“Eugenics” is a problematic word because it’s now associated with involuntary sterilization and Nazis.
Is the association unwarranted? Even when eugenics was very much “a thing” in many Western countries (including, AIUI, the Progressive-era U.S) it always denoted coercive intervention to suppress fertility in the unpopular outgroups du jour.
And apparently, Yvain’s use of this term is what ticked off this person in the first place. We should just stop using it.
No, not unwarranted at all. It’s just that the original definition of the term didn’t include coercion, and some people insist on sticking to this “official” definition, history be damned.
Is the association unwarranted? Even when eugenics was very much “a thing” in many Western countries (including, AIUI, the Progressive-era U.S) it always denoted coercive intervention to suppress fertility in the unpopular outgroups du jour.
And apparently, Yvain’s use of this term is what ticked off this person in the first place. We should just stop using it.
No, not unwarranted at all. It’s just that the original definition of the term didn’t include coercion, and some people insist on sticking to this “official” definition, history be damned.