Letter: Folly to assume intelligence is automatically associated with morality

While I am usually amused by Allen Johnson’s ramblings, the Oct. 2 column has me concerned.

Johnson seems to blame the reptilian brain for what’s wrong with the world and credit the mammalian cerebral cortex for all the good. That is simplistic. Higher function just means more sophistication.

(Reptilian?) self-defense precedes hate? Black belts are some of the mellowest and most spiritually centered people I’ve ever met.

Johnson blames French vengeance for World War II? Hitler thought the French “reaped the whirlwind” as well. However, a more “reptilian” reply to Hitler’s first acts of aggression might have prevented the war. For example, the German high command was ready to high tail it out of the Rhineland at the first show of French resistance.

The Marshall Plan was also passed due to (reptilian?) fear that a ruined Axis would become a seeding ground for Communism.

To me, Johnson’s reference to a “razed” post World War I Germany is an error. The battlefront and aerial bombing was relativity limited then. I think he was confusing WWI with WWII Germany, which really was razed.

It’s pure folly to assume that intelligence is automatically associated with morality. Reptiles and mammals are both animals. Only Grace sets us apart.

This story was originally published October 5, 2016 at 4:30 AM with the headline "Letter: Folly to assume intelligence is automatically associated with morality."