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

[freemanjud]

From your exploration of the Cold Spring Harbor eugenics website, what have you learned about the case of Carrie Buck? About the efforts of the Eugenics Record Office in Cold Spring Harbor and associated efforts around the nation? About the dangers of eugenics?

What other intriguing tidbits did you discover on the site?

And overall: what did you think of the material on this site?

Note: this is a website created by the heirs to the site of this record office—today the DNA Laboratory (where Watson and Crick made their amazing discoveries) and more recently, the site of part of the Human Genome Project. In effect, they are “facing their own history.” Do they do it well? What’s troubling about that history?

[yummigummi]

I thought that the eugenics site was very interesting. Although I was not able to read the essays from option B, I read the introductions and was able to learn a lot more about eugenics and how many laws came about to prevent miscegenation and the decreasing in the quality of the population through immigration. This site does a very good job in providing you with a good background to the eugenicist movement.

Anyhow, I learned from the site that Carrie Buck's so-called feebleminded daughter Vivian was not as feebleminded as she was considered to be. From looking at the teacher's grade book, I saw that while she was not an exceptional student like the other student with straight A's, she still did pretty well in school and was an average student.

I think the creators of this website do do a great job of "facing their own history" and informing readers of the site about the eugenicist movement. Even though their history is troubling, the Human Genome Project is not very far from the eugenicist movement because they are in a way still striving to improve the human population, but in a more civilized way and a way that more people would agree to because it does not jeopardize their own well-being.

[livinthecharles]

I still have mixed feelings about eugenics. The movie disgusted me, but Ms. Freeman brought up some good points. I wouldn’t want a perfect child, but it would be nice for them to be free from cancer, wearing glasses, and being obese. I know we are supposed to love our children unconditionally, but do we if we even think about changing them? I am for mapping out the human genome and wiping out certain diseases. But some things like blindness and being handicapped are things I am not so sure of. Even learning disabilities I have a hard time with because there are some people with them that are so amazing. If we wipe away those things, we will be a sea of uniformity. In the movie GATTACA (I saw it in Bio I and II) we are witnessing a “perfect society.” It’s like eugenics to the extreme, but imperfections still occur. There is no way to perfect humans, so why are eugenic related ideas still popular?

Everyone should be able to have children. We saw from one chart that aside from two normal people, you are most likely to have a normal child when there is one feebleminded and one imbecile. Why didn’t it mention what two people create? Because people aren’t perfect. Having children is a gift that we are given. Unless we are naturally sterile, we should have as many children as we want WITHIN reason. One should not do for economic or social reasons. A child is a responsibility that you must be prepared for and dedicated to. Even if all imbeciles and feebleminded were sterilized, there would be some in the next generation. People would give birth to atypical children. Mutations will occur and we can’t stop that.

The final line is sterilization of “sub humans” is ethically and socially wrong. It may have economic validness, but it is a crime against humanity. If people want to stop the spread of certain things, education and awareness is key. IF word doesn’t get out, nothing will happen. And I’m not talking about those Sex Ed class things we had in 10th grade. I am talking about things that actually catch your attention.

The website reaffirmed my opinions. The site itself was amazing. The content was powerful and thoughtfully arranged. The layout really helped to emphasize the mission of the website. It caught my attention from the first moment. I did however feel like I heard a lot of it from class and the articles. The media on the site however was refreshing. It made this catastrophe in American history more personal. This really hit my strongly. For the future of society, we should take what we learn in this class and spread the word. I for one don’t want to hear the words “Never Again” uttered again.

[Hillel2000]

The Cold Spring Harbor eugenics website reinforced and supplemented what I had learned from the video concerning the case of Carrie Buck. As the video we saw in class (and also the video clips on the website) explained, Carrie Buck was much more of a scapegoat than living proof. The evidence supporting her sterilization was sketchy and twisted by eugenicists to fit the desired outcome of the case.

The statement by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., (“Three generations of imbeciles are enough.”) also has little, if any, merit. As the website explained, the pseudo-scientists who “evaluated” Carrie and her family hardly did a thorough job, in some cases performing their “research” just days before the actual trial. Also, I looked at a pedigree of Carrie’s family – there was a significant number of question marks in the boxes representing Carrie’s relatives! Just goes to show (again) how eugenicists only cared for the data that supported their flawed theories.

The idea that there was just “something” that was peculiar about Carrie’s baby daughter was based on pure speculation. How can one determine the intelligence of a baby who is only seven months old? As yummigummi points out, it is clear from the website (which displays the actual report card) that while Vivian might not have been a genius, she was no less than an average student. Furthermore, there is no description of the type of school that she attended. If it had been a school similar to our so dearly loved BLS, those grades aren’t bad at all.

The extensive material available on the website – impressively provided in various types of media – illustrates how serious eugenicists were about their work. The details in the family pedigrees and the range of the primary sources are astounding. And to think it was largely accepted as scientific fact…

The dangers of eugenics are clear from the events of history. The pseudo-science quickly can get out of hand, and even “well-bred” humans can be fooled into believing in such concepts of Social Darwinism. The concept of eugenics has resulted in the sterilization on hundreds of thousands of people in different parts of the world. Sounds pretty dangerous to me.

Finally, I agree with [B]yummigummi[B] that the creators of the website performed well in facing their own history. To know where we are headed, we have to know from where we are coming. DNA technology and genetic engineering are developing faster than you can say “TAGACATATGAT.”

“History cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future.”
--Robert Penn Warren

[under_dog]

Okay so first off that website was kind of hard to read the materials but I tried my best. I actually learned a lot of information from the website about eugenics. it seems to me that these eugenist just wanted to create for themselves some kind of utopia. They wanted to make this perfect world, with "perfect people", who all had the "perfect genes." Well that was a giant goal. However they did seem to be able to accomplish some of that goal by passing those sterilzation laws. They basically made government officials believe that sterilization would not only benefit society but it would benefit the economy because poof all the disabled hospitals disappear.

In the case of Carrie I was really upset. They basically played that girl and several other people like SEGA! YEah thats what I said. The girl had beautiful grades in school. She was doing just about as well as all the other kids in her class. Just because her mother was "feebleminded" does not mean that she did not have the capability to learn just like the rest of the kids her age. I do not understand how the court allowed that doctor whom i dont remember his name write Carrie's desposition if he never even met the girl He could have been making up her symptoms for all we know. (Doctors do have that slight advantage of knowing all the kool medical lingo that we "feebledminded" people dont know the meanings of.) She was a perfectly fine little girl who the state or shall we say superior beings thought that she was unhappy in her life because of her condition that they needed to take care of that burden for her. Jeeez people.

The nation to me seemed to be falling under the spell of these eugenics people. Society has this odd way of functioning to me. We seem to believe whatever bull**** that comes out of a doctor or a scientist mouths. Come on people here we are in 1776 fighting for our individualism from England but now a couple decades later we are letting another superior being enslave our thoughts. The nation was just letting the eugenist tell them what to think about the situation. OOh yes a perfect nation sounds good. Ohh yea i dont have to pay any more money to taxes for those stinking elderly homes. Helllo what happens when your an elderly person. Hell yeah believe it baby you are going to get the same damn treatment. You'll be labeled as feebleminded and all that good stuff. And you know what the solution is going to be ...... STERILIZATION!

The material on the site is pretty good. However, I think in some cases when they were comparing the patients they shoul have put the history of all the patients they were comparing up there, not just the feebleminded ones. I would have likes to know what REALLY distinguished these feebleminded people from the rest of society. What standards were they really using. And did the standards change depending on the patient.

I dont really know if they are facing their history. Yeah okay so what they put the eugenist out there and pointed the waging finger for what they did during those times. But yet again here we are trying yet again with the Human Genome Project. Come on. Just because you surface a problem does not mean what ever your doing at the moment is just or moral or what ever you want to call it. They need to face their history and realize how much problems they are going to arise with this project. Facing ones history is not only realizing the mistakes in the past but realizing what you do right now, at this very moment, can forever change the world for the good or the bad.

Thank you for reading and remember " Girls call me Georgeformen cause I'm selling everybodie GRILLZ"

[Palsie]

I've been thinking a lot about this whole sterilization eugenics crazyiness at first I was like absolutely no but then after looking at different things and thinking about it I was like hey maybe it isn't that crazy of an idea. However, now I'm back where I began. Carrie Buck and Fred Boyce are examples of sterilzation gone wrong. I do think that mentally disable parents may not be good parents, like we discussed in class, and many times have children with mental illnesses and are not able to give them the extra care needed it would be easier to say just stop them from having kids but where do you draw the line?? What is "feeble minded?" If you're parents are and imbecile, idiot or moron does that mean you're going to be one too? No it doesn't. Nothing is perfect and I dont think it ever should be. If sterilization was put in effect I think it would be a big mistake. Yes, it may stop a lot of people from not having children who maybe shouldn't be parents because of whatever their problem is however the government doesnt have the right to say this it is that persons and/or their familys decision.

One of the most interesting things I found on the site was the perfect family and perfect baby competitions at state fairs sponsored by the eugenicists. The people competing probably thought it all fun and games and maybe it kinda does seem that way if you dont know why these competitions were held. It's sick. How can someone judge a family or a baby or anyone on being perfect and the most "fit." I think the website did a good job in "facing their own history" in posting this information and acknowledging the fact that eugencists went wrong in the case of Carrie Buck. Her report card showed that she did quite well in school she was by no means unintelligent.

[Pumpkinloaf]

I am completely digusted by the whole Carrie Buck case. Vivian was obvioulsy never thouroughly "observed". If she had been, these pseudoscientists would have seen that she was clearly not "feebleminded"; she got A's and B's in everything but math. Sounds just like me! It's ridiculous that she was never given a fair chance to display her potential.

Clearly there are many dangers to the practice of eugenics. Perfectly normal maybe even above average people were institutionalized and treated like science experiments. That is completely unacceptable!

The other parts of the site that I explored included the race mixing section. I found some things here just appauling. Race mixing was considered by George Shull to result in "disharmony". It was also said that race mixing was "a social and racial crime". That's some of the most ridiculous stuff I have ever heard!

Overall, the material on this site was sickening and my only hope to maintain my sanity was to laugh at its stupidity.

[loofa746]

I found the website very intriguing and informative. Although I am really disturbed by the whole eugenics business, I was still fascinated by everything the website talked about and the pictures. I also appreciate that the website states “However, we have made no attempt to censor this documentary record – to do so would distort the past and diminish the significance of the lessons to be learned from this material.” It shows how this website was created to educate people about a movement that many people, or maybe its just me, had little or no idea about, and they do not want to censor anything so people can know the truth about it-facing their own history

I couldn’t help but laugh when I read about the 19 year old who stole chickens, and then was subject for sterilization. you’ve got to be kidding me. I can imagine someone saying ‘If you steal chickens one more time, I’ll cut off your testicles,’ and being serious about it. Crazy people.

The Carrie v Buck case was interesting to read about. Like many people have said, she did decently in school, not exemplary, but I certainly do not think she would fit under the ‘feeble minded’ category. And how could they just sterilize someone who was categorized as ‘below average’ and ‘not quite normal.’ plenty of people get ‘needs improvement’ on the MCAS, which doesn’t mean they should be sterilized.

Overall this cite was set up very well and you could find everything you wanted to know about eugenics very easily. Very interesting.

[wideeyed]

The information from Cold Spring Harbor showed me that Carrie back and her daughter Vivian were definitely wronged. Vivian's report card showed that she was a good student, there was one D which was in "Community Study." I think that the D is probably very justified. If Iwas labled feebleminded at 7 months, told my mother was promiscuous and therefore sterilized, and sterilized and institutionalized myself, I wouldn't do well in that area either. Aside from her D in that Vivian got mostly A's, ther were no imcriminating marks that would prove her "feebleminded." The website recognizes this fact.

From what I have read on the Cold Harbor website, it seems to suggest that nearly all tests and procedures were flawed. This is not suprising after looking at Vivian's report card. It is very scary that such flawed methods could become so popular and widely used. I think it shows that as a country we were pretty gullible to the idea that if a man in a white lab coat tells you something is true he is right.

Something that I found interesting was the Better Babies Contest. Not only did I find it really weird that babies were held up to standards which probably had no credibility but also that it popular at state fairs. I would be really interested to see how the babies were challenged because the site did not say how the contest was conducted. Another thing I noticed was while looking at pictures of the "circus performers," the man labled "Chief Pantagal" does not seem to have any "deformities." In fact, the only I noticed was that he was black, had a beard, and had dreadlocks (I think). Interesting, that a black man would be combared to bearded ladies and dwarves...

Perhaps one of the scariest parts us how eugenics eeffected immigration and even how we think today. As we saw from the test we took in class it would have been very easy to fail a test admininstered to an immigrant. instantly we would have been labled morons, or imbeciles or even feebleminded and our future would have been determined for us. As we also talked about in class eguenics still afftects us beause it is considered when we look for a husband or wife or even just a person to procreate with. In the news, there was a story about women who have the sperms of so called "geniuses," implanted in them so that they will have smart children who will become succesful.

I think that the site did a pretty decent job. They could have easily tried to hide the information or distroyed it. I don't know whether they pull everything they found up but there is certainly a lot of information up taht seems to be pretty unbiased. The aftermath of the eugenics movement certainly has left lasting impressions on the U.S. and around the world.

[Dar1128]

After looking at the eugenics archive website, it was evident the amount of work that eugenicists put into proving that there was a basis for sterilization. They had all these people getting records of people in institutions and tracing family trees to show how feeblemindedness is hereditary.

It was interesting to note the grades on Vivian’s report cards. I don’t think it’s very surprising; her mom wasn’t mentally disabled, and if she was, it doesn’t mean Vivian would turn out that way, as we have already established. What I thought was interesting is that one of the articles described Carrie as an avid reader of the daily newspaper while she was in the institution. It kind of makes me wonder what those workers made of her reading and not “acting” mentally retarded.
I also read an article they had on Twin studies. It was also interesting because Francis Galton wanted to find out if a person’s behavior was due to nurture or nature(was their behavior influenced by hereditary traits as opposed to the environment). Galton himself didn’t do any experiments, but others did. These men came to the conclusion that intelligence is influenced by upbringing, proving that the analyses of eugenics were too simple to account for complex behavioral traits.
In terms of religion, I was a little shocked that so many denominations supported eugenics, and ministers even entered sermons into contests, giving examples of passages in the Bible were in line with eugenics. It wasn’t until the 1920’s that the Catholic church ruled eugenics as unacceptable. This shows the danger of eugenics because if so-called scientists say they have actual evidence to prove feeblemindedness and even religious leaders support it. If the government and other leaders are saying it’s ok and right, then the people living during this time will have little trouble accepting it.

In terms of the people who created the website, I think they did a good job in taking all of that information and making it accessible to others. It shows that they are facing their own history, even if it’s not too pretty. I agree with yummigummi that the Human Genome project has the aim of trying to better our society as well, but is doing it in a more civilized manner, and in a way that will truly help countless people.

[frownbeat]

The whole eugenics thing reminds me of a little thing called the holocaust. That said, some of these cases were just ridiculous. The girl who stole the chickens is eligible for sterilization? Come on, now. It's not even a sin (or is it, I'm actually not too sure).
Vivian does better than I do in school, and I dont think I deserve to be sterilized.

NOT DONE, GOTTA FINISH TOMORROW

[bluecollarjob]

Honestly, though I have no respect for any of the research done by the eugenicists, I thought that the information on the website was very well organized and very straightforward and seeminly truthful considering that now-adays, such research and practice is scorned. I was pleased to see that.

the information was alltogether interesting, but I was most interested with the part about not allowing certain marriages to occur - specifically interracial marriages. there are so many people now who are "interracial" or whatever, especially in our school. I always find that interesting because interracial marriage is the thing that seems to have changed the most from the early 20th century. There are still many limits on immigration in this country and it is very hard for people to become citizens of the US. My aunt (Japanese-native) has had a green card in this country for more than 30 years, working as a concert violinist in the Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra. She has been trying very hard to get her citizenship in this country and it is becoming increasingly difficult with all of the hightened security. Immigration still continues to be a trouble for many people, and hasnt changed drastically compared to the way it was in the early part of the 20th century.

Even though we may not prevent people with dissabilities from having children, that isn't to say that we dont still institutionalize them. People whom we deem unfit for our society we lock away in institutions where they live their lives like vegetables. We may not be surgically operating on them, but we still regard them with distaste.

Compared to these two, interracial marriage and marriage laws have lessened the most, and it is now not uncommon at all for there to be "interracials". There are many at our school. Though there are still people who preach against "muddying" the races, interracial marriage has really become a integral part of our society and has become very widely accepted/embraced. I laugh to think of how horrified all those eugenicists would be at all the interracial breeding if they were transported to our time. it was interesting to see how much opinions on that matter have changed.

[yellowcat]

Just as everyone else has said, I feel that the main thing i learned on the eugenics website is that Vivian was not as feeble minded as everyone made her out to be. She didn't seem feeble-minded at all. (im sorry but if i use that word one more time im going to have to poke my eye out. that term has always bothered me 1. because i never really got what it meant, and 2. its such a lame phrase)


Anyways, back to the website. I think they definitely faced their history. If you compare the eugenics site to KKK or "white power" sites, this site is up front and easy to find. As opposed to KKK sites in which you need the assistance of a CIA detective to track them down for you. It had a lot of information and seemed to present the stories with as little bias as possible, you gotta respect that nowadays. And i oddly liked the layout of the website, it was very easy to navigate through and was packed with info.


And even though, yes, people can argue that they aren't facing their history because look at the Human Genome Project... you have to give them something to complain about, let's all just be thankful we're not being forcibly sterilized anymore. I know that sounds pathetic, but honestly after taking the immigration "IQ test" and looking at my report card, i think it's safe to say that i'd pass as ... the f-word... please don't make me say it again (feeble-minded UGH LAST TIME)

[table]

From looking at the site, it is obvious that Carrie should not have been steralized. Her child, Vivian, was not the result of sexual promiscuity, Carrie was raped. The whole argument for her being steralized was incredibly tenuous. Her daughter, Vivian, contrary to what eugenicists predicted, Vivian did fairly well in school, and clearly was not feebleminded. Steralizing people because they were raped is only one of the dangers of eugenics, the worst being genocidewith the intent being to cleanse a population of people with certain characteristics.

I think that did site did a very good job pf presenting the materials and facing their history. The site had several documents that were very important in eugenics and provided vast information on such topics as the origins of eugenics. The history is clearly trubling because of the steralizations, but the site faces its history and attempts to move on.

[darkroom]

The case of Carrie Buck shows how foolish eugenic foundations were. It was a big mistake as it is later proved that Carrie was not sexually promiscuous, she was raped and that her baby Vivian was not “feebleminded,” indeed she was a B student in elementary school. This is a proof of the unreliability of the “scientific” argument behind eugenic ideas. That is the danger of eugenics: the advocates were overconfident and they assumed too much, think that they know what is best for society and for less fortunate people. THEY DON’T. Yet they act on their own belief to decide for those who they believed to be “inadequate.” And They Made Mistakes, which shouldn’t have been allowed in the first place. Thousands and thousands of Americans were deprived of the natural right of reproduction on account of the efforts of the eugenic movement, which indeed agitate social problems rather than reducing it. After such efforts, is there any proof of any betterment of the “human stock?” As I see it, the nature of people will always be the same. Human beings continue to hurt each other, wage war….

While reading through some of the science related topics, I had a momentary resentful bitterness against science. I blamed scientific knowledge for having been the backbone of the tragic eugenic effort. Of course science is pure and it would wrong to accuse it as the cause for this problem. Look at how Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection lead to the idea of social Darwinism and how Mendel’s Law and the Punette Square were uses as basis for eugenic ideas. Except for a few cases, it is human rapid interpretation and foolish application of genetic science that account all these. It is sad how there is always some sort of flaw or controversy tag at the tail of scientific advancement, which is supposed to help the world if used wisely.

Overall, this is an amazing website. I have learned so much more about eugenic in details. It is ironic how the heirs of the site of this record office are the creators of the website. They do an extremely good job, exposing all aspects of eugenics with stories and related topics. This history of the movement troubling because it s is scary how people can be so suppressed under legislations bassed on scientifc
backup.

[justaddwater]

We learned in class that the Carrie Buck case was a big made up and illegitimate conspiracy, and this website certainly reinforced that. As pretty much all of you have mentioned, Vivian Buck, though no genius, was certainly no moron, imbecile, or idiot. (A thought just occurred to me… she was judged to be feeble minded at seven months… even if she was the lowest of the low category of feeble mindedness, an “idiot” less than 7 of mental age, it’d make her a genius. A seven month old with the mental capacity of a 5 year old? That’d be exciting. What did they do, make her her whole own brand new category?)

One thing that has been bothering me is the fact that everyone points out the fact that Carrie Buck was not promiscuous; she was raped. And although this is a valid point, what if she had been promiscuous? So what? Should we go sterilize people who like sex? Because there goes pretty much all of the non virgins of the world, and then there goes the human race. What about Carrie’s mom? That question lingers for me. Was there truly good reason to sterilize her?

I was impressed at the site and its set up; it was very well put together and informative. For some reason the essays seem less intimidating to read when they are broken up onto 6 or 7 mini pages with pictures on the side. They obviously want to create a user friendly site, because they want to ensure that this history is shared, facing their own history and ensuring that other will as well.

One frightening part of this website was the “Social Origins” part. It commented on the fact that although we consider it all naïve, and we can’t quite grasp why in the world anyone would strongly believe in this pseudoscience, we must put it in the context of the culture at the time. If one is raised being encouraged that something is the “right thing,” or even “the American thing” to do, you can’t really blame them for thinking a certain way. The section described all the pro eugenics influences children had. With all the other circumstances resulting from the Civil War, people needed a solution, and this seemed to be an option. The fact that under their circumstances, this made perfect sense, frightens me. How are we to know that circumstances like those will not occur again? How are we to know that we’re not doing something right now, at this very moment, that future generations will call us naïve about? It’s an interesting and frightening prospect.

[huckabees]

First and foremost - and i'm sorry to offer the generic response -, but i was very impressed with the intricacy and extensive research that was evident in the website. While there was a clear undertone of disgust with eugenics throughout the readings available on the website, there was also a substantial amount of unbiased history as to how eugenics came to be. For instace, in the "social origins" section of the website, it talks about how newcessary it is for one to understand the historical context and reasons for the emergence of eugenics. the extensive history given on the topic shows that the people who composed this website cared to be accurate, and give appropriate representation of the "science" of eugenics, rather than criticize it blindly, with no real rationalization behind their reasons.

As for the actual issue of eugenics, as presented in the website . . .

Ok - maybe I am, to some extent, being dramatic or overly cynical. (Maybe my brother's obsession with the government's "conspiracy theories' is finally getting to me. ) However, when I was looking through the eugenics website both in class and at home, I found myself sensing that people deemed eugenics acceptable because it was really a vehicle - a more "politically correct" vehicle - for a more sinister objective than ridding the world of irksome imbeciles and inconveniet idiots (wow . . . I apologize for that spurt of unintentional assonance ). Even in the definition offered in the "social origins" section - "Eugenics provided what seemed to offer an objective, scientific approach to problems that previously had been cast almost wholy in subjective, humanitarian terms" - suggested that eugenics was just a convenient, scientific-sounding label for "social cleansing", which reminded me strongly of Hitler. As I continued to read (especially the various cases mentioned on the website) the thought of Hitler was consistent and strong. It is true that the evil of eugenics is potentially only present if taken to extremes. However, once one has begun the process of labelling some lives more valuable than others, where does it end? And let's be honest - how much of a honest 'science" could it CONCEIVABLY be if it is - as hillel2000 briefly mentioned - judging the intellectual value of a person at seven months of age? (I mean - there is the odd person who isn't completely done developing mentally at that age . . . . it's rare, but it does happen . . . . ). Even in reading Carrie Buck's story, and the case made for her sterilization, it was abundantly clear that the case was a sham. The reasoning was not simply questionable, but ludicrous. The analysis of her baby would be laughable, if it were not so shameful to think that it was conducted in a serious manner. On all levels, the case was something that the state of Virginia should be ashamed of.

The website's accounts of the sordid history of eugenics force the reader to face the future of eugenics with new eyes. There are so many malevolent actions that could be carried out once eugenics went underway, it causes one to reconsider if there is any merit in it at all. With so many disturbing factors, controversy and questionable outcomes, I certainly do not believe it a science worth pursuing with any urgency.

[bubbles]

To start off, I have to give credit to the creators of the site. As much as I dislike the ideas behind the eugenics movement, the site was really informative and unbiased. The material on the site covered a wide spectrum of the eugenics movement and provided viewers many primary documents. Like many have mentioned before me, the layout of the website is eye-catching. It at least made me want to click around and learn more.

The case of Carrie Buck was obviously ridiculous. The facts that were used to confirm Carrie Buck’s “feeblemindedness” were not thorough and definitely biased. The researchers only picked evidence that supported their views. However, that was only a narrow bit of the evidence that was presented. Carrie’s baby Vivian was described as “not quite normal”. It sure seems that Vivian turned out to be an average kid, achieving decent grades in school. And in fact, the research on Carrie’s family was not thorough. It appears that they did not focus on her entire pedigree because having Carrie, her mother, and her child, was enough evidence to have her sterilized. It just shows the dangers of eugenics; it blinds people into believing something and going through with something at any cost. This mindset can potentially harm innocent lives, as it did. The eugenics movement caught on like wild fire and it is quite amazing how many people were persuaded by the movement.

The extensive research that the eugenicists did was quite appalling. Their research proves that they really believed in one perfect race, which is pretty disturbing. The creators of the site were “facing their own history”. The Human Genome Project that is currently going on will be able to detect “unwanted” genes. In essence, we could all be producing “perfect babies” pretty soon. This poses a question all in itself. What is a perfect race? In some sense, the Human Genome Project seems to be a newer form of the eugenics movement. However, like what we posted on last night, what will the world be without diversity? The Human Genome Project could potentially be messing with the natural course of evolution, something that I believe is so wrong to fiddle with. Eh, who knows, history might possibly be in the process of repeating itself.

[Brouhaha]

The cold spring harbor eugenics website had lots of insight on the history of eugenics and the Carrie Buck Case. Oliver Wendell Holmes, among others, used Carrie’s family to support his theories on eugenics. The scientists that observed the family stated that their had been three generations of feeblemindedness. Evidence that supports the theory that the “feebleminded” trait gets passed down through our genes. The website some additional information that was not present in the video. After observing Vivian’s report card, it is clear that she was a very capable student based on her good grades. The eugenics scientist labeled Vivian, Carrie’s daughter, as feebleminded even though she was not. The eugenicists had an agenda so they needed to make the claim that Vivian was feebleminded to support their claims.

Although the evidence shows that there were not in fact three generations of feeblemindedness, it does not discount the fact that the trait can be passed on. After looking at the charts we know that feebleminded people are more likely to have feebleminded kids. However it is not always true. Normal parents are capable of having kids with problems and feebleminded parents are capable of having normal children. Since neither is 100% sterilization seems absurd.

Admittedly the proposed result of sterilization is a good thing, but at what cost? Everyone should have the right to have kids and it is not up to us to say they cannot. We would save lots of money and society, as a whole, would be improved, but our main objective is not to save money no matter the cost. If it was than we could just kill every criminal to save money that would be poured into prisons. The website revealed that many people in the U.S. were in support of sterilization. It is surely rising to me that it spread so fast and that people actually bought into it.

After searching the website I was intrigued by the religion section and how religion related to eugenics. Apparently sermon contests were held to see who could support eugenics the best with evidence from the Bible. I read through a few of the sermons and the evidence they used was terrible as they simply tried to manipulate the Bible. The fact is there is no evidence in the Bible that would support eugenics as God views everyone as equal and everyone is a blessing from God. It was appalling to me that priests and clergy bought it to the eugenics movement because it counters their very beliefs.

Overall I was impressed with the website because it had lots of information that seemed honest and accurate. I’d say the website did a good job of facing it’s history because it included lots of negative information that would disturb people. I think there is still a future for the science, but it is important to remember the mistakes of the past. The Human Genome project seems like an amazing advancement that has the power to do a lot of good and improving our society should never simply be dismissed.

[truth_remains]

Carrie Buck was an unfortunate scapegoat for the eugenics movement, a false science. False, because they weren't doing anything really scientific. They failed to observe all the influences of a subject, and as any scientist knows, a good experiment is one where you can control the influences on your subject. Her report card was extremely good, and as a friend pointed out, some grades were heavily marked more than others. It could be an effort to point out bad grades, but still, a D one termis nothing, especially if you had A's and B's before. As any student knows, we all have our bad days.

I thought the site, though a bit awkard to move around in for those with dial-up (><), had interesting data on eugenics, better than Wikipedia at least. If it's by the descendants of the movement, then it has to be right. It shows a time in American history when prejudice came out in full force, and it really showed the self-fishness of people who didn't want to support those who need help. Even today, our tax money goes to fund homes for the elderly and disabled, but no one is complaining because we realize that it is our civil duty. And one more thing: The eugenicists were concerned with the population, but did they know who they were? Who is the population? Why weren't people concerned with this question?

An interesting tidbit was how high school students and college students were trained to collect field information in after school seminars. If it's the work of scientists, then the work should only be done by professionals who know what they are doing. Anyways, the eugenicists weren't even professionals. This proves that the whole field was trash and not even worth the attention of the American public.

I don't believe in eugenics, as you can never measure the worth of a person, a family, or a population by the genes. They might be what make you up, but they can never determine your quality of life.