but prejudice sure does do a hell of a lot to cause, maintain, grow, and weaponize that ignorance.

ateacupinastorm:

I’ve been reading an interesting book about 20th century European history that I found for 20p in my local supermarket.

It talks about how accepted eugenics was as a science and as a socio-political tool before Nazism discredited it in the world’s eyes and how the most enthusiastic pre-war proponents of eugenics were actually socialists and progressives.

I knew all this, as shocking as it still is but what I wasn’t as aware of was the philosophy behind it. I always assumed it was purely because “non-productive” citizens like the intellectually disabled and mentally ill were seen as economically burdensome to the state, but it seems the main concern was such people BREEDING and SPREADING discussed in the language of them being a virus or sickness in the body of society. Institutions were very much about segregating poor breeding stock from the mass, much like you would with diseased cattle. Involuntary sterlisation was seen as a more cost-effective alternative.

Cheery stuff..

More people need to know about this.

God save me from other people’s kindness.

shortformblog:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation moved against a group of suspected online pirates Thursday, targeting the popular file-sharing website megaupload.com a day after Washington lawmakers were besieged by complaints about legislation designed to crack down on the online sharing of pirated copies of music, movies and other material, people familiar with the matter said.

Investigators said there was no connection between arrests in their two-year investigation and the political firestorm that erupted this week over a pending vote on the Stop Online Piracy Act.

This is a big deal, and even if it’s not related to SOPA, the timing certainly does a lot to put it on the minds of those worried about the law.

(Source: shortformblog)

thedailywhat:

Politics As Satire of the Day: In the first political ad from Stephen Colbert Jon Stewart’s Super PAC since the Colbert Report host’s “major announcement,” Americans For A Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow targets voters in South Carolina with a very important John Lithgow-narrated question to ponder: If Mitt Romney really believes corporations are people, does that make him a serial killer?

Meanwhile, on ABC’s This Week, George Stephanopoulos grills potential South Carolina presidental candidate Stephen Colbert on his decision to explore a last-minute entry (even though he can’t technically run).

[colbertnation / abcnews.]

(Source: thedailywhat)