Maga’s era of ‘soft eugenics’: let the weak get sick, help the clever breed
www.theguardian.com
At the heart of all Trump administration policies is ‘soft eugenics’ thinking – the idea that if you take away life-saving services, then only the strong will survive

At the heart of all Trump administration policies is ‘soft eugenics’ thinking – the idea that if you take away life-saving services, then only the strong will survive

…

Enter Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US secretary of health, who regularly laments over the “back then” of his youth when he says that diabetes and autism was almost unheard of and obesity rates were far lower. (In his campaign videos he would often do this over vintage footage of white bodies splayed on a beach.)…

Kennedy’s myopic emphasis on personal responsibility as the main driver of health means he’s at best indifferent, and at worst welcoming, of the idea that those that don’t heed his counsel might die.

Yet health is never simple. By avoiding discussion of education, employment, social support networks, economic status and geographic location – the social determinants that public health experts agree influence health outcomes – Kennedy, in lockstep with top wellness influencers, is practicing soft eugenics.

    • Dasus@lemmy.world
      21·
      12 hours ago

      I guess it’s supposed to distinguish from biomechanical eugenics where we modify chromosomes and whatnot

      Uh, I don’t think so… I think when people say “eugenics”, they think of Nazis and concentration camps, “undesirables” and “the Final Solution”, not CRISPR.

      I think the “soft” is literally just there to soften the impact of the word “eugenics”. There’s nothing “soft” about this.

      Eugenics (/juːˈdʒɛnɪks/ yoo-JEN-iks; from Ancient Greek εύ̃ (eû) ‘good, well’ and -γενής (genḗs) ‘born, come into being, growing/grown’)[1] is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population.[2][3][4] Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the fertility of those considered inferior, or promoting that of those considered superior.

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics

      It’s literally what they are doing.