Eureka Street

Keywords: Eugenics

AUSTRALIA

Uncle George’s war
- Juliette Hughes
- 21 June 2024
Most soldiers don’t like to talk about what they’ve been through, the things they’ve had to see; the things they’ve had to do. Uncle George was more willing to talk as he got older and more willing to be coaxed by a crowd of adoring nieces. But there were some things he'd never say. And the war never went away from him.
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RELIGION

How Jung turned grief into a philosophy of life
- Barry Gittins
- 21 May 2024
When friends faced a heartbreaking loss, they found solace in Carl Jung's writings, granting them permission to grieve and hope. Given his life of contradictions, how should we evaluate Jung's contributions and his complex relationship with religious faith?
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INTERNATIONAL

The shadow side of connectedness
- Justin Glyn
- 02 February 2023
No matter how much one might wish for an end to the pandemic, Covid is transmitted aerially, especially through close human interaction, and the virus itself remains stubbornly immune to optimism as a coping strategy.
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AUSTRALIA

Best of 2022: Does the 'Let it Rip' approach have a eugenics problem?
- Justin Glyn
- 05 January 2023
In the early part of the twentieth century, Francis Galton (a cousin of Charles Darwin) used the latter’s work to argue that human breeding stock could be improved. He would weed out the weakest and the less able and produce a sturdier race. Until recently, the crematoria of Hitler’s death camps were enough to remind most that this was not an idea consonant with actual human flourishing.
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AUSTRALIA

Does the 'Let it Rip' approach have a eugenics problem?
- Justin Glyn
- 27 January 2022
12 Comments
In the early part of the twentieth century, Francis Galton (a cousin of Charles Darwin) used the latter’s work to argue that human breeding stock could be improved. He would weed out the weakest and the less able and produce a sturdier race. Until recently, the crematoria of Hitler’s death camps were enough to remind most that this was not an idea consonant with actual human flourishing.
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AUSTRALIA

History of disability discrimination is present in Australia
- Justin Glyn
- 29 March 2016
9 Comments
People with disabilities have lived on society's margins since biblical times. In 1939, extending eugenics and sterilisation campaigns developed in the US in the early 20th century, Hitler authorised the vernichtung lebensunwerten Lebens ('the destruction of lives unworthy of life'). Unfortunately, not only has discrimination not been eradicated but those of us with disabilities, much like indigenous people, the poor, refugees and others with limited voice in society, continue to be seen as soft touches.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Ethical torture porn in genetics research
- Tim Kroenert
- 20 June 2013
During a lecture at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, biologist Geoff Burton speaks of the agonising genetic disorder that claimed the life of his infant son. He insists that his subsequent research into prenatal diagnosis and treatment is not related to eugenics. But merely naming the slippery slope doesn't negate it.
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AUSTRALIA

Infanticide and the spectre of eugenics
- Michael Mullins
- 05 March 2012
25 Comments
It's alarming that two Melbourne academics are arguing for the legalisation of infanticide. It is worth recalling that in 1939 academic argument led to the Victorian Parliament legalising eugenics, of which infanticide is a form. Fortunately it was never practised due to embarrassment over the Holocaust.
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ENVIRONMENT

Choosing the sex of your child
- Kevin McGovern
- 08 April 2010
3 Comments
The media has reported that Australia's ban on couples using IVF to choose the sex of their children might soon be lifted. Some of the supporters of sex selection for non-medical reasons are fertility doctors for whom there is a considerable financial incentive.
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Keywords: Eugenics