Eugenics

**This page will focus on the presence of Eugenics in America.** The video is an excerpt from BBC's series called "Darwin's Dangerous Ideas." It focuses on the spread of Eugenics in America
 * "Eugenics had discovered how to combine hardening of the heart with softening of the head" G.K. Chesterton**

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====Charles Davenport brought the eugenics movement to the U.S. through his Cold-Spring Harbour Laboratory. The following is the creed of his laboratory: ==== (from: []
 * "I believe in striving to raise the human race to the highest plane of social organization, of cooperative work and of effective endeavor."
 * "I believe that I am the trustee of the germ plasm that I carry; that this has been passed on to me through thousands of generations before me; and that I betray the trust if (that germ plasm being good) I so act as to jeopardize it, with its excellent possibilities, or, from motives of personal convenience, to unduly limit offspring."
 * "I believe that, having made our choice in marriage carefully, we, the married pair, should seek to have 4 to 6 children in order that our carefully selected germ plasm shall be reproduced in adequate degree and that this preferred stock shall not be swamped by that less carefully selected."
 * "I believe in such a selection of immigrants as shall not tend to adulterate our national germ plasm with socially unfit traits."
 * "I believe in repressing my instincts when to follow them would injure the next generation."

A quotation from Matt Ridley that seems to sum up the path that Eugenics has taken: **“What is wrong about eugenics is not the science, but the coercion. . . it is a humanitarian, not a scientific crime” (297).**

Hi!!
===I found it interesting that in the past, when people talked about Eugenics they said that they wished to prevent people from "breeding" not from having children. A lot of eugenics depends on dehumanization---but as we know we all share just about the exact same genetic profile as every other human. In and of itself, Eugenics can be seen as having admirable intentions i.e. attempting to remove the genetic trait that makes people prone to violence from the stock...as I read in my chapter, personality traits are heritable to a small extent. However, violent people do not always have violent children, only to a certain point are things entirely heritable and unavoidably expressed. So, Eugenics is a good idea in theory when not based on crude things like racial discrimination. However, in practice it is simply ineffective and unnecessary (along with cruel and unjust because it usually involves some type of sterilization or isolation) because genetics doesn't account for everything. -Rebecca S.===

Hi Boyi!

Your page was stupendous! The video was incredibly informative, and the quote you selected from Ridley tied the unit together nicely. In debate, at least once a year we discuss a bill regarding eugenics. I agree with Rebecca that, in theory, eugenics is an interesting idea as it can prevent the proliferation of chromosomal disorders, yet in practice, taking away the right to having children is cruel. Particularly in the context of the decade, the goal was not to prevent disorders, as the idea is today, but to eliminate undesirable personality types and behaviors, such as "feeblemindedness." An arbitrary ruling based on one IQ test resulting in sterilization is cruel. In fact, it is more dangerous to the population as certain genotypes and phenotypes are phased out: as we learned with blood types, while one blood group may be more susceptible to cholera, they have a better defense against malaria. It is best to let all genotypes and phenotypes to thrive than to attempt to build a better and healthier human race.

~Shana