Posted by
lauter
on
January 21, 2010 |
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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is under fire for language used in comments he made about President Obama’s potential electability. Although described as “unfortunate” by Obama, Reid’s use of “Negro” and “light-skinned” offended many.
The Eugenics Archive includes several examples of how African Americans endured dehumanizing scrutiny, categorization, and...
Posted by
lauter
on
January 6, 2010 |
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Recently, a 35-year-old woman sued a Boston-area hospital for performing a tubal ligation, thus sterilizing her, after the birth of her 9th child. Tessa Savicki states that she requested an IUD, a reversible form of birth control. Because two of her children are on welfare and she is unemployed, Tessa’s case has sparked passionate reactions and brings to mind the case of Carrie Buck.
The similarities...
Posted by
lauter
on
December 3, 2009 |
1 Comment
Recently on The Colbert Report, in typically tongue in cheek fashion, “You-genics” was highlighted in “The Word” segment (October 28, 2009). Colbert’s discussion was tied in with our nation’s current health care debate – who is and isn’t coverable, what constitutes a pre-existing condition, and how to breed an insurable individual. Taken literally, Colbert’s...
Posted by
micklos
on
November 30, 2009 |
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The recent completion of the maize (corn) genome sequence gives us pause to think about the historical connection between agriculture and eugenics. It also causes us to consider why the leading American eugenicist, Charles Davenport, failed take greater stock in the corn research going on at one of several institutions he presided over at Cold Spring Harbor.
Especially in the United States, eugenics...
Posted by
micklos
on
October 22, 2009 |
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Francis Galton, the English scientist who coined the term, defined eugenics as “the agencies under social control that improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations either physically or mentally.” Charles Davenport, the father of the American eugenics movement called it simply “the self direction of human evolution.”
These definitions stress differences that...