Hyde on Eugenics

From Jeff Hyde at The Greensboro Guardian:

Eugenics has been pushed into the shadows of public awareness because of who initiated the idea, who embraced the theories, and who made them public policy. They are a long list of influential families, business and industrial leaders, philanthropic foundations, non profit organizations, universities and academic scholars–the elite of our state and nation. They are the ruling class do-gooders. These people, to this day, believe that forced sterilization may have been carried out wrongly, but that it is their obligation to society as the elites to act “in the best interest of the individual and of the public good.”

The list of names responsible is long and well known. You’ll find libraries and public buildings, hospitals and parks, named after these societal do-gooders. You will not see their names in a list of culprits responsible for the eugenics program in our state. One would need to do extensive research to find them all. They would like to remain hidden.

Apparently Hyde is willing to leave them hidden. I enjoyed the first part of the post as a well-written history lesson. It was quite a surprise coming from a born again fry cook. But as usual, it all fell apart with wild accusations. If those terrible progressives wish to sweep this unfortunate chapter of their history under the rug, then why are they so adamant about providing reparations to the surviving victims? Hyde’s argument doesn’t hold water. Rather than being genuine about his motives, he chooses to chastise progressive ghosts for sins made with good intentions.

New leadership in Raleigh has brought the program to light this year. A heartfelt desire to compensate for the past is making its way through the first Republican General Assembly in 140 years. As legislators work to craft a bill that will make amends to the living victims of eugenics, let’s hope they do more than just financially compensate the approximately 200 survivors; let’s hope they include a mandate for educational awareness about how and why progressive elites operated this program in North Carolina. We need full public awareness by our institutions so that never again–based only on the theories of academics and progressive leaders–will our government be able to act “in the best interest of the individual and of the public good.”

That’s bullshit. Reparations for sterilization have been in the works long before the Tea Party came to Raleigh. Of course, Hyde wants to use the occasion to brow beat responsible progressives, most of whom are now dead. He would like us to believe that modern-day progressives are capable of mass sterilization, when contemporary political actions such as NC Amendment One point to fascism practiced by conservatives.

While Hyde tells ghost stories, the left is essentially moribund and impotent. The real threat comes from authoritarian Christian fundamentalists like Hyde and C4GC, who subvert the lessons of history to demonize the opposition and stoke fear among their ignorant followers.

About these ads