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Essay / Engineering American Society: The Lesson of Eugenics
Eugenics, Webster's English Dictionary defines this word as "a science which deals with the improvement of hereditary qualities in a series of generations of a race or race, especially. By social control of mating and human reproduction” (Webster's Third New International Dictionary, p. 783). You, the reader, should know that this word comes from the meaning “well-born.” You may not understand why such a pure derivative can turn into such a wicked, barbaric and powerful practice of society. This is unambiguously due to the fact that the creator of eugenics, Sir Francis Galton, created the practice of eugenics to encourage healthy people of high intelligence to be able to have more children. Galton's goal was simply to improve the human race. Now, if you decide to go to your computer and search for the word Eugenics yourself, you will discover several examples and websites based on how the Nazis created this doctrine and/or practice. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The eugenics movement began in the 20th century, where Galton hoped to elevate this concept to be morally correct and sensitive to humanity. However, not everyone believed in eugenics, it was treated as a religion today, yet some people could imagine the harm it would bring to us, while others felt it was their duty to contributing to the growth of the population and, in one way or another, to the excellence of bread. The evil of science was not present until the Nazis began practicing it. Turning Galton's idea of eugenics into something he had never considered. However, eugenics became a powerful ideology in the United States in the 19th century, having been effective in several demographic conditions during that specific period. Eugenics in America was the result of widespread immigration and imperial power, which helped eugenics reach its highest potential in the United States as well as in the 1920s around the world. “Oxford” explains that eugenics included “intelligence testing, immigration restrictions, compulsory sterilization of the feeble-minded, and other social practices.” You see, eugenics morphed into a diagnosis of the “badly born.” People whose characteristics did not match those of the ideal white person at the time were immediately subjected to this practice. People of African descent were particularly targeted. Eugenics was such a powerful movement in the United States that it worked its way across the political spectrum as well as racial lines, despite its origins in elitism and white supremacy. Eugenics appealed to so many people of very modern intellect, regardless of race, because unlike general discourses on race, it circumvented the tensions between the majority of the people and individuals who thought differently on the subject. Eugenics, as human history. is, as I have already mentioned, a disturbing subject in the context of American history. I was able to find a book that included the study of eugenics, it was called “Justice and the Human Genome Project,” by Timothy F. Murphy. In this book he discusses the human rights side of eugenics, which explains why the existence of eugenics in America was not inspired by German research as many online sources claim , which reinforces the point that the Internet is not a reliable source, especially for topics like these. . Instead ofThis was the German Nazis who took inspiration from the Americans, although the Nazis took the practice to a more inhumane and perverse level. In my opinion, this practice that our country helped spawn will constantly remind us of how horrible our history is. To make a more important point, eugenics in America pursued exactly the same goals as racial cleansing, and all proponents of eugenics, such as scientists, and an overwhelming number of Americans believed in the use of forced euthanasia as a “solution to the problem”. (Daylanne, 2004). To help me improve my understanding of the subject of eugenics, I was recommended to read parts of a book called "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot. Skloot's book is about a specific type of eugenics called HeLa cells. This automatically surprised me, because I didn't know that this firm was so big that it had different branches. Skloot also includes the story of humans involved in the practice of eugenics. But to give a more detailed explanation, this book is about a mother of five who died in her 50s. The cancerous tumor that caused his death was cultured and never died, making them extremely useful in modern medicine as well as science. These are the cells I mentioned, called HeLa cells, that are used today in humanitarian research, they also helped create the polio vaccine and were sent into space and exposed to radiation nuclear. This is only part of what eugenics could do, as well as a more humane practice. So, as you can see, the idea of eugenics is not extinct yet, the morals and use of it have just changed since the 20th century when it was created. The moral problem this book focused on was the deficiencies of the American health care system. system in the 1950s, as well as the lack of control over the treatments of patients (especially poor black patients), or even the use of their cells in certain cases. “The Immortal Life of Henrietta” explains how Henrietta was never paid or recognized for her contributions. This book also includes the mistreatment of experiments carried out by Nazi doctors. As I mentioned earlier in this article, it was the Nazis who made eugenics a more evil practice and gained more followers, which helped spread the practice. Fredrick Osborn's 1937 article, "Development of Eugenics Philosophy," presented it as a social philosophy - that is, a philosophy with implications for the social order. This definition is not universally accepted. Osborn advocated higher rates of sexual reproduction in people with desired traits, or reduced rates of sexual reproduction and sterilization of people with less desired traits. Alternatively, gene selection rather than "person selection" has recently been made possible through advances in genome editing, leading to what is sometimes called the new eugenics, also known as neo- eugenics, consumer eugenics or liberal eugenics. Since joining Professor Robertson's class, I can now say that I have become more sensitive to the underestimation of this kind of political posturing that revolves around African American history, as well as the history worldwide. I 100% believe in the fact that the structured power used to impose sterilization on citizens who were primarily minorities was motivated by the coercive and legitimate power of the United States, as they are doing to change the history of African Americans ,.