Richard Sutherland - I read "A Fever in the Heartland" last week. I have about 15 pages with post-its on them, starting with Chapter 9 on page 104. On page 106, Egan discusses Dr. Harry H. Laughlin. Laughlin apparently believed if you allowed strong healthy animals to be crossed only with other strong healthy animals, then "weaker" human…
Richard Sutherland - I read "A Fever in the Heartland" last week. I have about 15 pages with post-its on them, starting with Chapter 9 on page 104. On page 106, Egan discusses Dr. Harry H. Laughlin. Laughlin apparently believed if you allowed strong healthy animals to be crossed only with other strong healthy animals, then "weaker" humans, such as "imbeciles" and degenerates," i.e. homosexuals should be sterilized so as to not weaken the gene pool.
In the book, Egan comments that Indiana passed the world's first eugenic sterilization law in 1907, and that ultimately, about 70,000 people across many states were forcibly sterilized. Other targets for sterilization included Blacks, immigrants, Jews, (the KKK at that time also targeted Catholics, but I don't recall reading if they were advocating sterilizations for Catholics), and those with diseases such as epilepsy. German proto-Nazis were strongly influenced by Laughlin's work.
I could go on, but would rather encourage everyone on this forum to read the book. It's shocking at what so many people were drawn into!
Now we come to Project 2025, and trump's words. I saw a video clip from his appearance in Minnesota last weekend where he said something like, "Racehorses, I like racehorses because they are fast." Sounds innocuous at first, but does it perhaps give a wink and a nod to Laughlin's beliefs, because we all know that racehorses are bred to be fast, cattle and pigs are bred to provide more meat, and turkeys are bred to have larger breasts for more white meat.
If trump wins in November, will we see a resurgent KKK openly advocating for white supremacy? I hope not, and will do whatever I can to convince others of the danger ahead should trump win.
Thank you, Lucy, for this review and report. I think that the present case is one of prejudice (white ignorant racist Protestantism) vs. enlightenment (democracy and DEI.) Will "the inmates take over the asylum?" I know that this is disrespectful but we're dealing with a lot of stupidity. Case in point: Nikki Haley announcing that she'll vote for Trump. She just proved that she is not a leader and clearly not one with character.
Look what happened in Germany when they let a nut case use their antisemitism to propel him to power: World War II and the Holocaust. We simply must acknowledge what history has taught us and act on it.
Richard Sutherland - I read "A Fever in the Heartland" last week. I have about 15 pages with post-its on them, starting with Chapter 9 on page 104. On page 106, Egan discusses Dr. Harry H. Laughlin. Laughlin apparently believed if you allowed strong healthy animals to be crossed only with other strong healthy animals, then "weaker" humans, such as "imbeciles" and degenerates," i.e. homosexuals should be sterilized so as to not weaken the gene pool.
In the book, Egan comments that Indiana passed the world's first eugenic sterilization law in 1907, and that ultimately, about 70,000 people across many states were forcibly sterilized. Other targets for sterilization included Blacks, immigrants, Jews, (the KKK at that time also targeted Catholics, but I don't recall reading if they were advocating sterilizations for Catholics), and those with diseases such as epilepsy. German proto-Nazis were strongly influenced by Laughlin's work.
I could go on, but would rather encourage everyone on this forum to read the book. It's shocking at what so many people were drawn into!
Now we come to Project 2025, and trump's words. I saw a video clip from his appearance in Minnesota last weekend where he said something like, "Racehorses, I like racehorses because they are fast." Sounds innocuous at first, but does it perhaps give a wink and a nod to Laughlin's beliefs, because we all know that racehorses are bred to be fast, cattle and pigs are bred to provide more meat, and turkeys are bred to have larger breasts for more white meat.
If trump wins in November, will we see a resurgent KKK openly advocating for white supremacy? I hope not, and will do whatever I can to convince others of the danger ahead should trump win.
Thank you, Lucy, for this review and report. I think that the present case is one of prejudice (white ignorant racist Protestantism) vs. enlightenment (democracy and DEI.) Will "the inmates take over the asylum?" I know that this is disrespectful but we're dealing with a lot of stupidity. Case in point: Nikki Haley announcing that she'll vote for Trump. She just proved that she is not a leader and clearly not one with character.
"[T]he inmates taking over the asylum" is what fills me with dread.
Look what happened in Germany when they let a nut case use their antisemitism to propel him to power: World War II and the Holocaust. We simply must acknowledge what history has taught us and act on it.
I completely agree. My key question is how do we do that? So many of our citizens will not acknowledge history, or worse, want to emulate it.