"Thus, races arose from an original coding which God pulled out as needed for adaptation to the environment"
About this Quote
The phrasing "as needed" is the tell. It casts race as a tool deployed for environmental adaptation, a soft version of the argument that societies have long used to naturalize inequality: what exists must exist for a reason. The subtext is less about ecology than about permission. It offers a metaphysical alibi for racial categories that were already doing heavy political work in the first half of the 20th century, when eugenics, segregation, and colonial governance routinely borrowed the language of "science" to justify domination.
That Lang was a director matters, too. Film in his era was one of the main factories for popular anthropology, translating ideology into story beats and faces. This line reads like a behind-the-scenes production note for reality itself: casting by Providence, with the environment as script supervisor. It reassures an audience that difference is fixed, purposeful, and above dispute - precisely when modernity was making those certainties wobble.
Quote Details
| Topic | God |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Lang, Walter. (2026, January 16). Thus, races arose from an original coding which God pulled out as needed for adaptation to the environment. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/thus-races-arose-from-an-original-coding-which-86914/
Chicago Style
Lang, Walter. "Thus, races arose from an original coding which God pulled out as needed for adaptation to the environment." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/thus-races-arose-from-an-original-coding-which-86914/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Thus, races arose from an original coding which God pulled out as needed for adaptation to the environment." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/thus-races-arose-from-an-original-coding-which-86914/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.


