War Against the Weak - Eugenics Study - Anyone else read this?

Submitted by Datamat0410 t3_10n85uj in books

WAR AGAINST THE WEAK - EDWIN BLACK - 2003 (2012 EXPANDED EDITION)

I've finished this book and it's an eye opener for sure. I became curious suddenly about the subject of eugenics very recently and got hold if this book War Against the Weak. A quite deep subject that talked primarily about America's influence on eugenics and how it later fed into Nazi ideology as espoused by Hitler first and foremost. Also Britain (my own country) was very much part of the picture.

Anyone else read this and what did you think of it? Is it a definitive book on this subject or are there other books worth also taking a look regarding eugenics and the like?

Thank-you.

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Tanagrabelle t1_j67yocj wrote

People today sometimes get quite a shock when they find out about real history.

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jaymickef t1_j68f3by wrote

I think people have always been quite shocked when their real history is available to them. But it’s only been recently (historically speaking) that full, real histories have been widely available. The 20th century had a lot of blind patriotism.

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lololynn258 t1_j6b8pug wrote

Excellent book. A difficult and eye-opening read. Some of America's most influential politicians and business tycoons supported the Eugenics movement. Did you read IBM and the Holocaust, also by Michael Black?

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fellfal t1_j67geba wrote

The NHGRI has some good resources for understanding eugenics in a modern light. It can be an extremely offensive and taboo subject for obvious reasons, so I wouldn't talk about it lightly. Check out https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/fact-sheets/Eugenics-and-Scientific-Racism. Again, not a topic you want to bring up lightly.

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Datamat0410 OP t1_j67lei4 wrote

Yes that's something we can understand. I do think the subject is very important in relation to how it clearly influenced world politics and individuals.

I myself would have ended up likely on the wrong end of this ideology, namely killed, by Nazis, determined to eliminate those with disabilities.

The nature of the topic is unsettling, not least because its real, a part of our history, not all that long ago either.

Anyone who may find this topic in any way offensive, that was certainly not an intension. All the best and let us all prey for more peace and understand for the future. Thank-you.

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Caleb_Trask19 t1_j688zim wrote

This sounds very interesting, definitely check out Why Fish Don’t Exist, there’s a number of things running through it, but one of them is eugenics.

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lololynn258 t1_j6b9wc4 wrote

Oh-- GoodReads has a list of books on the Eugenics Movement and it's relationship to racism, nazi Germany, America, and Europe. Here are some of the titles on the list:

Better for All the World: The Secret History of Forced Sterilization and America's Quest for Racial Purity by Harry Bruinius

In Reckless Hands: Skinner v. Oklahoma and the Near-Triumph of American Eugenics

by Victoria F. Nourse

Forgotten Crimes: The Holocaust and People with Disabilities by Suzanne E. Evans

The Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism, and German National Socialism

by Stefan Kühl

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[deleted] t1_j67rqfm wrote

[deleted]

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Datamat0410 OP t1_j67tf4l wrote

I guess it's just such a deeply shameful subject. How could we even imagine that America, the so called land of justice and democracy, have been the genesis of fascist and racist ideology, mixed with eugenics and feeding/fueling the anti semitic movements ramping up in Europe in particular in the early 20th century.

I didn't even realise that eugenics in America was a thing that had anything to do with the Nazis until recently, or about the extent of sterilisation programs going on. I don't believe this stuff is actually known by younger people in particular, and that's not too good.

It means as far as I see it, that we are trying to whitewash this particular area, at least in a mild sense:

'The idea that western allies of WW2 are completely innocent of having any connection with the ultimate genocide of entire peoples as finally enacted to terrifying efficiency by the NAZI regime'.

Yes. The information is available, but only if one seeks it out. It's not tought to masses, in any deeper sense as far as I see it. Perhaps this is just 'too much' and even unnecessary to know. It is a sad and as another poster says, it can be seen as 'offensive' to even talk about in any way. And I understand.

Today, we don't blame modern Germany for the crimes of their recent past. That would be stupid and it would be pointless and it would not allow for all of us in the world to move on towards a better future. We have to acknowledge our own pasts even if it's terribly painful. That's surely the way to avoid history repeating again. If we look at history it DOES repeat in roundabout ways. We today more than even have a lot more means to understand history and stop it from repeating.

Anyway, let's just keep educating and learning. It's the only thing we can do.

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Secretlyasecret t1_j67y4g4 wrote

Yeah most people are taught the allies were the good guys who beat evil in WW2 but they were all up to their own nefarious shit. Look up the Bengal famine for one. When it was convenient for the allies they didn't even punish the people responsible for the atrocities of WW2 like with operation paperclip and also high up intelligence officials because they were too valuable to the allies.

Let's not forget that black veterans were often sidelined on return to the US and sodomy was still illegal in the UK post WW2 driving top codebreaker and father of computing Alan Turing to suicide

Was it good they won? Yes of course, are they moral paragons? Far from it. History is written by the victors

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urban_snowshoer t1_j6b20tx wrote

Unfortunately, support in the United States wasn't limited to Facists and Nazi sympathizers--there were prominent Progressive figures that supported it back then too.

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