Friday, March 31, 2006

Who is this quote talking about?

Where you are dealing with a stock that is already defective, as stock which is defective in itself, you can only produce defective stock from it and therefore it is better to destroy the stock entirely ... we must cut off the propagation of these defectives or they will overpower us. In order to do that, I suggest, not to kill the individual or anything of the kind, but humane method... the real solution to this problem would be to confine them to farms where they would be treated kindly and mercifully, in a sort of colony where they would be prevented from reproducing.

Who are they talking about? Yep, people. What kind of people? Alcoholics. Apparently, this was the suggestion by two doctors at the 15th International Congress Against Alcoholism in Washington way back in the 1920s. I pulled this from "A man walks into a pub" by Pete Prown (although he doesn't actually cite his reference for that quote as far as I looked).
Just goes to show that any social movement that gets out of control can become very dangerous. In this case, the temperance movement in the USA which eventually led to prohabition (which I must say is better than the concentration camp idea put fourth above!)

Anyway, fun stuff.

8 comments:

crallspace said...

My only question is, do we get access to decent beer at this farm, or is it just HAMM's?

David Larsen, fine artist said...

It sounds a little like eugenics to me. Eugenics, I believe, was a popular concept in the 1920s. In fact, it was not until WWII and Germany's attempted extermination of the Jews that the idea moved out of popular thinking. Even with that said, eugenics of some form was practiced in the U.S. until the 1970s.

bwestcott said...

Heh, it would be a good farm if they provided all the beer desired while living out one's life as defective stock.


Eugenics was practiced in Canada too until about the same time on a few groups of people. Hell, it works for cattle...

Ben, aka BadBen said...

I think there is still a strong undercurrent in the U.S. concerning prohibition and eugenics, and it is slowly building, once again. I'm talking about people at the extreme right political view (combined with holier-than-thou religious beliefs). They tend to want the same parallel goals as Islamic Fundamentalists:

1)A strong leader that doesn't have to bother with the Democractic process.
2)The imposition of their particular belief system on the masses.
3)Making that belief system part of the law of the land (and the educational system). This also involves prohibitions on personal choice issues, whether it is birth control pills or alcohol.
4)The subjegation of women, the poor, and ethnic groups that aren't part of "the program."
5)The ostracization or imprisonment or genocide (in the worst case) of anyone that doesn't go along with the program.

Ben, aka BadBen said...

I'll also add:
The destruction of the concept of habeas corpus, a concept that dates back to 1679 (England), which established a critical right that was later written into the Constitution for the United States.

Ben, aka BadBen said...

Sorry, I'm in a shitty mood, this morning.

David Larsen, fine artist said...

Anytime anyone tries to legislate morality, there is a problem brewing.

Of course, this thread also reminds me of the famous Ben Franklin quote: "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

bwestcott said...

That Ben Franklin fellow sure was smart.