History of Eugenics: Principles and Policies

History of Eugenics: Principles and Policies Eugenics is a set of beliefs and practices that aims at improving the genetic quality of the human population. While eugenic principles have been practiced as far back as ancient Greece, it was in 1883 that Francis Galton (1822-1911) systematized these ideas and practices based on statistical understanding of heredity, and new knowledge about the evolution of human and animals provided by the theory of his cousin, Charles Darwin. This eugenics movement spread from the United Kingdom to many countries, including the United States, Germany, and other European countries. In this period, eugenic ideas were espoused across the political spectrum. Consequently, many countries adopted eugenic policies meant to improve the genetic stock of their countries. Such programs often included both positive measures, such as encouraging individuals deemed particularly fit to reproduce, and negative measures such as marriage prohibitions and forced sterilization of people deemed unfit for reproduction . People deemed unfit to reproduce often included people with mental or physical disabilities, people who scored in the low ranges of different IQ tests, criminals and deviants, and members of disfavored minority groups. Eugenic policies were first implemented in the early 1900s in the United States. It also took root in France, Germany, and Great Britain. Later, in the 1920s and 30s, the eugenic policy of sterilizing certain mental patients was implemented in other countries, including Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Japan and Sweden. In the decades following World War II, with the institution of human rights, many countries gradually abandoned eugenics policies, although some Western countries, among them the United States, continued to carry out forced sterilizations Eugenics Policies in the United States State laws were written in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to prohibit marriage and force sterilization of the mentally ill in order to prevent the passing on of mental illness to the next generation. These laws were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1927 (Buck vs. Bell) and were not abolished until the mid-20th century. In the Buck vs. Bell decision of May 2, 1927, the United States Supreme Court upheld a Virginia statute that provided for the eugenic sterilization for people considered genetically unfit. Upholding Virginias sterilization statute provided the green light for similar laws in 30 states, under which an estimated 65,000 Americans were sterilized without their own consent or that of a family member. The plaintiff of the case, Carrie Buck, and her mother Emma, had been committed to the Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feeble Minded in Lynchburg, Virginia. Carrie and Emma were both judged to be feebleminded and promiscuous, primarily because they had both had borne children out of wedlock. Carries child, Vivian, was judged to be feebleminded at seven months of age based on the foggy impression of a nurse who had been handed a cranky baby without toys. Hence, three generations of imbeciles became the perfect family for Virginia officials to use as a test case in favor of the eugenic sterilization law enacted in 1924. Upon reviewing the case, the Supreme Court concurred that Carrie Buck is the probable potential parent of socially inadequate offspring, likewise afflicted, that she may be sexually sterilized without detriment to her general health and that her welfare and that of society will be promoted by her sterilization Eugenics Policies in Nazi Germany Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler was well known for eugenics programs which attempted to maintain a pure Aryan race through a series of programs that ran under the banner of racial hygiene. Among other activities, the Nazis performed extensive experimentation on live human beings to test their genetic theories. During the 1930s and 1940s, the Nazi regime used forced sterilization on hundreds of thousands of people whom they viewed as mentally ill, an estimated 400,000 between 1934 and 1937. The Nazis went further, however, murdering tens of thousands of the institutionalized disabled through compulsory euthanasia programs such as Aktion T4. They used gas chambers and lethal injections to murder their victims. In the end, the Nazi program to cleanse the genetically sick was just a prelude to a much larger devastation to come the termination of 6 million Jews in camps and gas chambers during the Holocaust; of two hundred thousand Gypsies; of several million Soviet and Polish citizens; and unknown numbers of homosexuals, intellectuals, writers, artitst, and political dissidents. Lysenkoism Trofim Lysenko (1898-1976) was a Ukrainian self-taught biologist who believed in Lamarckian concepts of the inheritance of acquired characteristics and rejected Mendelian inheritance and the concept of the gene. In experiments performed in remote Siberia farms, Lysenko had supposedly exposed wheat strain to severe bouts of cold and drought and thereby caused the strains to acquire a hereditary resistance to adversity. By treating wheat strains with such shock therapy, Lysenko argued that he could make the plants flower more vigorously in the spring and yield higher bounties of grain through the summer. Lysenkos theory was immediately embraced by Stalin. It promised a new method to vastly increase agricultural production in a land teetering on the edge of famine: by reeducating wheat and rice, crops could be grown under any conditions, including the severest winter and driest summers. While Lysenko was retraining plants to relieve them of their dependencies on soil and climate, Soviet party workers were also reeducating political dissidents to relieve them of their ingrained dependence on false consciousness and material goods.

The Fourth Alarm W

In John Speeches short story, â€Å"The Fourth Alarm,† the narrator is perplexed by the recent actions of his rebellious wife. She quit her job, partakes as a nude actor in an amateur theatre, and refuses to listen to her male chauvinist husband. The narrator's wife's abandonment of the Apollonian for the Dionysian serves as a modern day Adam and Eve that, instead of questioning the sinful nature of man, questions the traditional masculine-feminine roles in society.According to Biblical tradition, Adam and Eve lived prosperously in an orderly, Apollonian garden -? Eden. However, once Eve strays from this order and eats the apple of knowledge (while tempting Adam to eat it as well), they both become tainted with original sin. Adam and Eves rejection of tradition, as symbolized by eating the forbidden fruit, results in their ejection from the Garden of Eden and into a more chaotic future. As Eve rejected the Apollonian in an attraction to the Dionysian, the narrator's wife rejec ted her traditional role of mother and teacher and embraced the Dionysian traits of nudity, disorder, and orgy.She disobeys her masculine husband and tempts him to take off his clothes; get rid of his attach, wallet, and keys; and embrace sexual equality. In essence, she is striping off what the narrator considers his identity, â€Å"l held my valuables in my right hand, my literal identification† (Achiever 196). Unlike Adam and Eve, which primary subject matter is original sin, â€Å"The Fourth Alarm† delves into the feminine break from social subjugation. Achiever does not demonic the narrators wife as the Bible demotions Eve. He instead focuses on the husband's reaction to his wife's embracement of a sexual equality that challenges male-female societal roles.The narrator, spite striping, can not let go of his worldly possessions that represent his masculinity. He is comforted by tradition and wishes his wife would be more â€Å"nostalgic† and yearning of the old gender roles like he is. Achiever s portrayal of the narrator and his difficulty in accepting change illustrates society difficulty in leaving traditional female subjugation and moving towards gender equality. The underlying question Achiever asks the reader in â€Å"the Fourth Alarm† is if we are ready to accept change, to put down tradition, and to progress to a society marked by equality where the masculine and feminine are equals.

Essay on Legality of Abortion - 1545 Words

Of all the legal, ethical, and moral issues we Americans continuously fight for or against, abortion may very well be the issue that Americans are most passionate about. The abortion issue is in the forefront of political races. Most recently the â€Å"no taxpayer funding for abortion act†, has abortion advocates reeling. Even though abortion has been legal in every state in the United States since the monumental Supreme Court decision, â€Å"Roe v Wade†, on January 22, 1973; there are fewer physicians willing to perform abortions today than in 2008. (Kraft) At the heart of the ethical dilemma for many in the medical profession is the viability of the fetus. And just to make this whole dilemma more confusing, according to the United States†¦show more content†¦It is considered minimally invasion as it only local anesthesia is used to numb the cervix. Aspiration is another first trimester abortion method. This is also referred to as a DC (dilation and curettag e abortion). This procedure will not generally be done using local anesthesia alone. Medication based abortion procedures are not an option during the second trimester of pregnancy. Local anesthesia is used and either a DC or a DE (dilation and evacuation) method is performed. Less than ten percent of abortions are done in the second trimester. Third trimester or late term abortions are extremely rare. Third trimester abortions are no longer legal in most states, as a result of the â€Å"partial birth abortion act† except under certain extreme medical conditions. These were known as late term abortions. In the medical community the point of viability is still a grey area, but most consider the twenty-fourth week the earliest viable period. Until approximately the twenty-fourth week of pregnancy an induction abortion is used to terminate pregnancy. Previous to becoming illegal, intrauterine cranial decompression was used to end late term pregnancies. (americanpregnancy.org) W omen have been having elective abortions, using different methods, all over the world, for thousands of years. In the United States, from the time the first settlers arrived abortion was legal during the first trimester or what was then called the quickening. The quickening wasShow MoreRelatedThe Legality And Morality Of Abortion1103 Words   |  5 Pages The legality and morality of abortion is a huge topic in today’s society. Are there ever times when it is justified? Who has a say in the matter of whether or not it is justified? How does one know how to justify abortion? â€Å"Given a particular pregnancy, who should decide whether or not it ought to be terminated?† (Jaggar, 218) People argue over whether or not the unborn child has the right to life or does the woman have the right to her own body. Other party’s possibly involved are the stateRead MoreThe Legality Of Abortion For Women Essay3703 Words   |  15 Pageswill explore the legality of abortio n as a result of defilement in Kenya. The following are the areas I will cover: I. What abortion is, II. The legality of abortion as per the constitution of Kenya III. International instruments on Abortion IV. The church perception on the issue of abortion. V. Problems with Article 26(4) of the constitution of Kenya VI. Defilement VII. Abortion as a result of defilement and the legality VIII. What the constitution of Kenya states when abortion is allowed. IXRead More The Battle Between Legality and Morality: An Abortion Dilemma 2397 Words   |  10 PagesAbortion is inherently immoral because life begins at conception and therefore abortion is murder and infringes on ones unalienable rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness stated in the Declaration of Independence. 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The Merriam-Webster online dictionary (2014) defines abortion as â€Å"a medical procedure used to end a pregnancy and cause the death of a fetus.† Today three highly debated points regarding abortion are: should it be legal, when does human life begin, and who should provideRead MoreAbortion Is A Controversial Topic1097 Words   |  5 Pages Abortion is a controversial topic and in 1973 (PBS.org), the United States court case of Roe v. Wade resulted in an unconstitutional ruling of abortions as illegal except when a mother life was in jeopardy. This case politically polarized citizens of the country, influenced debates and resulted in violence (PBS.org). The polarization of public opinions among citizens concerning abortions can be related to many factors. Some factors that can polarize citizens’ public opinions towards abortionRe ad MoreEthics And Abortion : Abortion Essay1724 Words   |  7 PagesEthics And Abortion According to the authors of a medical dictionary called; the free dictionary, online version, â€Å"abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy before the fetus is viable.† Viability for a fetus is usually greater than 500 grams, or prior to 20 weeks gestation as noted by those same authors. An abortion may be spontaneous, commonly referred to as a miscarriage, or induced which describes the deliberate interruption of a pregnancy. Those authors assert that it is the viabilityRead MoreThe Situation And Discourse Of The Ottoman Empire1712 Words   |  7 Pageswas also a determining factor that led to the encouragement of woman to procreate and resulted in damnation of the practice of abortion. After the Russo-Ottoman War of 1877-78 there was widespread fear throughout the empire of a supposed decline in the Muslim population, and in 1890 Abdulhamid II instructed his officials to release a treatise that addressed the abortion issue and described it as being a hazard to Islamic and Ottoman society as a whole (Demirci 2008). The Muslim population was especially

Comparing Julius Caesar s The Twelve Caesars

Julius Caesar’s mindset influenced the history of his people. He was born July 12, 100 b.c in Rome as Gaius Julius Caesar, known today as Julius Caesar. He was a Praetor, Aedile, Consul, Pontifex Maximus, and dictator for life, and his greatest achievement is changing the Roman republic to the Roman empire. His life ended tragically when he was stabbed twenty three times by his political enemies. Creating the Roman empire changed the history of his people. The three main sources used in this essay are Julius Caesar by Joshua J. Mark, Caesar, Julius by Justin Cornfield, and The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius. The twelve Caesars by Suetonius is the only contemporary source; Suetonius lived and wrote the book within one hundred years of Julius’ death. The twelve caesars is the most reliable because it is a contemporary source. Historians do not know much about his education when he was a child up to when his father died, but they know that he studies rhetoric later in life. Julius Caesar was born into a patrician family. He was born in July 100 BCE in Italy. His mother, Aurelia Cotta, was of noble birth and his father was Gaius Julius Caesar, a praetor. His family supported the popular party; he had relatives in politics and his uncle is the great Marius and his family s ancestry goes back to Venus, goddess of love. Julius Caesar’s family connections help him further in his life. Julius had a hard childhood. When he was fifteen his father died. He broke off his engagement to aShow MoreRelatedWilliam Shakespeare s Julius Caesar1641 Words   |  7 Pages EZ Julius Caesar was a crucial political figure that saw the fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman empire. Through political strategy and military feats, Caesar seized significant power and influence over Roman politics and eventually declared himself a â€Å"dictator in perpetuity†. He centralized the government, passed social and bureaucratic reform, and even created the Julian calendar. However, he was soon assassinated by senators led by Marcus Brutus who stabbed him to death, afterRead MoreContemporary Issues in Management Accounting211377 Words   |  846 Pagesglobal management accounting community. Alnoor Bhimani London School of Economics December 2005 CONTENTS ‘ FOREWORD Anthony Hopwood PREFACE Alnoor Bhimani CONTRIBUTORS 1. New measures in performance management Thomas Ahrens and Christopher S Chapman 2. Contract theory analysis of managerial accounting issues Stanley Baiman 3. Reframing management accounting practice: a diversity of perspectives Jane Baxter and Wai Fong Chua 4. Management accounting and digitization Alnoor Bhimani 5. TheRead MoreLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 Pageswater-sterilization tablets are in 3 the pocket of your other coat—the one you left at home at the last minute. The three of you are thirsty and have only dehydrated food left, except for four apples. You wish you had bothered to haul in that twelve-pack of Dr. Pepper you decided to leave in the car’s trunk. What do you do? Nobody brought cell phones. You could yell, but that is unlikely to help; you havent seen any other hikers since the trip began. You try yelling, but all you get is an