THINGS LIKE EUGENICS
WERE POPULAR
IN THAT THEY WERE
POPULARIZED BY POLITICIANS
IN THE DISCUSSIONS
OF-WELL, IN THE DISCUSSIONS
OF AMERICAN EXPANSIONISM,
FOR EXAMPLE.
ALL OF THE PUBLIC DEBATE
ABOUT THE DISPOSITION OF CUBA
AND THE PHILIPPINES, AFTER
THE WARS WITH SPAIN WERE CAST
IN THAT LANGUAGE OF THE
FITNESS FOR SELF-GOVERNMENT.
WHAT DO WE DO WITH
THESE POPULATIONS?
WE WANT THE ISLANDS; CAN WE
AFFORD TO TAKE THE PEOPLES?
AND ALL OF THOSE DISCUSSIONS
REFLECTED THESE KINDS
OF RACIAL THINKING,
ABOUT HIERARCHY
AND FITNESS FOR SELF-GOVERNMENT.
SO THAT'S ONE OF THE WAYS THAT
THESE IDEAS WERE POPULARIZED.
ANOTHER IS IN POPULAR
LITERATURE A BIT LATER ON.
PEOPLE LIKE EDGAR RICE
BURROUGHS, THE TARZAN SERIES.
IF YOU KIND OF REREAD THAT,
WITH AN EYE TO THE SCIENCE
THAT'S BEING DISCUSSED
AND DRAWN UPON IN THE TARZAN
SERIES, HE WAS A EUGENICIST,
AND THE TARZAN STORY IS ACTUALLY
A PERFECT EUGENICS FAIRY TALE,
RIGHT, THE LORD GREYSTOKE,
HE'S BRITISH,
THAT'S WHY HE'S ABLE
TO RULE THE JUNGLE.
BUT, HE-IT'S IN THE KIND
OF VITALITY THAT HE REGAINS
IN HIS MASTERY IN THIS
OTHER SETTING IS WHAT KIND
OF REDEEMS HIM FROM
BEING A KIND OF EFFETE,
BLUE-BLOODED EUROPEAN NOBLE.
BUT ALL OF BURROUGHS'S
IDEAS REALLY CAME STRAIGHT
OUT OF THE EUGENICS MOVEMENT
AND ABOUT THE POPULAR
AND SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSIONS
OF EVOLUTIONISM, HIERARCHY,
THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES.
AND SO THAT-AND THAT'S
JUST ONE EXAMPLE.
BUT THE IDEAS WERE
KIND OF IN THE AIR
IN A LOT OF DIFFERENT PLACES.
AND SO, I THINK THAT IN STREET
LEVEL DISCUSSION THERE MAY NOT
HAVE BEEN VERY SOPHISTICATED
UNDERSTANDINGS
OF WHAT A GENE WAS, OR WHAT
THAT MEANT, SCIENTIFICALLY.
BUT THE LANGUAGE FOR TALKING
ABOUT WHO'S WHO AND TALKING
ABOUT RACIAL DIFFERENCE WAS
VERY AVAILABLE AND ACCESSIBLE.
