The "I *Heart* Eugenics" Thread

[DirkFTW]

Originally Posted by sike

I found it funny that in the wiki article on eugenics....when discussing those prominant names who were in support of it, the very first name mentioned is..."From its inception eugenics was supported by prominent people, including Margaret Sanger, Marie Stopes, H. G. Wells, Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, Emile Zola, George Bernard Shaw, John Maynard Keynes, William Keith Kellogg, Winston Churchill, Linus Pauling[11] and Sidney Webb.[12][13][14] Its most infamous proponent and practitioner was however Adolf Hitler who praised and incorporated Eugenic ideas in Mein Kampf, and emulated Eugenic legislation for the sterilization of "defectives" that had been pioneered in the United States." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics

not that being in wiki makes anything true...just a funny aside.

I skimmed some of "Pivot of Civilization" where Sanger discusses eugenics. Her main complaint seemed to be that while eugenics as she understood it is effective and good, it can be too narrow in application, resulting in for example a society of only brute soldiers bred for war. She seemed to push for a hybrid where the "fit" were still diverse in talents, giving us artisans, poets, dancers, warriors, statesmen, etc.

Of course, this is from a quick skim...

[alexamenos]

Originally Posted by DirkFTW

I skimmed some of "Pivot of Civilization" where Sanger discusses eugenics. Her main complaint seemed to be that while eugenics as she understood it is effective and good, it can be too narrow in application, resulting in for example a society of only brute soldiers bred for war. She seemed to push for a hybrid where the "fit" were still diverse in talents, giving us artisans, poets, dancers, warriors, statesmen, etc.

Of course, this is from a quick skim...

My take on her view is that she thought the appropriate course was more class based than race based (as the 'Galtonion' eugenicists emphasized)...that is, she was more concerned about the dummies than the darkies.