The American Eugenics Society
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The American Eugenics Society was founded in 1926 by Harry Crampton, Harry H. Laughlin, Madison Grant, and Henry Fairfield Osborn with the express purpose of spearheading the eugenical movement. With a peak membership of around 1,250 in 1930, the AES worked at both the scientific and popular levels, becoming a highly effective organization at disseminating practical and scientific information on genetic health, drawing attention to eugenics, and promoting eugenical research.
In pursuit of their social agenda, the eugenics movement adopted two faces, a "positive" one, which concentrated on exhorting the genetically gifted to reproduce, and a "negative" one, which sought to prevent the defective from breeding. From 1900 on, the movement found a receptive ear in state legislatures, as it did in Washington, and it exerted a profound influence on American public policy. By the 1930s, most states had passed eugenical laws authorizing the sterilization of "defectives," and in an infamous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed such laws were constitutional. Eugenical lobbying also contributed to the powerful anti-immigration movement of the 1910s and 1920s, using their scientific studies to support the claim that non-whites and immigrants were inferior to native-born white Americans in intelligence, physical condition, and moral stature.
After the Second World War, when the horrific results of the Nazi eugenic program became fully evident, did the movement lose steam. Though much smaller in scope, it continues today (see Eugenics is not dead).
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Unfortunately there will be soon a new trend of eugenics, of course they will change the name so as not to be recognized: it's called Transhumanism.
Notice the amount of cyborg/android/humanoid-robots are in hollywood films, tv shows and in pop music that you see today??? Think about it. Eugenics/Transhumanism is alive and WELL.
In today's world, eugenics is applied across the board, from stem-cell research to the Human Genome Project. We're constantly looking for ways to combat and prevent congenital disorders, such as muscular dystrophy, diabetes, and the genetic factors attributed to multiple sclerosis. Ultimately, modern science and medicine are looking for ways to improve the human condition, and the philosophy of eugenics is simply another tool towards achieving that goal. Like any other tool (hammers, knives, and nuclear power), it can be used in either beneficial or harmful ways.
The Eugenics movement is alive and well. It takes on the form of planned parenthood and birth control targeted at the so-called undesireables of society. It is a fact that 1 of every 2 African American babies is aborted. The latino rate is not far behind. So I think that Hitler would be proud of the American efforts in conducting a quite genocide.
I would like to tell you that what you are displaying is not a belief it is a sickening concept. How can you sleep at night knowing that your movement is actually making people think that they shouldn't have babies because they might have something wrong with them! My mother suffers with painful boils in her groin and underarm areas... my father suffers from M.S. and insomnia, My grandparents never experienced any of these "defects" as you would call them and neither have I or my brother. If you had your way me and my brother would never have been born. I would like you to know that I have just finished college and am going on to university even with my "bad" genes.
How can you decide who should be born and who shouldn't be, how can you think of depriving a family of children because in YOUR opinion it will not benefit the human race. The process of evolution is not about picking and choosing genes, how can you not understand that! I'm 18 and even I understand that. Evolution is about small mutations in the species that benefits it in a way that it is better able to cope with its surroundings.
After billions of years we have got to the point we are now WITHOUT people like you picking and choosing genes. Have you ever thought that maybe a child with the future genetic mutation to form the next generation of the human species may even come from someone with the "defects" you are trying so hard to exclude from our race. You people could single handedly stop the process of evolution with your stupid theory. Charles Darwin made the process of evolution known to us to show us that god does not exist. He did not show it to us so people like you think you can change our genes you imbeciles.
There is one man in history who tried this before and failed miserably, I wonder if you can guess who that is, ill give you a hint, he was a hypocritical idiot who killed 17 million people because of his stupid beliefs and misinterpretation of Charles Darwin's evolution theory. I also wonder if any member of your family have arthritis or cancer or even asthma? Because if they did by your belief they shouldn't have reproduced and you would never have been born, how do you feel about that. Maybe in that instance it is a positive thing. You type in eugenics into any search engine and you will see Nazi Germany, WWII, Hitler, Genocide and other such results, does that not give you the slightest hint that maybe, just maybe your concept is wrong? Have you not learnt through historic events that this type of mind set never wins? Do you have your heart set on starting another World War? Because this is exactly where your concept is leading us. Except this time we have more advanced fire power and bigger bombs.
So in a way you will achieve your desire, you will wipe out all defective genes in the world, but regrettably you will most likely destroy everyone else. So personally I hope that your concept fails miserably as it has done in history. I wish you the worst of luck in the future.
Regards
Sian Burns
I believe in Eugenics look at my family lineage. My grandson Charles Galton Darwin carried on my work. I married into the wedgewood family http://www.aboutdarwin.com/darwin/Children.html when my wife died I married her sister. I am a devout follower of Platonics.
Whats so wrong with helping insure that the most gifted should inherit the earth. I mean the sterilization is obviously immoral, but encouraging the most intelligent is hardly wrong. Would you political correct posters wish the world to be inherited by bumbling fools, too incompetent to wrong society. Would human happiness be greater if the vast majority of people were too lowly to be able to achieve great art and science. Give your head a shake--people should encourage the upper and middle classes to have as many kids as possible. Its only common sense.
VickeyK 4 years ago
Fascinating topic--70, 80 year ago all the nation's top scientists were on board with eugenics, believing we could "improve the human race." It's sobering how wrong we can all be!