidents don’t end in murder there are dozens like this every week ...

How to avoid getting a well-deserved, red-hot right-wing poker up your liberal jacksie, that’s the BBC’s problem now.  And that’s what the long silence and the sudden “redefinition” are really about.  Quite disgusting intellectual cowardice.

READ MORE...

The LA Times reports that:

Richard N. Perle, the former Pentagon advisor regarded as the intellectual godfather of the Iraq war, now believes he should not have backed the U.S.-led invasion, and he holds President Bush responsible for failing to make timely decisions to stem the rising violence, according to excerpts from a magazine interview.

So The Inner Party Line for the outcome of the election has been set:  “Don’t blame Republican losses on neoconservative promotion of the Iraq war.  What happened there is the President’s fault not ours.  “

I know several MR regulars have the highest opinion of Jim Kalb.  For me, he is one of the two most thoughtful bloggers on the traditionalist right (the other being the more politically “big C” Conservative Mark Richardson).

After a blogging lay-off of some months Jim is back in harness with some new posts at Turnabout.  I’m sure he would welcome your patronage.