Larmarckian evolution, or Lamarckian inheritance, is a discredited, obsolete idea that the traits parents pass on to their offspring came not from genetics, but from physical exertion that the parents carried out. The usual  example given is that if the giraffe, which, under Lamarckian thinking, got its long neck because generations of giraffes stretched out their necks real long to reach treetops. Lamarckism arose in the decades before Darwin and was largely discredited by the end of the 19th century…. but Stalin was enamored of the idea due to Trofim Lysenko. Lysenkos ideas became Soviet policy with regards to agriculture, and as a result the USSR suffered crop failures and famines in the 1930’s when they should have been getting fat and bloated on glorious harvests.

By the 21st century, anyone buying into Lamarckism is a dull-witted as someone buying into Flat Earth or evils spirits rather than germs. So imagine my complete lack of surprise to hear that the latest bit of idiocy being promoted is the Lamarckian concept that since American slaves prior to the 1960s were usually sleep deprived, their ancestors 150 years later are sleep deprived as a result and deserve to be given all the time off they might possibly want for naps and vacations.

Black Power Naps Is Addressing Systemic Racism in Sleep

What’s especially hilarious is that the people behind this are claiming that they aren’t getting the sleep they should because they’re spending so much time out in the streets protesting.

We really are not only in the Crazy Times, but the Stupid Ages. People are strenuously and often violently demanding that they be given things that with even a moments cogitation they’d realize will only harm them. Demands that an entire racial group be given the ability to go on permanent vacation will not lead to the betterment of that group. Betterment comes not through relaxation, but from hustle.