Trump And Eugenic Ideology

A comment by Donald Trump, President of USA, considered to be racist, has generated a number of unhappy reactions from various quarters. In South Africa there was an angry protest by The Economic Freedom Fighters over a “racist” advertisement featuring a Black child modeling a sweatshirt with the slogan “coolest monkey in the jungle”. The harms and angry reactions caused by racism constitute a long story to tell, neither can we pretend that the ideology of racism no longer exists. The term “ideology” was coined by a French man, Antoine Destutt de Tracy, during the French Revolution, as referring to the “science of ideas”.
Eugenics is the science of breeding of healthy offsprings with the aim of improving the human genetic stock. Therefore, eugenic ideology refers to the idea or belief, backed by some clever world-wide propaganda, that some human genetic stock, race or class of people are superior, while others are inferior. The idea is that the “inferior stock” should be prevented from over-populating the Earth.
Eugenic ideology, as a movement, began after Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species (1859). Francis Galton in 1869, published his book: Hereditory Genius bringing the eugenic ideology into an intellectual dimension. Galton founded the British Eugenic Society whose aim was to “help nature along by determining who the intelligent and unintelligent were, and by promoting the breeding of the former and the infertility of the later.”
Arthur Jenson became an apostle of racism by an assertion that the Black race are genetically and intellectually inferior. According to Jenson, it would be a waste of resources and effort to make legislations to make the Blacks equal with the White. Richard Herrnstein picked up this theme and went further to say that “Social classes were distinguished by intelligence as well as money”. It is an old prejudice that the poor are unintelligent and lazy, while the rich are more intelligent and hardworking. To say the least, in a materialistic society a man’s worth is determined by the abundance of his possessions and opulence. There is more to life than measurable and quantifiable indices!
Much of the writings and ideas of the White or Western elite shaped present worldview, propagated by the ruling class of developed countries, which Africans should not swallow. Attempts by powerful groups to undermine the survival and interests of weaker segments of the society have resulted from the eugenic ideology, and instruments used for the purpose are many. Both at national and international levels, there is a clever program of implementation of the eugenic ideology of which the school system is a willing accomplice. The case of George Opong Weah of Liberia makes the point that the school is not an exclusive determinant or selector of talents.
There is a subtle ideological war in all human institutions, from schools and churches, to politics and economics. At the political level, patronage, sinecure, intimidation, acts of brigandage and corruption become the means of pursuing some agenda. As a ready tool of capitalism, the eugenic ideology ensures that the wealth of a nation is monopolised and controlled by less than 20% of the population, while the remaining 80% of the people scramble over the remaining 20% of the commonwealth. Land grabbing is a part of the game.
Social engineering system fostered by the eugenic ideology provides the operational mechanism of world political and economic practices, which the author Darwin called survival of the fittest. The system has come to stay, world-wide; its high-priests are the cabals and mafia groups that rule the land. The security and coercive forces of state can always take care of those who rebel against the system. It is the conservative elements of humanity who seek to perpetuate human division based on wealth and power.
It is not entirely false to say that behind every great wealth, there is always a crime; the link between wealth and power is also well known. A one-time president of Nigeria spoke the truth when he said: “If you can’t beat them, join them”. That was not only a political statement for election purpose, but it is also a part of the eugenic ideology which was at the root of the Scramble for Africa by European nations. The rule of the game is to succumb to the titan since you don’t have a counterveiling power, and then seek his protection, by joining him.
Donald Trump, as a conservative defender of the status-quo would hardly forget that the world is made up of genetically and intellectually superior stock and genetically and intellectually inferior stock. When the inferior ones stop being “fantastically corrupt” and no longer use conservancy system of toilet, Trump would change his ideas and prejudice. What was the ideology of the Holocaust?
Dr. Amirize is a retired lecturer at the Rivers State University, PH.

Bright Amirize