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It’s interesting that the word characteristic is mostly made up of the word character. And after reading about what happens when people try to infer character from characteristics, I think the relationship is uncomfortable. There was a lot of flawed reasoning showing up in these arguments, which I had always suspected and am glad now to know more examples of. I thought it odd that Ward calls the admission of so-called degenerates into the country a “crime against the future,” when there is no possible way the future can be an injured party (Ordover 8). The future has no rights that can be infringed upon, and the future is not even our property. This kind of rhetoric reminds me of our more recent declaration of war on terrorism–as soon as we figure out how to wage war against a tactic.
I was struck, as I was reading, by the overwhelmingly flexible categories (and statistics!) that this kind of rhetoric demands in order to operate: feeble-minded, unfit, degenerate. Not only does this system reinforce the compulsory able-bodiedness of nationalism, but it fuels all sorts of othering and xenophobia that has at its base the fear of becoming part of one of those completely flexible categories. All of these “symptoms” listed could be as easily chalked under travel-wear or long-term anxiety. (If people really are “insane,” we should ask why, since most disabilities are environmentally influenced; but that doesn’t mean we can blame everything on culture shock.) The list was obviously compiled with an immigrant in mind who has absolutely no reason to immigrate because their life has been so healthy, functional, and organized throughout. The able-bodied American is plucky, hardy, and hardworking–or if they can’t cut it, they aren’t American enough to be American.
Speaking of supressing any signs of internal dissonance, the principle of the standardized test bothers me a little. Since when has literacy had any correlation with intelligence? With emotional stability? or even character? I dunno, but even if we are valuing human beings in those terms, I can think of a lot of competent people who didn’t or don’t read so hot. When I had to take SATs and GREs and things, I was annoyed that more than anything they seemed to test my ability to condition myself. Conditionability is apparently a highly prized quality in a college student. So we all practice so we can “pass” for able-minded.
I heard someone once refer to the Statue of Liberty as the “Whore in the Harbor” who is responsible for the dilution of our culture by immigrants, as though the statue were an emblem of the transformation of America into what Cofer terms as “a dumping ground for [Europe's] convicts, paupers and insane” (qtd in Ordover 13). If such “dumping” is detrimental to the character of a population, I would be interested to know eugenicists’ opinions on the contemporary demographics of Australia, in view of the “dumping” and racial stratification and “christianizing” that occurred there. It’s hard for me to understand why rich, happy, healthy, educated, and preferably Christian immigrants are the only ones not violating American culture or seizing and misusing American opportunities. I always thought that just about everybody in America is some product of immigration.
Last semester during Darwin week, WVU invited a speaker who had made his name promoting social darwinist theories about the inferiority of women and minorities. The women’s studies department organized a silent protest during the speaking event, and I brought a flyer into my 101 class to show students what kinds of interesting things are (still) going on around their school. One student raised his hand and said, “Well if he did an objective study, how do we know he’s wrong if he did a real study to come up with this data?” I wish I had said, “Do you think such a study exists?” Instead of such shining clarity, I may have actually said something about how it’s good to ask where information comes from before I teed off into something about justification of historical violence and genocide….I didn’t react so great cause I was just shocked by this student’s response. I think we receive statistics like they’re truth from God, and those to wield those statistics get to be God. I worry that not everyone considers that studies, while helpful lots of times, are far from impersonal and infallible.
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