Science with a Racial Slant

Science can easily be manipulated and used for negative purposes, because no one really knows the absolute answers. A new discovery always comes up, and while one can think they know the scientific cure it can always change. For this reason, it can be taken and used for propaganda purposes. It has legitimacy, even though it is still this unknown aspect of civilization. The Nazis used “scientific” explanations to demonstrate why Jews, Gypsies and other groups of people were inferior to the Aryan race. Physicians would measure the eyes, skulls and noses of the Jewish people in order to measure what they said was the Jewish intelligence. They also did very torturous experiments on woman and twins. They basically used Jews as guinea pigs in order to look for new discoveries, and perhaps find more differences between the Jews and the Aryans. The public associates doctors with honesty and having a desire for the common good, so by having a doctor talk about the deficiencies in the Jewish race, the public believed it.

This was also taught in school, thus young kids believed in the inferiority of the Jewish race when they heard scientific research demonstrated it. Putting a racial slant on science has been a common technique throughout history in order to alienate a group of people whether by religion, race, or nationality. It was used against Africans to encourage slavery and make it ok to treat them as less than human. It was used with African tribes in Rwanda and it is still used today in other milder forms. We must always remember that while science contains what are called facts, the answers are never totally absolute since science is beyond human control and can only be studied from a distance. It is a dangerous thing when its’ legitimacy is used to reaffirm pre-existing racist values.