Expelled the Movie and the History of the Eugenics Movement

There has been much spilled ink (or bits) over the connection between Darwinian theory and eugenics and Nazi ideology. Perhaps this will encourage people to do some serious reading and study of the intellectual history of the eugenics movement. I have not read the whole book, but Jonah Goldberg explores this in a chapter of Liberal Fascism, which was recently No. 1 on the NY Times hardcover nonfiction list.

A recent review of that book notes this:

Turning to what he calls liberal racism, Mr. Goldberg offers readers his finest chapter. It is a devastating picture of how liberals adopted eugenics — a basic part of Nazi doctrine — which was not, as some liberal intellectuals have argued, an outgrowth of conservative thought. Fans of Margaret Sanger, perhaps the single most important feminist hero of the 20th century, will never be able to think of her in the same way. Mr. Goldberg dissects her hidden views of eugenics. A socialist and birth-control martyr, she favored banning reproduction of the "unfit" and regulation of everyone else's reproduction. She wrote, "More children from the fit, less from the unfit — that is the chief issue of birth control." She opposed the birth of "ill-bred, ill-trained swarms of inferior citizens." Her words reveal her motive in advocacy of birth control. She sought to remove "inferior" people from being born to poor people, whose mothers by definition were "unfit." Sanger's partisans in Planned Parenthood, the group that stemmed from her work, will be shocked to learn that her publication endorsed the Nazi eugenics program, and that Sanger herself "proudly gave a speech to a KKK rally." That was not surprising, since she clearly viewed blacks as inferior. Hence her "Negro Project," in which she sought to urge blacks to adopt birth control.

It is ironic that Sanger is the "founder" of the so-called "pro-choice" movement. As you can imagine, there are a lot of people who do not want this aspect of American history to be widely known. It is amazing how many people are so quick to leap into denial of this history, without even lifting a finger to read any of the original sources.

For a sordid quote from Margaret Sanger, read here.

Other relevant posts are here and here and here and here and here.

Expelled the Movie: New YouTube Clips

Some interesting clips from Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed have now appeared:

Implications of Neo-Darwinism

Genetic Mutation

Origin of Information

and

Why PZ Myers Needs More Government Funding

Expelled the Movie: How Many Theaters?

One Darwinian orthodoxy friendly blogger has been passionately tracking the theater distribution of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. This level of interest in the film (and willingness to do lots of counting) hints at how important this film will end up being.

The initial post (including the title of the post) asks the question:

Is it really going to show in theaters at all on April 18? Or are they just going to continue with these "private screenings" and then go direct to DVD, suitable for church and homeschool distribution?

After several updates, the number went from zero, to 435, to 795. I guess it will be in a few theaters, after all.

Where will it end up on the list of all-time box office numbers for documentaries? That will be fun to watch. My guess is it will end up at #3 or better. Wouldn't it be fun if it ended up at number one?

If you want to help it along, there are some things you can do.