Respond to ‘When Poverty Was white’

The Eugenics; The Modern Caste System

             Social improvement, the eugenics, cannot be rationalized in any ways. According to Nell Irvin Painter in his article ‘When Poverty Was White’ (published: march 24, 2012), Sterilization had been executed to eliminate the occurrence of disability, such as feebleminded, under the governmental policy, the eugenics. Painter explains how the sterilization had been started and had been developed by showing people who insisted connection between genes and an occurrence of disability and asserted the validity of the sterilization. Ms. Buck was force to take first sterilization involuntarily by the Supreme Court at 1927. Mr. Dugdale reported a connection between poverty, disease and heredity. Another researcher was Mr. McCulloch. He developed the concept by dividing races not only white and black but also along white. And then Charles Benedict Davenport suggested eugenic thinking. In addition, Henry H. Goddard went along with Davenport. Goddard found out one particular group named ‘The Kallikak Family.’ The Kallikak family was shown one of the examples to prove the legitimacy of eugenic thinking. In the Kallikak family, one root of family achieved well in society and another root of family showed variety of hereditary social ills, such as vulgar jobs and disease even though they were from same ancestry. Moreover, Eugenic program was come into action so that the government could control the occurrence of disability and poverty.

             For a long times, Animal have been being evolved, also human. Animal try to adapt a surrounded environment. After Charles Darwin published ‘On The Origin of Species’, people got to know the biological change of appearance and ability can be possible. People can get a high quality of livestock by animal improvement, so livestock has been improved to be grown faster and have tender meat. However, the concept of evolution was differentiated as the eugenic. Before Darwin, people thought human are dignity and different with animal under The Bible. After Darwin, however, people got to know human is a kind of animal that can be evolved, so some people with high social status started thinking to evolve human by eliminating specific some people in order to be better society. This concept had been developed as sterilization in America and Holocaust, and this concept is called for the eugenics.

             The eugenics is so dangerous concept which can ruin liberal democracy. Actually, it can be possible to improve the quality of human. According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_genetic_engineering), ‘Gene therapy trials on humans began in 2004 on patients with Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID). In 2000, the first gene therapy "success" resulted in SCID patients with a functional immune system.’ It means genetic research can be effect on human. However, for the mass of human, should minor human be eliminated or sterilized? I strongly disagree and say no.

             First, society is composed of individual and some occurrence of faulty in the mass of people is a natural matter of course. Society cannot make people. Individuals gather and make society. The basis of the society of liberal democracy is to support citizens no matter they are. Liberal democracy must collect each opinion of individual and make conclusion which all people agree. In all people, minor people must be because they are also citizens. The government secure individual’s right and must not ignore it.

Second, eugenics is drastic supremacy from vested power. According to ‘Buzzle.com’(http://www.buzzle.com/articles/purpose-of-society-why-is-society-important.html), society is ‘One of the primary purposes of society is the formation of an organized group of individuals, who can support each other in various ways.’ Main purpose is to support each other, not to kill another people. If people with high social status execute sterilization to be better society, it’s narrow-minded act and against the principal of democracy. The basis of democracy is to support human opinion. However, involuntary sterilization is a kind of ignoring human opinion.

Who has the right to kill other people? Who has the right to remove the biological right of individuals? There is no right to intervention other’s life in society and democracy. Even though America is the top of democracy country, Franklin Roosevelt said "I wish very much that the wrong people could be prevented entirely from breeding; and when the evil nature of these people is sufficiently flagrant, this should be done. Criminals should be sterilized and feebleminded persons forbidden to leave offspring behind them... The emphasis should be laid on getting desirable people to breed..." (Roosevelt, “Twisted Eugenics,” in The Works of Theodore Roosevelt, op. cit., National Edition, XII, p. 201.) At that time, eugenics was the general concept. It’s the idea developed of racism to Black, beyond white, vested class or not. The government must support each individual to have a chance to be vested class, not to make one side society which doesn’t have a lack of social diversity.