Darwin and Eugenics and, of course, Nazis (Godwin Exception)

Double wank and shit chips
Locked
Nec_V20
.
.
Posts: 937
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2014 11:19 am

Darwin and Eugenics and, of course, Nazis (Godwin Exception)

#1

Post by Nec_V20 »

The sources for the following can be found in the two historical books by Edwin Black:

1) IBM and the Holocaust http://www.ibmandtheholocaust.com/
2) War Against the Weak http://www.waragainsttheweak.com/

IBM has the reputation of being the most litigious company in history. Without the fear of this reputation the history of the computer you are sitting in front of could have been very different.

It was the fear of this reputation which made the employees of Digital Research Corporation Incorporated unwilling to sign the NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) the representatives of IBM had with them. IBM left Digital Research and went back to the guy who was creating the BASIC compiler for them with regard to creating an Operating System for their new ad hoc "Personal Computer" - a certain Bill Gates - and he bought the rights to an OS known as QDOS (Quick'n'Dirty Operating System) for $20,000 which he then patched a bit and leased this kludge to IBM as "PC-DOS". However Gates kept the rights to the OS and it was later marketed as MSDOS and the rest, as they say, is history.

When the first book I mentioned above came out literally every paragraph was documented and showed the intimate involvement of IBM in every aspect of the Holocaust.

So what did IBM do when the book came out in 2000? Did they sue Edwin Black to within an inch of his life and beyond as was their wont? No, the only reaction from IBM was to change the slogan they had been using since the 1980's.

That slogan was, "IBM, The Solutions Company".

The book "War Against the Weak" stemmed directly from the research Edwin Black had done for the book "IBM and the Holocaust" and documents another facet of what led up to and culminated in being known as "The Holocaust".

Eugenics started off as a benign thought experiment of Sir Francis Galton and was in effect an extension of what is known as "Animal Husbandry" into the human realm.

It is true that Galton was a half-cousin of Charles Darwin but there any connection to Darwin or his theory ceases. Galton named his hypothesis "Eugenics".

What it boils down to is that if one isolates a beneficial trait within the Human species then one could selectively breed humans for that trait and when it became well enough established within the selected cohort it could then be bred into humanity in general.

For instance longevity. If one searched out people of breeding age who had grandparents and great-grandparents still living on both sides of the family then the offspring of that selective breeding would have a greater chance of surviving to an older age. Robert A. Heinlein used this as a motif for a number of his books.

This of course would be a generational process which would only bear fruits in the fullness of time - hundreds of years.

The idea of Eugenics crossed the pond to the USA and got turned on its head. From the year 1900 the American Eugenics Movement postulated that the way to improve humanity was by eliminating traits - and concomitantly the bearers thereof - identified as harmful. The complete opposite of what Francis Galton had originally proposed.

The American Eugenics Movement (which would become the American Eugenics Society in 1922) set about trying to get their brand of Eugenics codified into law. By 1914 they had designs for, and even working models of gas chambers, they would use upon those identified as having harmful traits.

Not satisfied with getting Eugenics politically established in the US they proselytised this concept abroad. It was particularly well received in certain sections of the German political scene. There are records of fan mail sent to Charles Davenport, one of the leaders of the American Eugenics Movement, from a certain "A. Hitler" in the 1920's enthusiastically praising the "Theory of Eugenics".

Far from being an instigator of a Eugenics pogrom Adolf Hitler was in fact a fanboy of the American Eugenics model and wanted to implement it in Germany to "restore" the purity of Germans. "Unwertes Leben", is touted as a German concept, it is however a direct translation of American Eugenics terminology who invented the concept of "Unworthy Life".
Prior to World War II, the Nazis practiced {American} eugenics with the open approval of America’s eugenic crusaders. As Joseph DeJarnette, superintendent of Virginia’s Western State Hospital, complained in 1934, “Hitler is beating us at our own game.”
American Eugenics laws were enacted in 27 US States and tens of thousands of Americans were either involuntarily euthanised (murdered) or sterilised in America long before the Nazis came to power in Germany.

Germany's history with this prior American "Master Race" export, explains in part the governments reaction to Scientology in Germany - and why Scientology no longer has any degree of presence there, although it still is going strong in places like England and the US.

Nec_V20
.
.
Posts: 937
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2014 11:19 am

Re: Darwin and Eugenics and, of course, Nazis (Godwin Except

#2

Post by Nec_V20 »

There was something about the post which had been bothering me and I apologise for it because I finally saw what it was. I put a comma in the wrong place.

The sentence I wrote was:
By 1914 they had designs for, and even working models of gas chambers, they would use upon those identified as having harmful traits.
What it should be is:

By 1914 they had designs for, and even working models of, gas chambers they would use upon those identified as having harmful traits.

Sorry about that, if that mistake on my part irritated you.

deLurch
.
.
Posts: 8447
Joined: Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:11 am

Re: Darwin and Eugenics and, of course, Nazis (Godwin Except

#3

Post by deLurch »

The reason why not many people are excited about this thread is that history buffs are far and few in between.

Nec_V20
.
.
Posts: 937
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2014 11:19 am

Re: Darwin and Eugenics and, of course, Nazis (Godwin Except

#4

Post by Nec_V20 »

deLurch wrote:The reason why not many people are excited about this thread is that history buffs are far and few in between.
Those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it.

Locked