EUGENICS MEANS GOOD GENES

Eugenics means racial improvement, controlled or selective breeding and planned evolution. Eugenics deals with factors that influence the hereditary qualities, and the ways of improving these qualities. According to William Henry Beveridge, a member of the Eugenics Society, the whole idea of eugenics is to improve the human race by controlling reproduction. Beveridge proposed that men who could not work should be supported by the state, but with loss of civil freedom and fatherhood. Eugenics is the science dealing with factors that influence the hereditary qualities of a race. Eugenics means good genes. Eugenicist is an expert in eugenics.

Francis Galton coined the term Eugenics. The theory of eugenics is that we can improve future generations of humans through selective breeding. Eugenic means hereditarily endowed with noble qualities or more simply wellborn. “The eugenic principle is, that ‘the fit only shall live.’ This does not mean that the unfit must die, but that only the fit shall be born,” announced one pamphlet, The Eugenic Marriage in 1914. In recent weeks, the critical response to right-wing readings of desirable action or inaction in the context of COVID-19 has repeatedly been framed on social media in terms of eugenics.

Eugenics Movement

The eugenics movement is unfortunately associated with Adolf Hitler, whose quest to build an Aryan master race during the 1930s resulted in the extermination of millions. Charles Darwin's theories about "survival of the fittest" inspired Francis Galton to start the eugenics movement in the late 19th century. The aim of eugenics movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was to perfect the American populace by getting rid of its genetically "defective" members.

The eugenics movement is active in many parts of the Western world. The eugenics movement was driven by the belief that social intervention should occur in order to protect the best gene pool. This was achieved by encouraging people who were considered to represent ‘good’ genes to breed, and prevent those considered to have ‘bad’ genes from breeding. Supporters of early eugenics movement believed that people inherited traits like weak mind and poverty. Western eugenics movement grew because of racist and colonialist ideologies.

“You have good genes, you know that, right?” Trump told the crowd of overwhelmingly white supporters. “A lot of it is about the genes, isn’t it, don’t you believe?” he added. “The racehorse theory. You think we’re so different? You have good genes in Minnesota.” The “racehorse theory” of genetics holds that some human beings are born genetically superior to others. Halie Soifer, executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, characterized Trump’s remarks as “eugenics” — basing a human being’s worth on genes. “It was used by Nazis to justify genocide,” she tweeted.

Steve Silberman "As a historian who has written about the Holocaust, I'll say bluntly: This is indistinguishable from the Nazi rhetoric that led to Jews, disabled people, LGBTQ, Romani and others being exterminated. This is America 2020."

Distinguishing genetics and eugenics on the basis of fairness - F D Ledley, J Med Ethics. 1994 Sep; 20(3): 157–164.
Abstract: There is concern that human applications of modern genetic technologies may lead inexorably to eugenics abuse. To prevent such abuse, it is essential to have clear, formal principles as well as algorithms for distinguishing genetics from eugenics. This work identifies essential distinctions between eugenics and genetics in the implied nature of the social contract and the importance ascribed to individual welfare relative to society. This analysis also illustrates how simple deviations from first principles in Rawls' formulation could countenance eugenics application of genetic technologies.