| part 6: a better tomorrow |
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| the early part of the last century was an interesting time: industry and technology were advancing at a tremendous rate, and it seemed as though there was no question science could not answer. among some of the elite, the theory of eugenics came into vogue. it was essentially the concept of species improvement that proposed, among other things, that since people pass their genes on to their offspring, the wealthy white upper class would pass their wealthy white upper class genes onto their children, and thus the desirable segment of society would be maintained. likewise, the undesirables - those who were poor, the mentally retarded, criminals, the mentally ill, minorities, and so forth - they would pass their undesirable genes on to their undesirable children. this was frightening to those in power, because the studies of that time showed that the upper class married later, and reproduced less, while the 'undesirables' were multiplying at a prodigious rate. this caused no small amount of fear among society's elite, as in their view it amounted to nothing less than the impending doom of the entire species. so they took what action they felt necessary. they warehoused everyone deemed unfit in conditions that were deplorable, because the aim was not to treat them - it was to extinguish them. and so in asylums and institutions there were involuntary sterilizations, and neglect, and abuse - to such a level that, while the stated purpose was not extermination, it was not difficult to read between the lines to see what the intended outcome truly was. while the mentally ill among the well-to-do sipped their cognac in their mahogany sitting rooms shrouded in the smoke of expensive cigars, nestled in private houses at asylums like mclean... those who had failed to make the cut were silently shuffled off to die in oblivion of rusted remains of memories and unkept numbered graves. it was a popular plan, one that hitler himself was an avid supporter of. he liked it so much that he took it to the next logical step: if the goal was extermination, why not drop all pretenses and create camps specifically to eradicate the jews, the minorities, the mentally ill and retarded, homosexuals, and anyone else who dared to oppose the progress of the master race? it only made sense because after all, after all - the goal was a better tomorrow, whatever the cost might be. |
