The system is broken
There are a number of things we "know" as a society today. Individual opinions and disagreements exist, but society as a whole "knows" a number of things to be true. Many of our actions (and indeed personal opinions) are decided by using these truths as a basis. We act as though these truths cannot be proven false--they're truths, right?
No, I'm not speaking about religion. I'm talking about scientific "facts."
I'd like to tell you about eugenics. I'm sure you've heard of eugenics in passing, somewhere in a textbook it was passed over as some thing that some people studied, or... something. But what exactly is it? Do you know? If you're anything like me, you don't. They don't talk about it in High School or College. It's just some thing from the past that, I don't know... maybe it's not important anymore?
Well, let me tell you about eugenics. It was a scientific theory that was embraced by the entire western world. It was taught in schools for half a century as an important concept. In fact, it was thought to be the only hope for our future--the only way society could hope to advance. Through eugenics, people believed they could allow their children to inherit a better planet earth. Just about everyone was down with eugenics. Laws were passed about eugenics. Politicians loved it, celebrities spoke about its advantages and urgency, and scientific studies proved its benefits. Most of them, of course. Those that didn't were shouted down as compromised, and those scientists seemed to disappear. Maybe you've heard of President Theodore Roosevelt? Woodrow Wilson? Winston Churchill? How about Alexander Graham Bell, Leland Stanford (founder of the university), or H.G. Wells? They, along with the Nobel Prize Commission, were all in support of eugenics.
So, what was it, exactly?
Well you see, the ghetto populations were rising all around the world (as a byproduct of the industrial revolution) and someone realized that if this was allowed to continue, the world would be outright FLOODED with "degenerates" or "imbeciles." Of course, this was a great disservice to our enlightened offspring, because their economy would be weighed down to support these wastes of space. We needed to ensure that only the brightest, smartest "peoples" were allowed to propogate. The best way to do this, it was obvious, was to prevent "undesireables" from procreating. Or even taking them out then and there. Laws were passed, especially in forward-thinking California. In fact, more "sterilization" procedures were performed in California than any other state!
Progress was going well all across the world in eugenics science. Lots of support, lots of research. In fact, one group of scientists even came up with this great procedure where they would bring inmates from a mental hospital in, interview them, and then lead them into the back room--which was actually a gas chamber! They happened to be German scientists.
Have you ever stopped to wonder WHY nobody in the world seemed to notice the Holocaust was going on?
Guess what one of the groups deemed degenerate was!
Again, I am not saying this was some horrible part of America's past that the radical right is hiding from us. You see, because the ENTIRE WESTERN WORLD was behind eugenics. It was "proven truth" at the time. Also, you might say "well Germany just took the idea too far." It might interest you to know that the ones paying for that research were (among many others) the Rockefeller Foundation, who contributed to the research as late as 1939.
Does any of this bother you yet? How about the fact that knowledge of this seems to have mysteriously VANISHED following WWII, once we had a nice scapegoat to pin the idea on? Nobody told me about it in school, how about you?
And, do you think this doesn't affect us today? I mean if eugenics was erased from public knowledge, it can't affect us, right? How about these arguments from Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, that "voting ballots descriminate against African Americans" or "Black kids can't take the same standardized tests as white kids!" Doesn't that imply something unsavory? Kind of in a eugenics way? Half the arguments used for abortion are just recycled eugenics arguments.
Do the research yourself: http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/eugenics/
My point in all this is simple. Stop recycling the opinions that professors or TV scientists told you. If there's something that "everyone knows to be true," scrutinize it yourself. Educated guesses are still guesses--and until you do the research yourself, you know nothing about the issues of today. Abortion, stem cell research, feminism, racism--the "societal truths" are all lies. Don't rely on what you're told, do the research yourself. Form your OWN opinions, not just rebellious ones.
Oh, the "global warming epidemic" is all a lie, too. Did you know the world is getting colder? Did you know Antarctic ice is getting THICKER? I bet you didn't. ("P. Chylek, et al. 2004, "Global warming and the Greenland ice sheet," Climatic Change 63, 201-21" , "Doran, et al. 2002, "Antarctic climate cooling and terrestrial ecosystem response," Nature 415: 517-20")
We live in the information age--use it for something.
(citations and Tomm's introduction to eugenics, courtesy of "State of Fear" by Michael Crichton)
No, I'm not speaking about religion. I'm talking about scientific "facts."
I'd like to tell you about eugenics. I'm sure you've heard of eugenics in passing, somewhere in a textbook it was passed over as some thing that some people studied, or... something. But what exactly is it? Do you know? If you're anything like me, you don't. They don't talk about it in High School or College. It's just some thing from the past that, I don't know... maybe it's not important anymore?
Well, let me tell you about eugenics. It was a scientific theory that was embraced by the entire western world. It was taught in schools for half a century as an important concept. In fact, it was thought to be the only hope for our future--the only way society could hope to advance. Through eugenics, people believed they could allow their children to inherit a better planet earth. Just about everyone was down with eugenics. Laws were passed about eugenics. Politicians loved it, celebrities spoke about its advantages and urgency, and scientific studies proved its benefits. Most of them, of course. Those that didn't were shouted down as compromised, and those scientists seemed to disappear. Maybe you've heard of President Theodore Roosevelt? Woodrow Wilson? Winston Churchill? How about Alexander Graham Bell, Leland Stanford (founder of the university), or H.G. Wells? They, along with the Nobel Prize Commission, were all in support of eugenics.
So, what was it, exactly?
Well you see, the ghetto populations were rising all around the world (as a byproduct of the industrial revolution) and someone realized that if this was allowed to continue, the world would be outright FLOODED with "degenerates" or "imbeciles." Of course, this was a great disservice to our enlightened offspring, because their economy would be weighed down to support these wastes of space. We needed to ensure that only the brightest, smartest "peoples" were allowed to propogate. The best way to do this, it was obvious, was to prevent "undesireables" from procreating. Or even taking them out then and there. Laws were passed, especially in forward-thinking California. In fact, more "sterilization" procedures were performed in California than any other state!
Progress was going well all across the world in eugenics science. Lots of support, lots of research. In fact, one group of scientists even came up with this great procedure where they would bring inmates from a mental hospital in, interview them, and then lead them into the back room--which was actually a gas chamber! They happened to be German scientists.
Have you ever stopped to wonder WHY nobody in the world seemed to notice the Holocaust was going on?
Guess what one of the groups deemed degenerate was!
Again, I am not saying this was some horrible part of America's past that the radical right is hiding from us. You see, because the ENTIRE WESTERN WORLD was behind eugenics. It was "proven truth" at the time. Also, you might say "well Germany just took the idea too far." It might interest you to know that the ones paying for that research were (among many others) the Rockefeller Foundation, who contributed to the research as late as 1939.
Does any of this bother you yet? How about the fact that knowledge of this seems to have mysteriously VANISHED following WWII, once we had a nice scapegoat to pin the idea on? Nobody told me about it in school, how about you?
And, do you think this doesn't affect us today? I mean if eugenics was erased from public knowledge, it can't affect us, right? How about these arguments from Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, that "voting ballots descriminate against African Americans" or "Black kids can't take the same standardized tests as white kids!" Doesn't that imply something unsavory? Kind of in a eugenics way? Half the arguments used for abortion are just recycled eugenics arguments.
Do the research yourself: http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/eugenics/
My point in all this is simple. Stop recycling the opinions that professors or TV scientists told you. If there's something that "everyone knows to be true," scrutinize it yourself. Educated guesses are still guesses--and until you do the research yourself, you know nothing about the issues of today. Abortion, stem cell research, feminism, racism--the "societal truths" are all lies. Don't rely on what you're told, do the research yourself. Form your OWN opinions, not just rebellious ones.
Oh, the "global warming epidemic" is all a lie, too. Did you know the world is getting colder? Did you know Antarctic ice is getting THICKER? I bet you didn't. ("P. Chylek, et al. 2004, "Global warming and the Greenland ice sheet," Climatic Change 63, 201-21" , "Doran, et al. 2002, "Antarctic climate cooling and terrestrial ecosystem response," Nature 415: 517-20")
We live in the information age--use it for something.
(citations and Tomm's introduction to eugenics, courtesy of "State of Fear" by Michael Crichton)