Fraser Nelson The Return Of Eugenics Summary

An Old Coffin Rattles and Opens
On April 2, 2016, The Spectator published an article by Fraser Nelson entitled, “The Return of Eugenics.” The term itself comes from two Greek roots. The first is eu (“well” or “good”). The second is genēs (“born”). Together they create the term that translates literally into “well born” or “good birth.” By itself, that seems innocuous enough. But the movement the term names caused great suffering. It produced corrupt science, fraudulent studies, bad public policy, cruelty, and ultimately mass murder on an industrial scale. Nelson writes that it would be comforting to think that the evils of eugenics sprang from an identifiable and sinister source. The blackness of Adolph Hitler’s heart would be convenient.
Eugenics became a worldwide cultural obsession. It styled itself as science. It began with the social Darwinism of the late 19th century. But the movement then merged with bad science, curious metaphysical views about European origins, and racial superiority. This was Hitler’s true inspiration. He reflected the movement’s themes psychotically. An improved human race—mentally and physically. Elimination of so-called inferior people from the gene pool. Excision of the mentally ill and disabled. But all of these themes society found captivating long before the Third Reich became politically possible. For even before World War I, eugenics’ inhuman policies and practices had already stained the twentieth century. Nazi Germany simply took these to their logical conclusion. The result? A massive genocidal
All three belonged to the International Federation of Eugenics Organizations (IFEO). The IFEO proudly claimed a membership of 1000 eugenics groups from around the world. Internationally, the United States was viewed as a eugenics leader and innovator. The U.S. had turned eugenics into effective public policy. In fact, Germany took American eugenics legislation as a model to craft its own eugenics laws. Racial hygiene was serious business on both shores of the Atlantic and the Pacific. The movement had academic journals, college courses, and international conferences. World War II changed that. The revelations of Nazi death camps and inhuman medical experiments turned the tables on eugenics and its supporters. The brutal images of German atrocities were linked to eugenics. That has made the term toxic for over a generation. Its supporters--medical professionals, community leaders, and politicians-- now ran for cover. Racial hygiene was no longer in style. Even so, forced sterilizations did not end completely in the United States. Oregon recorded the last one in 1981 [“Eugenics Victims to get Apology,” The Register Guard (Eugene, OR) Nov. 16, 2002: 2B]. Nonetheless, eugenics association with Nazi inhumanities had discredited the movement politically, socially, and