I read this article in USA Today about the dark secrets of "eugenics," where scientists tried to weed out the undesirables from reproducing by issuing forced sterilizations.
"Three generations of imbeciles is enough," thundered Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., in the 1927 Buck vs Bell court decision, legalizing forced sterilizations nationwide.
Fortunately, disdain for Hitler's "racial hygiene" practices, led to the downfall of this type of science. Who are we to determine what people should be able to reproduce? Just look at who they were targeting...
The sterilizations were aimed at ensuring no offspring for poor people exhibiting "feeblemindedness, epilepsy, criminality, insanity, (and) alcoholism," among other "unfit human traits," in the words of Yale historian Daniel Keyles.
Whew! It's a good thing this idea never caught on. Throw in incestuous marriages and these characteristics describe many of the common traits exhibited by the political families of South Buffalo...
Genetics journal reveals dark past - USATODAY.com
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