The eugenics debate and the climate change debate.

Bookworm observes that

The eugenics debate from a century ago bears striking similarities to the climate change debate today.

...over the past couple of nights I watched a fairly good PBS documentary about eugenics. While it didn’t mention Margaret Sanger’s racism, it did touch upon a lot of other interesting points about the eugenic craze in America:

The way in which someone took a scientific theory (evolution) and ran with it;

“Scientific” research that started with conclusions and forced the data;

Big money;

The buy-in of the American elite in the name of expertise, science, and self-improvement;

The panic about a nation that could be destroyed by “defective” human beings, whether because of birth defects, substance abuse, or inferior race;

The doubling down as doubt crept in amongst serious researchers; and

The movement’s eventual failure when it reached its inevitable and extreme conclusion with the Nazis.

If those factors remind you of something, then I’ve successfully made my point, which is that the whole eugenics foofaraw is like a template for climate change hysteria. Just think about the fact that the climate change craze:

Took a scientific theory and ran with it;

Larded the theory with dubious “science” towards a predetermined conclusion;

Got big money;

Got the buy-in of a hysterical elite in thrall to expertise, science, and self-improvement;

Turned into an eschatalogical, Manichean panic to prevent the end of the world;

Saw its true believers double down in the face of opposing evidence;

and
(Finally) seems to be falling under its own weight as it becomes clear to ordinary people that it has no substance and is being used for bad ends (in the case of climate change, to enrich hucksters and impoverish ordinary people around the globe).

Go here to read some additional observations from Bookworm about art restoration and racism.