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Eugenics Movement Benefits

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Human classification and division is one of the largest conflicts in history. Early humans raped, murdered, and outcompeted other species of the Homo genus, ancient India used religion and a caste system to divide society, and within the last two centuries mankind used scientific racism and nationalism to spark hatred and discontent. Several of these ideas of separation are found in the eugenics movement. Eugenics is the science of improving mankind by discouraging those with weak genes from having children and encouraging those deemed superior. This discouragement overall was not intended as a punishment for the weak, but it was designed to alleviate them the hardship of having to bring up children which they couldn’t support. ("Eugenics: Did the Eugenics Movement Benefit the United States?" 19). Eugenics started with Sir Francis Galton; he was a scientist in the U.K. studying hereditary patterns in people when he developed the early ideas of eugenics and the word itself. The movement started in 1904 (with Galton’s coining of the word) and became popular rapidly due to the fleeting imperial ideas that …show more content…
Galton's original thoughts were that the wealthy were inherently better than the poor, but the poor were outbreeding the wealthy which spelt disaster for society ("Scientific Racism, History of."). Despite the general populace being poor eugenics still gained momentum in the political system by casting blame for the poor to the handicap and other minority groups that relied heavily on social welfare. Although, the movement’s popularity was most aided by its promises for a better world. A world filled with genetically superior humans without the need for social services that aid the weak, because there are no weak to aid. In “Eugenics: Did the Eugenics Movement Benefit the United States,” we see the reasoning behind the thoughts eugenicists had that persuaded the general populace into

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