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The Incredibly Dark Origin of the Terms ‘Idiot’, ‘Imbecile’, and ‘Moron’
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- čas přidán 31. 03. 2022
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Sources:
Straley, Joella, It Took a Eugenicist to Come Up With ‘Moron’, NPR, February 10, 2014, www.npr.org/se...
Goddard, Henry, Who is a Moron? The Scientific Monthly, January 1927, www.jstor.org/...
Scott, Marlena, The Sinister History of the Word “Moron”, Explained, Teen Vogue, September 12, 2017, www.teenvogue....
Samelson, Franz, H.H. Goddard and the Immigrants, American Psychologist, November 1982, www.dropbox.co...
Dakwa, Kwame, The Kallikak Family, Human Intelligence, Fall 2001, web.archive.or...
Boucher, Dave, Tennessee Judge Reprimanded for Order Proposing Less Jail Time for Inmates Who Received Vasectomies, The Tennessean, November 20, 2017, www.tennessean...
Nuwer, Rachel, How a Worm Gave the South a Bad Name, Nova, April 27, 2016, www.pbs.org/wg...
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Hey Simon, did CZcams secretly block people from seeing my comment by tossing it in your spam/vulgarity filter?
I've noticed they do that since the network news and tech companies started hiring intelligence service guys as consultants. Creepy BS.
@Roman Black God is Dead
czcams.com/video/4BuZamufWAs/video.html
What if your an atheist
It is important to put this into perspective. America took 20 million immigrants between 1880 and 1920. Every European and many other countries saw this as an ideal opportunity to dump their prisons, sanitariums and sanatoriums onto ships bound for the USA. A nasty and hateful thing to do. So, the USA had to implement testing at processing centers such as Ellis Island to prevent this criminal and despicable act by other countries. At some points, White Star was taking back up to 30% of immigrants and began to do their own screening in Great Britain before sailing for the USA. As for Eugenics, yet another vestige of the American Democrat party I'm afraid. Slavery. The Confederacy. Segregation. KKayK. Trail of Tears. Anti-Woman's suffrage. Japanese-American Interment. All the handiwork of the Democrat party. We must continue to fight these despicable people who continue to give our country a bad name.
@Roman Black Who says is hasn't? There are literally billions and billions of stars with nearly uncountable numbers of planets. There is life out there, we just have not scene yet because only one planet in our solar system supports it.
There was a parallel philosophy called 'euthenics'. It promoted the idea of human improvement by changing the environment, particularly in the prenatal and early childhood periods. E.g., pure food and water, adequate fresh air and exercise, safe and hygienic living conditions, universal education.
It wasn't nearly as popular as eugenics, because it involved spending money on poor people instead of sterilizing and institutionalizing them.
Wow, I didn't know there was a word for that - thanks for enriching my vocabulary a little! Now I have one more thing to soapbox about :P
@@foobar6345, I am delighted to have done so.
Thanks for sharing this! A video talking about this topic would be awesome.
@@foobar6345 ha! You & me, both! That sounds awesome & I’m mad I never heard of it before today😁.
Sounds like what made peanut allergies explode.
"Cretin" was also a term that was used, as Simon says at the end. While it was supposed to be only applied to iodine-deficient hypothyroidism resulting in mental retardation, the term was used in the case of my brother, born in 1956, who had Down syndrome. There was no schooling for him until 1967. He didn't do well in school, because of his age, and because our parents had been encouraged to believe that it was useless to try and train him. He almost wasn't invited back for the 1968 school year because of behavioral problems, but that summer, I had accidentally taught him how to read on a basic level. This changed everything, and the teachers had him retested. I well remember my mother getting a letter from the state with the testing results. Her mouth quirked in an ironic smile, she said, "Oh, good. The new tests have 'promoted' your brother from a 'cretin' to an 'idiot.'" I saw the letter. My brother did not have iodine-deficient "cretinism," but the state we lived in had applied that label to him.
He talked about that term near the end of the video.
What a troubling story 😞 I'm so sorry for your brother and your parents. That must have been incredibly difficult for everyone involved.
@@karrie7102 He was my bratty older brother, as far as I was concerned. He was also my buddy, when he wasn't teasing me or getting away with stuff. My parents were always worried about what would happen to him after they were gone. And my mom waged a battle against bigots who objected when we'd take him to restaurants with the family -- "What's one of THEM doing here in a nice restaurant like this?" She marched up and said, "He's here to eat a meal, JUST LIKE YOU ARE. We brought him because he's hungry, JUST LIKE EVERYONE HERE IS. Do you have any other idiotic questions?" (This was in 1970.) I did get into fist fights with bullies who teased my brother because he was an "R" word. The nuns would bring my parents in about my behavior, and either my mom or dad would say, "Well, maybe if you punished -- or better yet, educated -- the bullies for calling our son a r*****, then our daughter wouldn't feel compelled to punch the bullies. She's perfectly well behaved otherwise."
@@Berbs73 I did correct my original comment when I heard that. Thanks!
@@clairenollet2389 This was such a wonderful read, thank you for sharing and so glad it has a good ending! I'm a 1-on-1 aide for kids with developmental and/or behavioral problems and have thought about what their lives might have been like in the past. I've also had interest in the history as an answer to people lamenting about how "there's so many more kids with these problems than there used to be."
Well, 1) we have a way higher population so there are more students, period. 2) in the past these kids would have all been lumped under a general mental r******* label from a very young age so, in the "good old days," how many wouldn't have been permitted and encouraged to attend school at all? How many would've been kept hidden in the house all day every day, how many would've been quietly disowned on the streets or at an asylum?
My mom found an old census on Ancestry. Two of our family members, adults and living at the same address as their parents. Under "occupation" was written in "idiot," but there is no further explanation.
It was just a general term meaning the person was mentally retarded, or it could even mean the person was senile and could not take care of them self
It usually was an explanation as to why they were adults but didn’t have jobs. Especially if they were men.
And if they were women it would be an explanation as to why they didn’t work and why they weren’t married. Because an unmarried woman in a poor household should be doing some kind of work, even if just odd jobs or part time, to help the household.
In the trade world we call them "helpers".
One of my relatives is described as an imbecile in the census. I have disabilities and disorders myself and am far past taking offence as it’s pointless so I’ve always seen it as descriptive.
When my mother was in University in the mid-60's she took a biology class where the professor espoused pretty much Hitler level eugenics stating that it would be better to kill babies with any physical deforminities than allow them to live and be a drain on society. That would have been my grandmother who was born with a "withered" arm. She worked until marrying my grandfather and raising a family, including my mom who was a teacher for over 30 years and my uncle who was in the Air Force during the Vietnam War and then became a mail carrier for the USPS. Quite the drain on society.
@rptrm82 You have quite the smooth brain (same with anyone who upvoted you). The professor mentioned ANY physical deformity. So you think even deformities like missing appendages, cleft lips, etc deserve to be killed off?
@rptrm82 yea also one bad arm is fairly low on the “life altering disabilities” scale
STo123 OP didn’t say the professor said “life-altering disabilities”, he said “any physical deformities”.
By the standard of “any physical deformities” I should have been killed as a baby because I have 2 clubbed thumbs.
It’s not a disability and doesn’t hinder my life (much. It does make texting difficult and gloves fit funny, lol) but it’s a physical deformity.
The thing that really killed Eugenics apart from the morality of it is that most of the problems that lead to low intelligence are not caused by genetics at all but developmental problems, or poor schooling, childhood environment, etc. When you see someone with untreated hair lip syndrome it looks horrible but the problem isn't (primarily) genetic, its caused by the foetal environment in the womb during development. Same with things like withered limb syndrome.
On the other side high intelligence and high IQ are also connected to childhood environment and social factors, especially to aspiration and motivation - and luck.
Lucien86 Exactly. Even if eugenics wasn’t unethical af, it makes no sense.
For example, Alexander Graham Bell was an advocate for the sterilization of Deaf people and didn’t want Deaf people to be able to get married to one another.
But 90-95% of Deaf people are born to hearing parents. The vast majority of deafness is acquired, not congenital.
And that was known back then too. These kinds of standards have never made sense.
I do wonder how well Goddard would've done on an intelligence test administered to him in a language he barely spoke...
Maybe the very missing of such an obvious thing as speaking the right language raises doubts about the intelligence of everyone connected to that test.
If he doesn't vote, he's an idiot!
@@Lucien86 IQ tests, when administered properly, are valid, so far as they go.
@@Shoutinthewind I think the point is that they only work properly for someone of the exact same language and culture they are written for.
As someone who's worked on putting real intelligence into machines - I would say that as long as the subject is human culture and development environment have a bigger impact on intelligence than genetics..
@@Shoutinthewind during my time in high school I was given two IQ tests. The first time I scored an 87. Two years later I scored a 112. This isn't supposed to happen as an IQ test is said to be unchangeable. I think they're simply not reliable for a vast number of reasons, an outdated metric for intelligence.
What I'm gathering is that I should be able to say "dumbass" without social reprisal because the accepted terms are disgusting
@@dlversace Which snowflakes will eventually call attention to, and complaining that it's disparaging towards people who cannot talk.
Yet we're able to say these three words currently without people raising as much a fuss, despite the history behind it.
It's so inconsistent and hypocritical.
@@Nevergofullretard321 “we’re allowed to say this word, but I think one day we won’t be allowed to say it, and those people I made up who will stop us are hypocrites because they don’t care about these other words we’re also allowed to say, it’s so inconsistent and hypocritical.”
@@lentlemenproductions770
Learn English.
@@dlversace And as we all know arses can speak quite loudly. ;)
@@Nevergofullretard321 People will probably have to get more creative and invent new words. Like "woke" for example. That's the same as saying cretin or idiot.
The word idiot actually goes all the way back to an old Greek word which meant someone who had no knowledge or concern for public affairs, which in a democratic place like Athens was detrimental to society
It’s still detrimental to society. Some things never change.
It's a bit ironic that, according to the original definition, George Carlin was an idiot. There is, however, a world of difference between not voting for systemic reasons and not voting due to cognitive impairment.
Yep, and that made it a polite, euphemistic way to refer to someone with cognitive problems. Which is why they used it - easier to get away with something truly atrocious if you make it sound nice.
This. This fuck, this!
Funny how apropos that is even today
*”Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize that half of them are stupider than that.”*
-George Carlin
Love George! And he is right. Look at America now and compare it to the beautiful land it once was. But dark science is still scary no doubt
@Defective Degenerate Except not really. Average is a weak metric. Stats generally go for the mean while eliminating outliers.
@@KendraAndTheLaw pretty much the reply I expected after internalizing the point of the quote. Guess which side you land on? There are two types of people in the world; those that can make inferences from partial information.
@Defective Degenerate not really
@@KendraAndTheLaw you do know that george carlin was a comedian and not a statistician, right?
NOW I know why my parents never let me go without shoes, not even in the house. Their constant cry was "You'll get worms!" I still doubt the nice shiny linoleum of the day, or the hand-me-down Persian carpets really carried that much risk, but at least I understand their concern.
Then think about all the people who either didn't have shoes, or had things that used to be shoes but were so worn out they barely did the job. Tragedy all around.
Maybe this explains why wearing shoes in the house is a thing in the States but not Canada. Different climate, different precautions.
I live in Australia and spent much of my youth not wearing shoes. Brought up in the country and never had worms in my life.
@@katherinetutschek4757 lol as an American I feel vulnerable when my shoes are off 🤣 funny but not a lie
I just don't want calluses on my feet because they scratch against my socks and I get a funky sensory issue from that (likely part of my ADHD touch sensory issues). I like my feet baby smooth, tyvm.
Thanks for including Native Americans in the forced sterilization program. This effected my mom. After my brother was born they told her some sort of lie. Years later she found out through some document about ten years later that the surgery was unnecessary in the 1990s. My brother was born in 1985.
Even as dark as it is talk about thank you for making that part of our lives heard and known in some small way
Did my Psychology internship at Northern Wisconsin Center. Learned this and sadly more. Gymnasiums lined with chairs, and stronger patients paid with food, forced others to stay seated; calling it self control therapy.
This makes no sense,without further context.Please explain,as it actually sounds interesting.
@@jeffdroog staff members would give food/candy to stronger higher functioning patients/morons. The morons physically made the idiots or lower functioning people stay seated. This way the staff didn't have to deal with problem people. In the 1930's, this was referred to as self control therapy for the idiots.
Wonder if I know anyone that had a 'stay' there.
I'm sitting here and listening to the abhorrent and disgusting quotes about forced sterilization and how it would benefit "society"...and then I realize that there are elected representatives in our own governments, in 2022, who still hold these beliefs.
@@SioxerNikita rEaL eUgeNiCs hAs NeVeR bEeN tRiEd
@@GeoffBosco What? A) Never said that. B) It has, it's called selective breeding and mass sterilization in the US...
@@SioxerNikita would it really though? Eugenics in the past has targeted groups that are of lower intelligence based off either their mental capacity and/or their upbringing; the latter didn't have the same opportunity to get a respectable education. There are plenty of "dumb" people who just never had a chance. Eugenics would primarily target the poor and lower middle class. As always, the rich would be able to find loopholes, even if they should've been steralized. It's a slippery slope. If you think eugenics could actually work, then you're more naive than I thought.
@@user-vi4xy1jw7e Eugenics as a concept would benefit society... so would world peace... doesn't mean it is realistic...
And if it just targets "the poor" it isn't eugenics anymore. That would be class genocide instead.
The point is, there is no scientific dispute in any way that eugenics would work, and would be societally beneficial overall... but then is it morally and ethically okay though?
That's the different question.
@@SioxerNikita totally disagree that those with moderate learning difficulties should be refused life and punished
How will this improve society
Helen Keller was a supporter of eugenics. Brain Blaze should just do a series on how everyone from the past was an asshole by today's standards.
It's far more likely that today's standards are the assholes.
Off that Helen Keller advocated for eugenics, considering that being blind or deaf was grounds for sterilization. She later recanted her support for eugenics, calling it a huge mistake on her part and horrible thing society embraced.
I know, right?
@rptrm82 Unnatural and unrealistic? I dunno, I feel like not being racist or wanting to euthanize or sterilize people based on poor science or bigotry is a pretty low fucking bar.
@rptrm82 Do you have any friends? You seem very insufferable. Lmao
I can remember when I was a child the slang insult for someone you wanted to call stupid was "crowle". Later (still a child) I realized that there was a local home for intellectually disabled children called Crowle Home and decided it was not an appropriate word and switched to idiot, clown or fool. As an adult I became friends with someone from another city in another state who said they called stupid a stupid person "minda". Again I later learned that in that city there was a home for intellectually disabled people called Minda Home. It made me wonder how many times that connection might be repeated worldwide.
Hell, you could get in trouble almost the same as saying "F*** you" for calling someone stupid when I was a kid. A few years later and it was like being in a "South Park" episode.
People tend to prize their intellect, or lack there of significantly. So being associated with someone that is less intelligent is an insult. So I mean, it is going to have been repeated literally countlessly across the globe. Because we are humans.
@@SioxerNikita yes I think you are probably right.
My mom, currently aged 75, told me about a similar home for intellectually disabled people in the town of American Fork, Utah. When kids did boneheaded or irresponsible things she said it was extremely common for the other kids to say, "Be careful or we'll send you to American Fork!" She said that she didn't even understand the reference until many years later, she just knew that 'American Fork' meant someone was dumb.
It's a euphemism treadmill. Doug Stanhope has a great bit on it.
Thank you for bringing this to more people! Eugenics, and its damage to society has been a part of my research for several decades now, and it never ceases to surprise me how few people have any idea that it happened here.
Please keep up the important work!
A scary point in the Eugenics Movement and Forced Sterilization is a lot of poor women Sterilized tested "normal" or "above average" according to standards at the time, but one or more of their male siblings did not so that male sibling and any female siblings they had would be sterilized since they felt the risk of any female siblings passing on bad genes was too high. It's also pretty scary when you consider a lot of these people sterilized didn't even get sterilized after medical testing but instead were recommended for sterilization by their schools based on observations made by teachers and school officials so there was a lot of room for people to use Eugenics as a weapon to systematically eliminate "undesirable" blood lines or just as a weapon of sheer petty bias and corruption.
Boys were given more education than girls -taught to read, write, do arithmetic, work with tools. But all a girl had to know was how to have sex, give birth, cook, and do housework.
This was so sad and disturbing. The scary part is, there are many people alive today who still agree that some people should be sterilized because of a lack of common sense or intelligence. The truth is, we all have our "idiot" moments and say or do stupid things sometimes.
Thanks for giving us the origin of "grandfathering"; I had no idea it was so awful.
I have a mental illness, and if I had lived in the past, I would almost certainly have ended up in an institution.
This is why mental illness has had such a stigma attached to it in current times. Why ppl have gone to great lengths to hide or deny or not seek treatment. There are reasons for the way things are & they are usually bad reasons😏. I didn’t know that about “grandfathering in” either. So gross.
Having an "idiot" moment isn't the same as being an idiot though!!!
@@jiggely_spears sterilizing them won't do anything because mental disabilities usually occur naturally by birth defects. You'd have to keep sterilizing people forever so it defeats the purpose.
Thousands of years ago, an idiot would be killed because they were not fit to survive. Now they survive because society allows, not only that, but they breed faster than intelligent people. We have essentially stopped evolution, and that isnt a good thing. Our species will peak in intelligence, then the mean IQ will start dropping, as number of children is directly tied to IQ.
You should have to earn your right to reproduce.
@@pliat That's an awful thing to say. Just because someone isn't smart doesn't mean they are worthless, and it doesn't mean they cannot have offspring who are intelligent. I feel sorry for you.
If one thing can be said, my use of the words Moron, imbecile, and idiot, shall be used more accurately from now on.
I will stop using "moron" and "imbecile", and start using "idiot" more frequently...
Will you be using every word in the English language as it was originally intended? You’ve got quite a bit of learning to do if so.
@@dwayne_dibley "If you don't vote, you're an idiot" still rolls off the tongue just fine.
This was a really excellent episode. I love/hate it when I learn something that changes how I view the world a bit. Learning facts like the prevalence of hookworm in the south in the not so distant past really gives you that “holt crap” moment when you start to understand why some people might be the way they are. The more videos I watched, the easier the world becomes to understand, and the harder it becomes to tolerate.
Bonus: I answered the question about what causes cretinism like I was playing a game show and I’m 100% certain I learned that from Simon. Look at them gains 🧠
I had hookworm for a year as a kid. It was absolutely awful. You can see them moving under your skin, and it was hard to sleep with the incessant itching. My dad took a knife to his foot one day to try to pry them out, but they moved too fast. That's not a good memory.
It's truly amazing what some people will do to "prove" that other races or nationalities are inherently "lesser" - especially the "others" who were poor, ill-educated, malnourished, or suffered the misfortune of having the "wrong" accent or skin colour. Great way to feel smug about having a "scientific basis" for racism and xenophobia.
Thanks for including the origins of the words.
It is an excuse that sadly has resulted in slavery and genocide
@@scottessery100 And still is today...
Amazing the hoops people will jump through to disprove that no one is equal to anyone. Equal is not a possibility, equality of outcome can never be guaranteed only equality of opportunity.
Thank you, Simon
For many years I believed I was an imbecile but after watching this I think I am more of a moron
Self-deprecating humor! It's the best kind. I love it.
That's why it's good to do research because you often learn things that make you feel better about yourself, at least in some small way.
I learned these had been official terms in the past when I applied for temporary residence in Botswana ~14 years ago. I had to take a form to a doctor there to get a clean bill of health. As the doctor went down the form, he raised his eyebrows and said "it says here I'm supposed to find out if you're an idiot, imbecile, or moron." I said I didn't think I was any of those. He checked it off and moved on. Botswana had simply copied many of the forms from the British colonizers, and they clearly hadn't updated this one for decades.
I would of admited to being all of them
@@edgarloike Given that they are mutually exclusive in the "science" admitting to being all of them probably would have been enough to get you classified as one of them.
Similar to the US immigration question "Are you a terrorist?"
I would have said, "It depends on how much coffee I've had."
@@edgarloike I believe you 😂
Never knew that’s where the term “grandfathered in” meant. Yikes. They were really creative in how they created laws to disparage groups of people.
It hasn't changed. They still do it.
The key word is "group" governments love to identify individuals as part of a group. Easier to control.
@@mrtlsimon Exactly! Still at it & still exceedingly good at it😔. That is NOT a complement☹️.
Ya'll are aware that "Planned Parenthood" was founded by Margaret Sanger a Progressive. The Nazi officials were in awe of the Eugenics being instituted by the Progressives (Democrats). This is a good place to remind everyone that Hillary Clinton is a Progressive. Planed Parenthood still has more "clinics" in "minority" communities. Could be that "Progressive" are still trying to carry out Eugenics with propaganda to discourage people "breeding" they find undesirable.
Yes, Democrats did that.
I have so much to say about this video I feel like I need to make a video in response. I am from Oklahoma and I have never heard about the Skinner V Oklahoma case, that tells you a little bit about this state's education system. Also, etymology is one of my passions and I have been working for weeks trying to come up with an origin for words like idiot, moron, stupid and others. My conclusions for the linguistic etymology was correct but according to you my vernacular etymology was slightly off. It feels so amazing to have you confirm my theories and educate me at the same time. Thank you for this video.
You are required in all educational systems to do some research on your own. It cannot teach everyone everything. It can try to teach you to be a lifelong learner.
I recommend the book “She Has Her Mother’s Laugh”. Fantastic book that covers this topic as a part of the history of how heredity and genetics were formed.
My twin and I started kindergarten in 1997. Before the school year started, there was an evaluation done on all the children. My sister and I were (and still are, but to a significantly lesser degree) very shy and were afraid to talk to strangers. When we were finally encouraged to talk to the teachers conducting the test, we answered every question correctly, except two. We both mixed up where our wrists and waists were. The words are similar; it wouldn’t surprise me if many children made the same mistake. However, they told my parents that we should be held back one year to build our social skills. My mom scoffed and said, “These girls could count to 200 when they were two years old. Put them in school this year and I guarantee you will see them on the honor roll every single year.” Lo and behold, our mom wasn’t wrong. We were on the honor roll every year, our IQ’s are about 130, and we built our social skills just fine by being in school with kids our age. Those administrators were definitely wrong. I understand the need to gauge a child’s ability to learn and comprehend so that mental issues can be targeted and helped early on in a child’s life, but they surely have their flaws.
If we had been children back in the days of eugenics, we probably would have been deemed undesirable because of our health issues. We had digestive issues starting in infancy that we still have today. We both have a seizure disorder (but mine are significantly worse and frequent enough to warrant an epilepsy diagnosis). We both have fibromyalgia (she had it as a teenager and I developed it in adulthood. She has a diagnosed panic disorder and I have diagnosed OCD. These are all traits that those eugenic maniacs would have wanted eradicated. But we’re both still here, being productive members of society. We’re just two of many examples of the middle finger to eugenics. F them!
FYI: "stupidity" was a psychiatric term back in the dark days of asylums and pseudoscience as well. Many people were locked up for having "medical" cases of stupidity
"Retarded" from the French word retard, meaning late or behind. The word, in and of itself, isn't wrong, it the way people weaponize it, is considered rude.
And yet these three words originally didn't mean directly mean unintelligent.
But only due to its misuse did it become a synonym for unintelligent.
R***d(sometimes it gets auto deleted) also applies. It also means slow or to delay and is related to the Spanish word "tarde" and the English word "tardy". But due to its misuse, it will soon become another synonym for unintelligent.
The words idiot and imbecile pre-date the use as medical terms, and the concept of eugenics. Origin fail.
He explains the origin of the word idiot comes from Greece essentially meaning someone who doesn’t have knowledge of public affairs. Great observation though as the title is misleading. A better one would have been something like, “ The Incredibly Dark Pseudo-Modern Uses of Idiot, Imbecile, and Moron” Doesn’t really roll off the tongue though.
@@principemike9 "If you don't vote, you're an idiot!"
@@principemike9 Pseudo-Modern? Why not just modern?
Did you just unironically type “Origin Fail”?
"The past was the worst." - Simon Whistler.
I just noticed that Goddard guy looks like he could be a direct ancestor of the Army colonel in Idiocracy who was running the hibernation project.
And let's not forget Margaret Sanger whose legacy still lives on in Planned Parenthood.
The statement that appears in one of the pictures seems to be apt;
"Some people are born to be a burden on the rest."
And those people are called "politicians"... :P
As much as I agree with you, I have to ask what a governmental system requiring leaders be devised in the absence of “politicians”?
@@gottasay4766 Those with "elders" giving the wisdom of their experience?
Simon's videos are so informative. I have learned so much from all of his different channels. This video is one of his best yet.
An interesting bit related to that vignette at the end about hookworms: I grew up in Mississippi where the idea of hookworms are still in the zeitgeist. I still have a strong memory of being maybe five or six years old, playing barefoot in the dirt (Mississippi, remember? We're fucking poor) and my grandma came strutting out of the house yelling at me about how "you'll git werms if you don't put yer damn shoes on!" That was just a single time out of more than I could ever remember that someone warned myself or another kid about worms in the dirt. "Don't chew your fingernails, you'll get worms that way!" "Get that out of your mouth- you'll get worms!" I never understood what the obsession was until I saw this video the other day and started doing a little research. Apparently, the obsession with worms comes from public health measures that were specifically targeted at eliminating hookworm infections.
Sounds like the views of my coach in high school. He was also a Michigan State Police trooper (senior officer of his post) and has went on to be a county commissioner... And, yes, in the 1980s was when I was in high school. And his opinion doesn't seem to have changed...
This didn't change my opinion at all. Just because they were used in a bad thing doesn't mean someone can't be a moron. Nobody uses it as a categorical measurement, it means they're dumb.
You definitely don’t come across as a person who’d let something like facts change your mind
@@dinkyboss I don't even know how this should change my mind. Common parlance doesn't imply that the person should be euthanized because they said or did something stupid. They're synonymous with dumb these days. This is the origin of the word, using it today doesn't have anything to do with its origin. Again when I say something is moronic, I'm not saying that it falls into a category used by eugenisists. It means that particular thing or idea is flawed.
@@dinkyboss Well words and their meaning can change over time. For example most people probably did not know the history he talked about in this video. So for them these words are just things you say to call someone ''Dumb'' and not to make fun of someone that has a disability(most of the time)
It also means you are dumb. Funny how that works. You are guilty of what you accuse them of being.
I'm just waiting for when people start yelling at each other on the internet about how idiot is a slur now. Getting the popcorn ready
Thanks for making such great videos. Glad to know that more people will learn about the United States' scarier history.
My mother told me how they treated Southern Italians when we arrived in this country. She said never to listen to those who demeaned my family's origins and to study Italian culture and history to know who I really was. She had rickets during WWI in Italy, by the way. They nearly starved to death.
It is a supreme smug kind of arrogance to see someone who has suffered awful hardships and think their IQ is what is normal for their ancestors and descendants. We don't know what we can become until we work at self education and gaining skills through hard work.
We look back at what the" learned" and "educated" of a hundred years ago thought and believed and think them misguided and stupid. I expect that 100 years in the future, they will look back on the experts of today and say the same things.
I'm certain they will yes.
@@jamesjohnston9319 Transgender experts?
Agreed. If you think about what was "known" about genetics at the time, the conclusions they drew were not entirely outlandish.
@@jamesjohnston9319 what are you trying to say
@@kellyalvarado6533 but they are. Those with normal intelligence can end up at university or those with 120 + can be labours
Nature and nurture
“Refused entry due to feeble mindedness.” 😂
Everyone's against eugenics but then the same people fully accept idiocracy is becoming manifest....
I know that this is serious, but I can't help but chuckle whenever you say that Goddard was afraid there would soon be a lot of morons in America
Yep Goddard was a prophet ir seems. It's just that the whole world is full of them thanks to internet and phones.
As someone with a disability that MIGHT be genetic (and even if it is, it's unlikely to be a high chance of passing it on), neither I, nor my close family can donate our eggs or sperm (in the UK), despite a great need for donated eggs. While no one can stop me having children if I want them (I don't, which is why I looked into egg donation, and I wouldn't be able to afford children), this definitely feels like eugenics, especially as it includes disabilities such as Autism. Yes, my genes might pass on my disability, but, likewise, they might not, and those desperate for children don't even have the option of having a child who has a similar risk of disability as anyone else naturally conceiving, instead of no child.
The eradication of downs has always had a repugnant smell of eugenics about it to me.
@@eanettecurtain4267 I can't speak about downs, but if I knew there was a high chance my potential baby was going to be severely disabled like I am, I wouldn't even consider passing it on. However, this is super confusing for me as while I don't want anyone to have to live the life I do, the idea of eradicating disabled people to make the rest of society feel better about themselves shouldn't be allowed to happen.
@@anyawillowfan I’ve come to realise it’s ultimately down to the mother and some extent the father of said baby to decide. The argument that it’s best for society is disingenuous which masks cost cutting and ideological narcissism.
Thank you, Simon.
LMAO, at 6:43 CC calls Goddard 'Gonad'. FITTING!
I think it would be cool if Simon (also George) did an episode on the history of Chinese transliteration. They touched on it on the last Casual Criminalist “Cheung Tze Keung” and it was fascinating!
Well, this explains why the classic science fiction book is the March of the Morons rather than idiots or imbeciles. If you want to read a story on a similar but modern theme, I recommend Paolo Bacigalupi’s Pump Six.
"Millions of immigrants streaming in every year" He says this like its normal.
Whenever there is upheaval in Europe, it is normal.
Any medical term describing one of lower intelligence will inevitably be used as an insult. Once used as an insult, those with hurt feelings, either for themselves or for others, will work to ban the term, resulting in the need for a new term. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Throughout human history, taking care of “less than normal” people is a relatively new phenomenon.
We're fighting natural selection,slowing our evolution, and tainting the gene pool for...people's feelings! Yay?
I wonder if it's the other way around - feels like capitalism benefits from the ideas of eugenics more than a pre-capitalist society would
So basically what you are saying is that we have finally become compassionate as humans.
Yeah no one could afford to care for someone incapable of taking care of themselves.
@@rolandtowen2595 it’s definitely not the other way around, ancient civilization would just discard babies that looked abnormal and children that didn’t “function” correctly were abandoned to die because people didn’t have the resources to care for someone that didn’t contribute to the families survival.
Since history tends to repeat itself I’m pretty sure Eugenics will be back one day.
I believe Margret Sangers contribution to eugenics deserves a mention.
Jokes on him cause I have a really high IQ AND ADHD. 😂
Me too! Plus autism. I like to refer to myself as a "right spastic".
People with mental disorders are as smart or dumb as anyone else most og the time lol
When what were intended to be medical terms (albeit clumsy ones) are turned to othering and degrading people...sigh.
Is still happening, we switched from " imbecil/ debiel" to 'mongool' and when that term also became used as an insult they are now known as 'Downs syndrome people' so now we start to use "you are such a Downy" as well as "you are being a moron" ... so I am curious how they will categorize that group as next...
(I am Dutch, I am told we use more diseases as swearwords than any other country, so any ancient/old medical term will do, I guess?)
The whole culture of "words hurt" is such a wimpy, self serving concept. Allowing others to control your emotions should be weaned out by the time you're 10 or so if you have logical parents.
@@RandysRides- Some people don't have the support to develop that ability.
@@julietfischer5056 If they have support from family or friends, they should help them in that regard, instead of giving them false illusions.
When did 'mouth breather' come into the equation?
Those "idiots and morons" ended up taking non-immigrant jobs and lowered wages across all academia, industries, foundations & economic sectors.
People really be out here in 2022 saying eugenics is fine. 😳
Some people say Nazism is fine too, just ignore those idiots
If it's deemed helpful to the cultural revolution, then it will be declared fine - and you'll swear you never said any different.
@@eadweard. Sorry, if there's a cultural revolution that involves culling...anyone...I definitely won't be participating 😕 it's a pretty morally clear stance for me, personally.
What cultural revolution are you talking about? 😵💫
@@staytuned2L337 He's a right-wing nutjob. Don't mind him.
@@MayTheSchwartzBeWithYou Basically correct.
But was Goddard wrong? Or is the truth just uncomfortable?
So the idea, "you can't fix stupid." Should be followed by, "its against the law."
Very interesting. Thank you !
FMU (former maternal unit) and family doctor went to court in an effort to sterilize my then 14 year old, slightly developmentally disabled sister. This was around 1985. Judge refused, fortunately. FMU informed me of this in my early teens. I still hate her for it over 30 years later. Sister went on to have a son with ASD but she raised him on her own. The golden child has been on and off meth for 25 years, in and out of prison. FMU raised her 2 children.
What I got out of this: to maximize the growth of IQ within a population: solve for an increase in genetic diversity, accessibility/quality of nutritional foods, and systems to facilitate the development of self awareness/critical thinking. (Since our current educational systems do not)
Diversity is not our strength.
And teach civics, and vote as informed citizens, because if you don't vote, you're an idiot!
Why does it say 2 comments yet no comments show?
@@Itistobe the comments section here isn't the best. If it makes you feel any better that missing comments thing happens a lot here for me too. I go to click on it and the comments just aren't there. Or maybe there's one.
@@1pcfred Perhaps they were reported and removed. Consider yourself lucky you missed reading them.
Henry Herbert Goddard invented the word "Moron" here on my hometown of Vineland.
Love it when the pot calls the kettle an idiot after dedicating it's entire life to an irrational fallacy.
I bet he'd love Rick and Morty
The terrifying thing about eugenics isn't that it's wrong, it's that it is perfectly sound.
We could TOTALLY engineer our species through selective breeding.
That is horrifying, especially as our manipulations in other species tend to have extremely mixed results. Sure we can select for traits we want, but there tends to be an AWFUL lot of unintended baggage.
That, and the fact that cultural bias would inform so much of the process. I think anyone with even a basic understanding of history can point to many great minds who have contributed enormous value ALSO possessed "undesirable traits" (the rather close association of genius and madness, the substance abuse that tends to infect creative arts, the extraordinary people with physical disabilities. All would be sacrificed on the alter of "improvement")
Whoever does the selecting chooses themselves. It is wrong to grant dominion because it is abused.
@@MaxBrix
Obviously.
And yet the principle is still sound.
THAT is, I maintain, terrifying.
I know I wouldn't be selected, I'm scrawny & was a sickly child & depression runs in my family.
But things would inadvertently be lost as we selected away from diversity. Think of all the brilliant minds or fantastic contributions made by people with objectively undesirable traits. Physical disability or mental illness are not things any sane person would wish on another, & yet both have been possessed by some of the best humans to have lived & all would be sacrificed on the alter of some supposed perfection defined by whoever held the power to enforce their will.
Terrifying.
My IQ is above average but I act stupid moat of the time and have myriad mental disorders. These guys would be confused by me lol
I feel you. It is one of the reasons I think IQ's don't mean a thing.
They didn't care WHY people were a higher or lower social class (money, intelligence, opportunity, race, etc.) just that they WERE a higher or lower class. We still evaluate people today based on a lot of traits and probably always will. That's part of being human or even being an animal, to assess who it is you're dealing with every day. It's especially helpful when dealing with the general public in your job.
Now I can't get the Cher song out of my head "Gypsies, tramps and thieves,,," lol
I work with kids on the autism spectrum, and I have six year olds with no verbal skills, outbursts of aggression, self injurious behavior, and myriad of other social deficiencies. Yet, each one of my "kiddos", are awesome and loveable. I can't imagine eugenics being done to any of them.
It’s a judgment of weather disabled people have the same rights as everyone
Or those with disabilities use resources that make the majority have a harder life
It’s an excuse for discrimination of those with less agency
People say that just by looking at me they can tell I'm "special".😃👍
"Wanderers, tramps, and truants," was actually Cher's first draft
Interesting fact “Moron” means “carrot” in Welsh :-)
so today you found that out as well!
One of the numerous reasons disabled people are wary of medical professionals.
Alongside the old thought that “autistic children can’t feel pain” and constant trauma from being gaslit by many, many doctors by the time we get a formal diagnosis/treatment plan (often).
We are also often told our “mental age” as if we aren’t adults with the exact same number of years as everyone else with our chronological age! We may learn differently, have different priorities or need more time or support, but we are all our own age. Not some magical number pulled out of the air.
Eugenics is so widely accepted even by regular folks in society now. Ableism is going strong despite improvements and campaigning.
No one ever said autistics can't feel pain.
@@eadweard. untrue, many doctors in the past were under this illusion.
@eb You are incorrect sir. Some people are jerks, and they have said that.
@@eadweard. Sadly, there is a history of things like that being claimed. And not only people on the Autistic spectrum, all kinds and groups of people who were already being dehumanized had been claimed to not perceive pain. Heck, there was a time, doctors thought newborn children don't perceive pain, and had some horrible stuff done to them.
Also somewhat related, many people still believe that animals cannot feel pain.
@@sertaki There might be things "like that" being claimed (whatever that means). But no one said autistics can't feel pain.
Didn't know about the "hookworm" and effect on rural Southerners. It explains the reprehensible stereotypes of "Southern" or "Rural" ignorance that I find so _irritating!_
Born in the North, raised in the South, and personally knowing both rich and poor, black and white, country and city people of "The South"... they've unjustly gotten a bad rap. In large part, due to parasites!
A lot of it was cultural in the south rather than hookworm.. At least back in the old days where the stereotypes were born..
@@dannicatzer305 The same stereotypes existed in the North as well... and many originated there. Which is why they had a "NIMBY" attitude. Free blacks in the South, but keep 'em out of the North, "Sundown" laws. Midwestern states had laws prohibiting blacks from living there, not so in the South.
@@dannicatzer305 Sorry, I just re-read your comment and realized... the "hookworm" infestation had an effect on intelligence and ignorance of the population (all races) and contributed to the *IGNORANT SOUTHERNERS* or *COUNTRY FOLK* stereotypes.... That is the point of my original comment... nothing to do with race or culture. Purely medical. Sorry if I wasn't clear on that point.
@@sproctor1958 I did reply, dont know what's been happening with comments the last week or so whole conversations are being ghosted all over the place.. I think youtube is just deleting anything that isn't 100% vanilla..
@@dannicatzer305 And, now, my comment about the "missing comments" doesn't show up.
Yeah, YT is broken... more than normal.
My niece who is Down's Syndrome was born in 1990 (in the UK). Like many of those who have 43 chromosomes, rather than 42, she had a defective heart and had to have major heart surgery when she was only a year old. This would not have happened if she had been born only a few years earlier since the lives of those with Down's Syndrome (and other disabilities too no doubt) were not considered valid enough for them to be helped by costly medical intervention so most of them died by their 20s or 30s, whereas they can live into their 50s or more if they receive the same treatment which other human beings would take for granted. The advances in testing foetuses for various disabilities, or serious medical conditions, without those tests carrying a very high risk of miscarriage, means parents now have the choice (depending on where in the world they live) to terminate those lives during pregnancy. I am not saying this because I am 'pro-life' (since I am pro-choice and had an abortion myself when I was 20) but to point out that it is an ongoing (more subtle) form of (pre-natal) eugenics that is now prevalent throughout (mainly the wealthier parts of) society. I was scared that this would mean a reduction in the services available to my niece as she grew up because it would lead to a huge drop in the number of people being born with Down's Syndrome - I don't know what the latest figures are but when I looked at them about 10 years ago the number of those born with Down's Syndrome had actually stayed exactly the same (about 0.01 of the global population, if I remember rightly) because although many parents undoubtedly choose to terminate those pregnancies, that has been balanced by a growing societal understanding and acceptance of their capabilities (when given equal opportunities), and the fact that many women now have the choice to delay pregnancy until they are older and financially better off and consequently choose not to terminate those pregnancies! Though it's a bit of a myth that babies who are Down's are only born to older mothers (20% of them have mothers older than 40 but 80% therefore have mothers who are younger than 40).
Thank you for making even the most boring crap sound interesting.
I love listing to you talk. In my opinion you are the best presenter out there,keep up the good work.
Love you,Judi Slone.
I have never forgotten the teenage, developmentally disabled boy who came into the library I was working at in the mid-1980s crying because he'd been told he was going to be sterialized. We tried to console him by telling him he could challenge that and where he could find help. This was in Seattle.
What absolute twaddle.
@@eadweard.- Hey, edgelord, this shit happened, and there are people who want it to resume. Entire books have been written on this. Just because you don't want to accept it doesn't change the facts.
@@julietfischer5056 No. Enforced sterilisation in mid-80s Seattle did not happen. The very idea is deranged, ahistorical nonsense.
@@eadweard.- It happened around the country, for decades. Or is Seattle your only reality?
@@julietfischer5056 It was the OP who mentioned Seattle, not me.
Idiocracy is the truth and all we need to know
Aside of the horrible categories that I have tried to exorcise from my language, I just learned where “grandfather clause” which I had never heard. Striking that out of my conversation.
A video about morons on 1st April. Thank you good sir.
A commonly used book to justify included descriptions of various "races", and included that they were inferior to Whites in general. However, it was widely overlooked that he also wrote that while there were general trends between races, they did not apply to any individual, and that any particular individual if any group might very well be well above the average White man. While the theory on racial superiority was widely embraced, the part about not applying the general trends to an individual was widely ignored.
White men can't play basketball. White girls can't dance.
The meaning of many words has changed over time. If I use these words I’m certainly not suggesting someone is disabled or mentally ill, as I’m sure most people who use them aren’t. Silly and awful used to be complimentary, nice used to mean foolish and to quell someone meant to kill them. The meaning of words changes over time. Stop looking for offence where there usually is none.
Your comments are indicative of a gay personality!
@@nicolasuribestanko clever
Why do want to say hurtful things so badly?
Imo the best way to call someone dumb is to tell them the couldn't get water out of a bucket even if the instructions were written on the underside
I read long ago that breeding is a zero sum game: if you breed only for a single characteristic, you lose control of all other characteristics which slowly begin to drift out of control. Even simple livestock have competing different goals (milk and beef for cattle, egg laying and drumsticks for chickens), and breeders may not want other characteristics to drift, such as skin/fur color, horns, general health, growth patterns, etc.
Aside from the morality of our elite betters choosing how the great unwashed masses breed, humans simply have more "useful" characteristics than farm animals, and there is no way you could breed out criminality, adultery, alcoholism, and countless other "undesirable" traits. But the allure of eugenics has never died out, and the ability to edit genes has already begun to eliminate congenital defects. I won't be surprised if it extends to addiction, creativity, obedience, political leanings, sexuality, skin color, height, appearance, and every other trait parents worry about, regardless of how well any such genes are actually identified.
NORDVPN a way for Russia to get around sanctions.....lol
Good. Fuck US imperialism.
With giving your every move to the cia
Anyone remember the French President calling W an imbecile?
My grandfather served in the Navy in WW II as a radioman for a Carrier Fleet in the Pacific. He found later that he'd been classified as a Constitutional Psychopathic Inferior. This was Military terminology for "Do Not Promote To Officer Rank". Charming, hm?
No one remembers, because it was Francoise Ducros, Canadian aide to the prime minister who insulted him and actually called him a "moron."
Now after this faux pas, your point?
No? Who called him an imbecile?
Well this video does explain why folks are so stupid & things are so messed up these days, and it only took 20-30 years to take effect.
Eventually we're going to run out of words if you keep getting offended by clinical terms
Thanks for a not April fools video
Isn't it also considered eugenics when a people abort unborn humans with suboptimal genetic profiles (suboptimal being culturally subjective and all)?
Simon, why don't you have a poster copy of the art piece, " Whistler's Mother ", in your background?
Good one, Simon. Good one.
I reject the proposition that the etymology of words dictates how or when those words may be used within a contemporary context, particularly when used as a 'colloquial' expression. Words like 'idiot', 'moron' or 'cretin' as expressed within the modern lexicon have different usages to their etymological meanings and ought not be interpreted as holding true to their original 'diagnostic' definitions for the purpose of determining an accurate assessment of someone's abilities, or lack thereof.
You may be right to an extent, but it doesn’t hurt to know & consider from where & how these words emerged. There are still ppl alive who may have been subject to the original meaning of these words. They &/or their loved ones could be hurt by having one of these words hurled at them. Being aware makes us more considerate neighbors in a world we must share with each other. Best wishes❤️🩹.
@@tanyawade5197 I'm all for _understanding_ the origins of words and for giving consideration for their judicial application in different contexts. What I'm objecting to is the purist position that words have meanings which do not change, as opposed to words having usages which do change over generations, through cultural shift, reclamation and repurposing.
For example; where I live, the Disability Discrimination Act (1992) makes it unlawful to _impute_ a disability to a person, but to call them an 'idiot' is not unlawful, because the term is not considered a diagnostic term of intellectual disability as it once was.
@@anserbauer309 Very good point👍🏽.
Someone needs to re-watch "Idiocracy." ;-)
I was told a Cretin was from Crete and Cretins got a reputation for being "cultureless" by their neighbors.
People over the years have come up with so many genuinely scary things that I don't doubt the existence of evil in the least.
Good thing eugenics totally isn’t happening today. 😉
lol , love your sarcasm :)