Sir Francis Galton is the guy to blame for this.
To his credit, Galton refuted his half cousin Darwin's theory of pangenesis, in which he proposed that the mechanism of inheritance was "pangenesis", in which "gemmules" in bodily fluids mixed during mating. Recognizing this to be grade A bullshit was a good call ,and in hindsight seems obvious, but what happened next is unforgivable.
After making his reputation as tropical explorer, Galton went on to found differential psychology, invent fingerprint identification, pioneer statistical correlation and regression, and , most importantly, he's the godfather of Eugenics . I reffer to this as important in the sense that it is important to look out for cobras when in India. Eugenics is important not only because of its history, but because of it's resurgance, Eugenics informs everything from racial profiling to living wills and forms the basis for many arguments against gay marriage. It is co opted by Creationists , Nazis and the Klan, used to get you to buy things, and helped start the Jerry Springer Show.
"The philosopher George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." This adage is appropriate to our current rush into the "gene age," which has striking parallels to the eugenics movement of the early decades of the 20th century. Eugenics was, quite literally, an effort to breed better human beings – by encouraging the reproduction of people with "good" genes and discouraging those with "bad" genes. Eugenicists effectively lobbied for social legislation to keep racial and ethnic groups separate, to restrict immigration from southern and eastern Europe, and to sterilize people considered "genetically unfit." "- opening paragraph of the Eugenics Archive Homepage
Eugenics Archive traces the history of the "Science" in America.
"We now invite you to experience the unfiltered story of American eugenics – primarily through materials from the Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor, which was the center of American eugenics research from 1910-1940. In the Archive you will see numerous reports, articles, charts, and pedigrees that were considered scientific "facts" in their day. It is important to remind yourself that the vast majority of eugenics work has been completely discredited. In the final analysis, the eugenic description of human life reflected political and social prejudices, rather than scientific facts.-(ibid)
You may find some of the language and images in this Archive offensive. Even supposedly "scientific" terms used by eugenicists were often pervaded with prejudice against racial, ethnic, and disabled groups. Some terms have no scientific meaning today. For example, "feeblemindedness" was used as a catch-all for a number of real and supposed mental disabilities, and was a common "diagnosis" used to make members of ethnic and racial minority groups appear inferior. However, we have made no attempt to censor this documentary record – to do so would distort the past and diminish the significance of the lessons to be learned from this material."- From the homepage
In 1972 the American Eugenics Society changed it's name to The Society for the Study of Social Biology but not its' methods, practices, or beliefs.
Further Reading
Eugenics Watch
A secret war against the poor[Catholicnet]
American Bioethics Advisory Commission on modern Eugenic theory.
War Against The Weak Edwin Black's 2003 book
Tommy Ryden a Swedish guy who's proud to be stupid.
NeoEugenics' web site
Future Human Evolution: Eugenics in the Twenty-First Century Downloadable PDF
American Renaissance News aggregator for fascists and extremists
