Pros and Cons of Eugenics: The Eugenics Record Office (due Fri., Jan 21)

[candytuft]

The Carrie Buck case is definitely an interesting one. It’s disturbing that eugenicists wanted to pass the Virginian sterilization law so much that they falsified her diagnosis and conspired with her defense lawyer, though I can’t say that I’m surprised. Since eugenics is a pseudoscience, so I can’t imagine that they would have very much actual proof.

The part of the website that is called Research Flaws, really pointed out how wrong the eugenicists were. There was so much wrong with their research that they could have, and probably did, make many mistakes in judging whether or not someone was “feebleminded”. I also thought it was interesting to look at the Marriage Laws and Immigration Restriction sections of the site.

I think the site does a good job at helping those involved in the Human Genome Project face their own history. It shows all the flaws of the past “research” done on human genes, and therefore acts as a warning to those who are researching humans today.

[miss_ArtemIs]

Carrie Buck was not an idiot, nor was she "feebleminded". She was a victim. (I don't understand how they could decide that. Did no one present the records from her schooling? And how could anyone assume a baby no more than half a year old was "unusual"?) Their approach in condemning her was questionable, to say the least, as well as how eugenisists got other information. Entrusting the gathering of research to college students who traveled around observing information is not very reliable. Not only just the examiners themselves, but the what the examined is not easy to discern at all. What eugenics was based on did not have a solid, undeniable foundation. The direction eugenics was heading towards led to danger because of what a bunch of people assumed. Even though they found support, it was embraced with the back up of made-up evidence.

Among others, I couldn't believe that new immigrants were somehow proven to be "feebleminded", epileptic or such and were rejected from America. I thought this site had a good range of information, with actualy pictures of documents or other related information to look at. There is more information out there, but by pointing out the flaws of previous experiments, new ones would learn.

[BrassMonkey]

The Website clearly shows that eugenicists would do anything to support their findings even if they do not look at the whole data. They would only use what they needed and ignore the rest. Furthermore, it is completely ludicrous to judge a baby’s intelligence. Some of the smartest people like Einstein were thought to be really stupid during their childhoods, not to mention infancy, until they got a little bit older. While Carrie's report card suggests she was no Einstein, it also proves that she is in no way feebleminded. No she did not get As, but she did alright for herself putting up average marks. These eugenicists were really into what they were doing, trying their best to prove their point.

I was particularly upset with Mendel Law's poem and thought that it was just so close minded and I would much rather people like him be sterilized than the people he described in his dribble of a work.

I thought that the sites layout was very good and things are all arranged in a way that makes sense. It is interesting to go through some of the pictures and other historical documents collected on this site. It is very educational and not boring at all. I think the creators did a great job with it. I personally learned a lot from it, especially things that I have not heard before.

For my views on sterilization, they are posted on the previous post.

[almosteris]

What first outraged me (before I completely processed everything) was the fact that no one seemed to be upset about the fact that Carrie Buck was raped- not sexually promiscuous or too dumb to say no- but RAPED. And what ever happened to her rapist- shouldn't he have been considered feeble minded? The efforts of the Eugenics Record Office and movement seem to be very focused and so determined to acheive their goals that they would exploit this young girl. In my opinion eugenics is dangerous because it assumes that mankind can be perfected. Overall I found the material on the site did effectively face it's terrible and terrifying history.

[piefrog]

Eugenics is a very dangerous science, if you can even call it that. Like many people I would take steps to make sure my child was as healthy as any other baby. However when we try to make a perfect child the issue changes from eliminating the possibility of having birth defects to choosing what the baby will look like (e.g.. father’s eyes, mothers nose, and so on). In the case of Carrie Buck, we see so called scientists making conclusions about something they know so little about. Carrie was an average student and seemed to have this notion of being feebleminded thrust upon her by the scientists. As far as I can see the organization manufactured Carrie’s feeblemindedness, and forced it on her to prove that they were right. Saying that Carrie was a normal child would blow the theories the scientists had made out of the water and thus discrediting the entire operation.

[Silversword]

To say the least eugenics is terrible. Its upsetting to think that people assume that "feeble mindedness" is such a threat that people must be forcibly sterilized. Half the scientists never even met the patients. How can someone be judged in five minutes? The scientists had preconceived notions about the patient before they even entered the room. With Carrie Buck's case it's disturbing. She was punished for being unlucky and having to go through the trauma of being raped. She was then blamed because her mother was feeble minded. This contained instance was meant to be proof of eugenics?

There were so many holes its amazing no one fell through sooner. There was evidence that showed people had not even spoken to her and passed judgment. Plus the fact that as her daughter got older she was actually bright. I think that the site is very well set up. It does not just give all facts in a long essay. It makes cases very alive. Seeing the actual documents and pictures helps to make history all the more real. No one can deny it. Facing history is one of the hardest things for people. But this can not go unnoticed, people had their lives ruined with out there knowledge. Where is their justice? Where was the voice to speak up for them?

[Euripedes]

I really like the layout of this website. I thought the method that they chose to portray this time period was quite intriguing. I know that it can be hard organizing a lot of information. So I think they did a good job organizing this movement into the main categories of Research Methods, Social origins, Research Flaws, Scientific Origins, Traits Studied, Eugenics Popularization, and Immigration Restriction.


Like Livininthecharles, I too hold some mixed feeling towards the eugenics movement. By looking at this site it is evident that the practices taken to "purify" the human race were immoral and extreme, but when you think about it in today's context it is hard to put down some of the things they were trying to get rid of. If it could be posisble to have a healthy child who would reists such a thing? If we could genetically lesson someones chances of getting cancer would we not do so?

What interested the most in looking at the eugenics movement was that they scientific ideas used to explain social problems. This caused me to stop and think because of my interest in science. In my perusal of studies in cognitive neuroscience, I plan to pretty much use “scientific ideas…to explain social problems”. I understand that the context of the two are extremely different, and that the social problems then are not the social problems that I am referring to know, but nevertheless it is still interesting and still something to think about.

[youngone617]

Eugenics is a very interesting topic of research and discussion. It is the science of trying to create a better and healthier general population by eliminating those considered unfit for society, or "Feebleminded", from the gene pool by measures such as sterilization, hospitalization, and seclusion. Eugenics was a fake science used for i don't know what. Some of the advocates for Eugenics had to plant evidence and tell lies to get their points across and believed, proving that they had some idea that Eugenics was at least somewhat false, or misleading. Tje case of Carrie Buck was very unfortunate. She and her family were used to support false theories of Eugenics.

This site does a fantastic job in presenting the information about the Eugenics movement, so that people can know the truth about this topic. Eugenics is very dangerous because it is based on the belief that some people are physically and naturally better then others, and some simply aren't fit for society. That is a crazy thought to me. Who is to decide these standards? And how does anyone know that one person can be naturally better than another? And Eugenics isn't as dead as we'd like to believe. With things like the human genome project trying to find ways of removing less appealing human traits from some people, and with the SATs, which stemmed directly from the Eugenics movement.

My overall thoughts of the website and of Eugenics does come to the Houlocaust. It;s amazing to me that the US could be a role model to the Nazis. That's really scary.