THE SCIENCES ARE
REALLY IN ASCENDANCE
AT THIS MOMENT YOU
KNOW, THE SECULARIZATION
OF POPULAR THOUGHT FROM A
BASICALLY RELIGIOUS WORLD VIEW
TO A BASICALLY SCIENTIFIC ONE
IS BEGINNING IN THIS PERIOD
AND HISTORIANS CAN ARGUE
ABOUT WHEN SCIENCE REALLY,
ULTIMATELY HAS THE UPPER HAND.
BUT SCIENCE IS IN THE ASCENDANCE
THROUGHOUT THIS PERIOD.
AND ALL OF THE NATURAL SCIENCES
AND THEN THE EARLY
SOCIAL SCIENCES,
ANTHROPOLOGY PROBABLY BEING
THE FIRST ARE DEBATING
AND DISCUSSING AND STUDYING
AND PRONOUNCING UPON
PEOPLE-HOOD, AND WHO IS WHO.
THE PEOPLE'S OF THE WORLD,
HERE ARE THEIR TRAITS,
HERE ARE THEIR CHARACTERISTICS,
HERE ARE THEIR POTENTIALS,
HERE IS THEIR RANKING IN THE
RANK OF THE WORLD'S PEOPLES SO,
ANTHROPOLOGY, ETHNOGRAPHY,
ETHNOLOGY THE NATURAL SCIENCES,
AND THEN THE SCIENCES OF THE
MIND, PSYCHIATRY, PSYCHOLOGY ALL
OF THESE SCIENCES ARE
BUSILY CLASSIFYING PEOPLE
INTO RACIAL TYPES AND
RACIAL HIERARCHIES.
AND THAT LANGUAGE, IT'S BECOMING
POPULARIZED THROUGHOUT THE
SECOND HALF OF THE NINETEENTH
CENTURY BUT IT'S BECOMING MORE
AND MORE IMPORTANT TO
POLITICAL DISCUSSION
ABOUT HOW A DEMOCRACY WORKS
OR HOW IT OUGHT TO WORK
OR WHAT THE THREATS ARE
TO A WORKING DEMOCRACY
SO THAT EVEN BEFORE EUGENICS
AS A NAMED MOVEMENT HAS
REALLY CAPTURED MANY PEOPLE'S
IMAGINATION, ALREADY SOME OF
THE NATIVIST ORGANIZATIONS,
LIKE THE IMMIGRATION
RESTRICTION LEAGUE
IN BOSTON IS A GOOD EXAMPLE.
ALREADY IN THE 1890'S,
THEY'RE STARTING TO TALK
ABOUT IMMIGRANT GROUPS
AS BIOLOGICAL ENTITIES
WHOSE IMPORTANCE
FOR THE UNITED STATES, OR
MOST OFTEN, WHOSE THREAT
TO THE UNITED STATES IS
CARRIED IN THEIR BLOOD.
AND THE EUGENIC ARGUMENT WAS
THAT WHILE IMMIGRATION
HAD ALWAYS BEEN TALKED
ABOUT AS A CONCERN FOR LABOR
OR AN ECONOMIC CONCERN-DO
WE NEED THE LABOR,
IS IMMIGRANT LABOR GOING
TO UNDERMINE THE WAGES
OF THE NATIVE WORKERS
ECONOMICS HAD REALLY KIND
OF DOMINATED THE DISCUSSION,
BUT WHAT THE EUGENICISTS WERE
SAYING IS ECONOMICS IS REALLY A
SIDE ISSUE.
WHAT WE'RE REALLY TALKING ABOUT
HERE ARE THE MOTHERS AND FATHERS
OF FUTURE AMERICANS AND ARE THE
PEOPLE WHO ARE WASHING ASHORE
AT CASTLE GARDEN OR LATER, ELLIS
ISLAND, EVERY DAY REALLY GOING
TO BE THE MOTHERS AND
FATHERS OF THE KINDS OF PEOPLE
THAT WE WANT PULLING THE LEVERS
AND THE VOTING MACHINES
A GENERATION FROM NOW?
