Wikipedia

Neanderthals in popular culture

Neanderthals have been depicted in popular culture since the early 20th century. Early depictions conveyed and perpetuated notions of proverbially crude, low-browed cavemen; since the latter part of the 20th century, some depictions have modeled more sympathetic reconstructions of the genus Homo in the Middle Paleolithic era.[1][2] In popular idiom, people sometimes use the word "Neanderthal" as an insult - to suggest that a person so designated combines a deficiency in intelligence and a tendency to use brute force. The term may also imply that a person is old-fashioned or attached to outdated ideas, much in the same way as the terms "dinosaur" or "Yahoo".[3]

A number of sympathetic literary portrayals of Neanderthals exist, as in the 1955 novel The Inheritors by William Golding, Isaac Asimov's 1958 short story "The Ugly Little Boy", or the more serious treatment by Finnish paleontologist Björn Kurtén (in several works including Dance of the Tiger (1978)) - compare British psychologist Stan Gooch's non-fiction works on the hybrid-origin theory of humans.

Origins

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Illustration of a Neanderthal man by J. F. Horrabin, 1923.
 
Life restoration of a hairy Neanderthal in an American museum during the 1930's.

The contemporary perception of Neanderthals and their stereotypical portrayal has its origins in 19th century Europe. Naturalists and anthropologists were confronted with an increasing number of fossilized bones that did not match any known taxon. Carl Linnaeus' Systema Naturae of 1758, in which introduced Homo sapiens as a species without diagnosis and description, was the authoritative encyclopedia of the time. The notion of species extinction, which would have contradicted the paradigm of an immutable world and its unchangeable species, all the infallible products of a single and deliberate creator god, was unheard of at that time. Most scholars simply declared the early Neanderthal fossils to be representatives of early "races" of modern man. Thomas Henry Huxley, a future supporter of Darwin's theory of evolution, saw in the Engis 2 fossil a "man of low degree of civilization". He interpreted the discoveries in the Neanderthal Valley as within the range of variation of modern humans.[4]

Rudolf Virchow, who dominated mid-19th century Germany biological sciences, described the bones as a "remarkable individual phenomenon" and as "plausible individual deformation".[5] This statement led to the perception for many years in German-speaking countries that Neanderthal characteristics were merely a form of pathological skeleton change of modern humans to come.

August Franz Josef Karl Mayer, an associate of Virchow, emphasized disease, prolonged pain and struggle on comparison with modern human features.[6] "He confirmed the Neanderthal's rachitic changes in bone development[...]. Mayer argued among other things, that the thigh - and pelvic bones of Neanderthal man were shaped like those of someone who had spent all his life on horseback. The broken right arm of the individual had only healed very badly and the resulting permanent worry lines about the pain were the reason for the distinguished brow ridges. The skeleton was, he speculated, that of a mounted Russian Cossack, who had roamed the region in 1813/14 during the turmoils of the wars of liberation from Napoleon."[5]

Arthur Keith of Britain and Marcellin Boule of France were both senior members of their respective national paleontological institutes and among the most eminent paleoanthropologists of the early 20th century. Both men argued that this "primitive" Neanderthal could not be a direct ancestor of modern man. As a result, the museum's copy of the almost complete Neanderthal fossil of La Chapelle-aux-Saints was inaccurately mounted in an exaggerated crooked pose with a deformed and heavily curved spine and legs buckled. Boule commissioned the first illustrations of Neanderthal where he was characterized as a hairy gorilla-like figure with opposable toes, based on a skeleton that was already distorted with arthritis.[7][8][9][10][11]

Portrayals in text

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Main article: Speculative fiction

Screenplays and short stories

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Title Year

Written/Pub

Author Anthology Notes
"The Grisley Folk"[12] 1921 H. G. Wells The Complete Short Stories
"The Gnarly Man"[13] 1939 L. Sprague de Camp Unknown Worlds: Tales from Beyond A Neanderthal finds himself in a peculiar time-traveling colony mixing people from various time periods and locations. He plays a crucial role in forging an alliance of people from different backgrounds to fight the story's villains - bandit adventurers from Medieval Norman Sicily aided by 20th-century Nazis. Eventually he is able to return to his own era, but finds Neanderthal society too boring and so settles on a career of time-traveling adventure with the Russian woman he loves.
"The Long Remembering"[14] 1957 Poul Anderson Trips in Time A modern man undertakes a "mental time travel" enabling him to experience the life of a very remote ancestor, a Cro-Magnon hunter setting out to rescue his mate who was kidnapped by the "Goblins" (Neanderthals) living across the river.
"The Ugly Little Boy"[15] 1958 Issac Asimov The Time Travelers: A Science Fiction Quartet A Neanderthal child is brought into the present via time travel. Neanderthals are sympathetically depicted as having an articulate and sophisticated society and language, in conscious rebuttal of the above stereotype.
"The Ogre"[16] 1959 Avram Davidson Worlds of IF A 20th-century archaeologist, who discovered the traces of Neanderthals who survived into historical times and came to a tragic end in a remote valley of 16th-century Germany, came to an equally tragic end himself.
"Wolves Beyond the Border"[17] 1939 Robert E. Howard
"Heal Thyself"[18] 2008 Orson Scott Card Neanderthals are accidentally resurrected during testing of an immune system enhancement.

Novels

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Title Year Written/Pub Author Notes
Dian of the Lost Land[19] 1935 Edison Marshall Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons are traditional enemies surviving in a warm valley of Antarctica
The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike[20] 1960/1984 Philip K. Dick The discovery of a Neanderthal skull in the United States is a plot device.
The Bull from the Sea[21] 1962 Mary Renault Kentaurs are portrayed as Neanderthals.
The Simulacra[22] 1964/1977 Philip K. Dick Neanderthals living in primitive towns in the rural areas of the former United States are happy at the outbreak of nuclear war, hoping that self-destruction of Homo sapiens might give them another opportunity to dominate Earth.
The Goblin Reservation[23] 1968 Clifford D. Simak Twenty years after a Neanderthal named Alley Oop (after the eponymous comic strip) is brought into the present for study purposes he is educated enough to be working on a doctoral thesis but still has trouble with certain social aspects, possessing, for example, a habit of breaking into closed stores when hungry and paying compensation later.
Eaters of the Dead[24] 1976 Michael Crichton A small Neanderthal population in Northern Europe is the source of the battles recorded in Beowulf. This story was also the basis for a motion picture The 13th Warrior (1999), though the word "Neanderthals" was never mentioned in the movie.
Dance of the Tiger 1981 Björn Kurtén This book follows interactions between European Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, possible worldviews and origins for troll mythology
Glory Lane[25] 1987 Alan Dean Foster Spacefaring Neanderthals removed from Earth by powerful aliens return to save them from extinction.
Unsolved Mysteries Past and Present 1993 Colin Wilson This book discusses evidence and theories of Neanderthal survival into the modern age, including the possibility of their recent breeding with humans, in his book Unsolved Mysteries.
Hunting the Ghost Dancer[26] 1992 Attanasio Early humans clash with the last of the neanderthals.
Down in the Bottomlands[27] 1988 Harry Turtledove/L. Sprague de Camp In an alternate timeline the Mediterranean Sea has stayed dry since the Miocene and Europe is still inhabited by Homo neanderthalensis, referred to in the story as "Strongbrows" and described as "shorter, stockier, fairer", than the "Highhead" people (presumably analogous to Homo sapiens).
Neanderthal[28] 1996 John Darnton A group of surviving Neanderthals discovered in the mountains of Afghanistan is said to possess the ability to read minds due to their larger cranial capacity, but unlike Cro-Magnons, lack the capability of deception on more than two levels at a time. The author blamed the near-extinction of the Neanderthals on this shortcoming.
Circles of Stone[29] 1997 Joan Dahr Lambert A band of early Homo sapiens team up with a remnant band of Neanderthals to defeat a hostile band of H.sapiens who are trying to take over their territory. Set in the Pyrenees, Neanderthals are dying out because they cannot give birth to enough children; their infant's heads are often too big.
The Silk Code[30] 1999 Paul Levinson Neanderthals are still living in Basque country in 750 AD, and a few survive in the present world.
Raising Abel[31] 2002 W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear Neanderthals, cloned back into existence in modern times, are the targets of assassination attempts by a Christian fundamentalist creationist sect.
Darwin's Radio[32] 2003 Greg Bear A phenomenon which caused the Neanderthals to die off now threatens modern humans.
Manifold: Origin[33] 2002 Stephen Baxter This novel prominently features Neanderthals from an alternate timeline. This is a sequel to Manifold: Space where Neanderthal characters also appear, in a narrower context, as genetically engineered slave laborers.
Heaven[34] 2004 Ian Stewart, Jack Cohen This book features spacefaring Neanderthals who were removed from Earth by powerful aliens for unspecified reasons.
The Sky People[35] 2006 S. M. Stirling Neanderthals inhabit an alternate-history Venus.
N-words[36] 2013 Ted Kosmatka Neanderthals are resurrected by South Korean scientists en masse and intermarry with humans.
The Bone Labyrinth[37] 2015 James Rollins The Watchers are a superior hybrid species of early humans and Neanderthals who disseminated knowledge and possibly interbred with people throughout the world. They also created the protected, hidden city of Atlantis, located in Ecuador.
The Last Neanderthal[38] 2017 Claire Cameron
L'homme de Grand Soleil 2018 Jacques Gaubil A novel about the discovery of a Neanderthal living in the frigid northern Quebec and the chain of events that ensues, effectively a portrait of modern humans

Novel series

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Series Author Notes
Riverworld Philip José Farmer A prominent Neanderthal character named Kazz (short from Kazzintuitruaabemss), who interacts with modern humans.
Earth's Children Jean M. Auel Neanderthals appear as characters including in the 1986 movie adaptation of the first book, The Clan of the Cave Bear
Quest for Tomorrow William Shatner Neanderthals were a primitive psychic species which caught the eye of a large alien empire, which decided to isolate the telepathic gene and transplanted several experimental subjects to another world. The original Neanderthals were then eliminated so that no one else could reproduce the experiment. The Homo sapiens were not modified. The transplanted Neanderthals eventually evolved into an industrial society; this took much longer than it did for humanity, as a telepathic species would have problems inventing complex technology without the use of writing, which would be an unnecessary tool for telepaths. In the story, Neanderthals eventually joined and transcended their physical shape, becoming a god-like being.
Thursday Next Jasper Fforde Neanderthals are brought back from extinction by cloning to act as medical test subjects thanks to their close relation to Homo sapiens but lack of legal status as human beings.
Neanderthal Parallax Robert J. Sawyer On an alternate world Neanderthals became the dominant species while Homo sapiens died out.

Comics and manga

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Genre Year Publisher Notes
Comic 1968 DC Comics Anthro is the first Cro-Magnon boy, born in the Stone Age to Neanderthal parents. His father, Neanderthal caveman Ne-Ahn is the chief of his tribe, his mother a captive member of another tribe.
Comic 1982 Dark Horse Comics A main character in Alfredo Castelli's comic book Martin Mystère is a Neanderthal called Java. Martin Mystère found him in Mongolia, home to the last population of Neanderthals. He is named after the Java Man, which are actually much earlier Homo erectus remains.
Manga 2016 Studio Gokumi In Seton Academy: Join the Pack! the character Anne Anetani initially pretends to be a modern human, but is eventually revealed to be a Neanderthal.
Comic 2005 DC Comics In Seven Soldiers of Victory, the New Gods (Metron, Lightray and Orion) came to Earth and adapted the pre-Neanderthal hominids, giving them "fire, inspiration and magic" and creating a semi-immortal king named Aurakles. The resulting Neanderthals then create a scientific civilization which covers the world, until it is destroyed by future time-travellers. They then revert to cave-dwelling and evolve into modern humans.

Film and television

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Title Director Format Info
The Neanderthal Man E. A. Dupont 1953 film Professor Groves turns himself into a Neanderthal man.
Looney Tunes:
Mad as a Mars Hare		 Chuck Jones 1963 cartoon episode Bugs Bunny is turned into a "Neanderthal Rabbit" after getting hit by a ray from a time-projector gun by Marvin the Martian.
Korg: 70,000 BC Irving J. Moore and Christian Nyby 1984–1985 TV series features a family of Neanderthals during the Ice Age.
Caveman Carl Gottlieb 1981 film Ringo Starr plays a Neanderthal-like caveman in the year "one zillion BC." He and the other characters speak in a "caveman language" and encounter dinosaurs, invent cooking, and learn to walk upright.
Quest for Fire Jean-Jacques Annaud 1981 film features Neanderthals and a Cro-Magnon attempting to carry a vessel containing fire to the Neanderthal's tribe.
Iceman Fred Schepisi 1984 film from a screenplay written by John Drimmer, depicts a frozen Neanderthal coming to life again in the 1980s at an arctic research station.
Clan of the Cave Bear Michael Chapman 1986 film novel by Jean M. Auel about prehistoric times. It is the first book in the Earth's Children book series
Ghost Light Alan Wareing TV series a 1989 three-part serial in the television series Doctor Who, a Neanderthal called "Nimrod" (Carl Forgione) is the butler of a Victorian era household.
Cro TV series Short-lived animated series centered around a Cro-Magnon child being adopted by a tribe of Neanderthals.
Night at the Museum Shawn Levy 2006 film four Neanderthals were put on display in the American Museum of Natural History. An ancient Egyptian tablet, the Tablet of Akhemrah, causes everything on display in the museum to come to life at night. The Neanderthals showed an interest in fire after it was shown to them by the night guard, Larry Daley.
The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest Sherry Gunther TV series the mythical yetis are stated to be a relict population of Neanderthals.
Dinosaurs Brian Henson TV series Generic "cavemen" have appeared in multiple episodes notably season 3 episodes, "The Discovery," and "Charlene and Her Amazing Humans."
You Can't Do That on Television Geoffrey Darby TV program A Neanderthal-like family was a frequent recurring sketch in the children's show, In keeping with the theme of that particular episode, the sketch often parodied modern issues with coarse, overbearing parents outside of a pre-historic cave setting.[39]
GEICO Cavemen Joe Lawson advertisement trademarked characters in a series of television advertisements for the auto insurance company GEICO that have aired from 2004 to present, featuring Neanderthal-like cavemen in a modern setting
The Croods Chris Sanders
Kirk DeMicco		 2013 animated film features the titular family as they embark on a journey to find a new home along with a Cro-Magnon boy who has mastered fire and other "technologies" they had never previously encountered.
Walking with Beasts Tim Haines Documentary One is charged by a woolly rhinoceros, but escapes, in part because of his stocky constitution. The climax of the episode is when the clan of Neanderthals attack the herd of mammoth as they turn back to the north.
Ao: The Last Hunter
Ao, le dernier Néandertal		 Jacques Malaterre prehistoric film Ao is the protagonist in a 2010 French prehistoric film[40]
Minions Pierre Coffin
Kyle Balda		 2015 animated film A Neanderthal is one of the Minions' bosses.
The Armstrong & Miller Show BBC Comedy sketch show Various sketches featuring Neanderthals dealing with modern-day situations such as marriage, dating, baby naming and job interviews. In one sketch they discover wine. They are also frequently trying to hunt mammoth, this despite the location being forest and thus unsuitable for such creatures.
William[41] Tim Disney 2019 film In 2019, a Neanderthal is cloned using somatic cell nuclear transfer by two scientists. Various stages of his life are portrayed through age 18. His cognitive abilities and differences are studied and many conflicts arise due to his differences with homo sapiens society.
Primal Genndy Tartakovsky 2019 Adult Swim TV series The main character, who is a Neanderthal caveman that goes by the name of Spear, tragically begins his story when his mate and two children are attacked and devoured by a pack of Tyrannosauroids that also evoked the traits of Alioramus and Ceratosaurus. Although he overcomes his initial urge to commit suicide, Spear is still learning to cope with the loss. Eventually, he develops a deep bond with Fang, a female Tyrannosaurus who lost her babies by the same pack, and is willing to make any personal sacrifice to protect her

Video games

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Title Year Publisher Notes
Titan Quest' 2006 THQ Nordic Neanderthals appear as enemies in an Ancient World where mythology and legends are real. In contrast to their real-world extinction, the Neanderthals of Titan Quest continue to thrive in central Asia where they attack and plunder caravans along the Silk Road.[42]
Far Cry: Primal 2016 Ubisoft Neanderthals are among the primary factions in .[43] The game is set in an isolated valley around 10,000 BC during the end of the Epipalaeolithic and beginning of the Mesolithic period in Europe.[44] The game's Neanderthals are a remnant group that has survived long after other Neanderthals have gone extinct,[43] though they too are afflicted by a disease and slowly dying out.[45]

Politics

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President Joe Biden condemned Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) and Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves (R) for ″Neanderthal thinking″ in ignoring health considerations in dropping mask mandates and removing other restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States in March 2021.[46][47]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "La Chapelle-Aux-Saints - The old man of La Chapelle - The original reconstruction of the 'Old Man of La Chapelle' by scientist Pierre Marcellin Boule led to the reason why popular culture stereotyped Neanderthals as dim-witted brutes for so many years". Smithsonian Institution. January 1908. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  2. ^ Ian Sample (April 30, 2014). "Neanderthals were not less intelligent than modern humans, scientists find". The Guardian. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  3. ^ "Everything you know about the Neanderthal is wrong". Washington Post. June 4, 2014. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  4. ^ Huxley, Thomas Henry (1866). On Some Fossil Remains of Man. Archived from the original on November 16, 2023. Retrieved November 16, 2023. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  5. ^ a b "The Neanderthals | WorldCat.org". search.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  6. ^ "Lag Eden im Neandertal? : Auf der Suche nach dem frühen Menschen | WorldCat.org". search.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  7. ^ "L'homme fossile de La Chapelle-aux-Saints - full text - Volume VI (p. 11–172), Volume VII (p. 21–56), Volume VIII (p. 1–70), 1911–1913". Royal College of Surgeons of England. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  8. ^ "Marcellin Boule - French geologist". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  9. ^ "Arthur Keith". Royal Anthropological Institute. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  10. ^ "La Chapelle-Aux-Saints - The old man of La Chapelle - The original reconstruction of the 'Old Man of La Chapelle' by scientist Pierre Marcellin Boule led to the reason why popular culture stereotyped Neanderthals as dim-witted brutes for so many years". Smithsonian Institution. January 1908. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  11. ^ Hammond M (1982). The Expulsion of Neanderthals from Human Ancestry: Marcellin Boule and the Social Context of Scientific Research. Social Studies of Science, 12 (1): 1-36.
  12. ^ Wells, H. G. (Herbert George) (1999). The complete short stories. Internet Archive. London : Phoenix Giant. p. 684. ISBN 978-0-7538-0872-6.
  13. ^ de Camp, L. Sprague (1993). Schmidt, Stanley; Greenberg, Martin Harry (eds.). Unknown worlds : tales from beyond. Internet Archive. New York, NY : Bristol Park Books. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-88486-077-8.
  14. ^ Anderson, Poul (1977). Silverberg, Robert (ed.). Trips in time : nine stories of science fiction. Internet Archive. Nashville : Nelson. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-8407-6574-1.
  15. ^ Asimov, Issac (1985). Greenburg, Martin H.; Silverburg, Robert (eds.). The Time travelers : a science fiction quartet. New York : D.I. Fine. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-917657-34-4.
  16. ^ Davidson, Avram (1959). Gold, H. L.; Pohl, Frederick (eds.). Worlds of IF. p. 29.
  17. ^ Howard, Robert E. (Robert Ervin) (2006). The complete chronicles of Conan. Internet Archive. London : Victor Gollancz. ISBN 978-0-575-07766-9.
  18. ^ Card, Orson Scott (2008). Keeper of dreams. Internet Archive. New York : Tor. ISBN 978-0-7653-0497-1.
  19. ^ Marshall, Edison (1966). Dian of the lost land. Internet Archive. Philadelphia, Chilton Books.
  20. ^ Dick, Philip K. (1986). The man whose teeth were all exactly alike. Internet Archive. London : Paladin. ISBN 978-0-586-08563-9.
  21. ^ Mary Renault (1963). The Bull From The Sea. Internet Archive. A Giant Cardinal Edition ,Pocket Books, Inc. New York.
  22. ^ Dick, Philip K. (1977). The simulacra. Internet Archive. London : Eyre Methuen. ISBN 978-0-413-37750-0.
  23. ^ Simak, Clifford D. (1968). The goblin reservation. Internet Archive. New York, Putnam.
  24. ^ CRICHTON, Micheal (1977). Eaters of the dead : the manuscript of Ibn Fadlan, relating his experiences with the northmen in A.D. 922. Internet Archive. New York : Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-553-04792-9.
  25. ^ Foster, Alan Dean (1987). Glory lane. Internet Archive. New York : Ace Books. ISBN 978-0-441-51664-3.
  26. ^ Attanasio, A. A. (1992). Hunting the ghost dancer. Internet Archive. London : GraftonBooks. ISBN 978-0-586-20836-6.
  27. ^ Turtledove, Harry; Camp, L. Sprague de; Copyright Paperback Collection (Library of Congress) DLC (1988). Down in the bottomlands (and other places). Internet Archive. New York : Baen Books. ISBN 978-0-671-57835-0.
  28. ^ Darnton, John (1996). Neanderthal. Internet Archive. Thorndike, Me. : Thorndike Press. ISBN 978-0-7862-0824-1.
  29. ^ Lambert, Joan Dahr (1997). Circles of stone. Internet Archive. New York : Pocket Books. ISBN 978-0-671-55285-5.
  30. ^ Levinson, Paul (1999). The silk code. Internet Archive. New York : Tor. ISBN 978-0-312-86823-9.
  31. ^ Gear, W. Michael (2002). Raising Abel. Internet Archive. New York : Warner Books. ISBN 978-0-446-52615-9.
  32. ^ "Darwin's radio | WorldCat.org". search.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2023-11-15.
  33. ^ Baxter, Stephen (2002). Manifold : origin. Internet Archive. New York : Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-43079-3.
  34. ^ Stewart, Ian; Cohen, Jack (2004). Heaven. Internet Archive. New York : Warner Books. ISBN 978-0-446-52983-9.
  35. ^ Stirling, S. M. (2006). The sky people. Internet Archive. New York : Tor. ISBN 978-0-7653-1488-8.
  36. ^ Adams, John Joseph (July 9, 2013). "Prophet of Bones author Ted Kosmatka Clones Neanderthals in 'N-Words'". Archived from the original on August 20, 2013. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
  37. ^ "the bone labyrinth - Search Results". search.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2023-11-15.
  38. ^ "The last Neanderthal : a novel | WorldCat.org". search.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2023-11-15.
  39. ^ [YCDTOTV.com FAQ "31. Which sets were used for YCDTOTV sketches?" - see "The cave" under Miscellaneous sets. Note: do not correct url formatting as per Wikipedia's Blacklist, June 2010]
  40. ^ "AO, le dernier Néandertal - site officiel du film". UGC YM. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  41. ^ Disney, Tim (2019-04-26), William (Adventure, Drama, Family), William Productions, retrieved 2022-01-03
  42. ^ "Titan Quest - Creature Feature, China". IGN. 24 May 2006. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  43. ^ a b Wainwright, A. Martin (2019). Virtual History: How Videogames Portray the Past. Montreal; Quebec: Taylor & Francis Ltd. ISBN 978-1138069084.
  44. ^ "We decided to settle on the Mesolithic time period" Jean-Christophe Guyot, Far Cry Primal - Behind-the-Scenes Development Video, IGN, October 6, 2015.
  45. ^ Chad Sapieha (23 February 2016). "Far Cry Primal review: Brutal and fun cave man simulation might have been called Grand Theft Mammoth". Financial Post. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  46. ^ "Biden calls out governors who dropped mask rule for 'Neanderthal thinking'". Fox 8 Cleveland WJW. 3 March 2021. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
  47. ^ Rahman, Rema (4 March 2021). "White House defends Biden's 'Neanderthal thinking' remark on masks". TheHill. Retrieved March 5, 2021. We are on the cusp of being able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease because of the way in which we're able to get vaccines in people's arms. We've been able to move that all the way up to the end of May to have enough for every American to get — every adult American to get a shot. And the last thing — the last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that, in the meantime, everything is fine, take off your mask.
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