Slavery
Slavery is something that the world does not want to remember or think about anymore because it was far from the proudest moment of any nations history. The depravities that were inflicted upon the defenseless slaves are what we would consider as cruel in the modern world, but they were perfectly acceptable back then due to the pseudoscience of Eugenics. Eugenics basically said that African-Americans were genetically inferior, and as Taylor said classified them as "sub-human".
With this "scientific" justification any type of moral dilemma that could have affected slave owners was squashed before it could begin. Instead the slaves were dehumanized to such an extent that they were thought of as being of the same intelligence and worth as cows and other livestock. It was even suggested by Sir Francis Galton that slave owners should create breeding programs to select for the most desirable traits in a slave.
The "truth" about African-Americans was decided by the powerful white majority and allowed every white person to treat African-Americans however they pleased. The truth also soothed the consciences of every person involved in the transportation, trade, and ownership of slaves. Just as my thesis argues, this truth was not the absolute universal truth about African-Americans, and eventually it was replaced with the truth that African-Americans (as well as other nationalities) are equal with white people because the majority was swayed by a few powerful and persistent voices to accept this new truth.
With this "scientific" justification any type of moral dilemma that could have affected slave owners was squashed before it could begin. Instead the slaves were dehumanized to such an extent that they were thought of as being of the same intelligence and worth as cows and other livestock. It was even suggested by Sir Francis Galton that slave owners should create breeding programs to select for the most desirable traits in a slave.
The "truth" about African-Americans was decided by the powerful white majority and allowed every white person to treat African-Americans however they pleased. The truth also soothed the consciences of every person involved in the transportation, trade, and ownership of slaves. Just as my thesis argues, this truth was not the absolute universal truth about African-Americans, and eventually it was replaced with the truth that African-Americans (as well as other nationalities) are equal with white people because the majority was swayed by a few powerful and persistent voices to accept this new truth.
The Holocaust
The Holocaust is another example from history that shows how the majority (Germany) can be won over to a truth by one persistent and powerful individual (Hitler). Hitler was very smart in the way that he roused the feelings of Antisemitism. He didn't start off saying 'kill all the Jews'. He gained the nations trust, built an infrastructure that would give him the power to reach the entire nation, appealed to the traditional religious hatred of Jews, and he used racial 'science to convince the people of Germany that since it was a fact that they were racially superior to the Jews that they were in the right.
By defining the Jews as their own race and applying the theory of Eugenics Hitler was able to soothe the conscience of the nation to the extent that millions of people willingly committed atrocity after atrocity. Even though Nazi policy was the forced emigration of Jews in the beginning, it morphed into what we know as the Holocaust after this strategy failed. This resulted in the mass murder of Jewish men, women, and children through the use of technological innovations like the gas chamber.
The "truth" of Jewish racial inferiority was forcefully replaced after the loss of World War Two. While there were probably still those that believed in this "truth" it was no longer the chosen truth of German society because it was no longer socially acceptable and therefore had lost the ability to soothe the conscience of the nation.
By defining the Jews as their own race and applying the theory of Eugenics Hitler was able to soothe the conscience of the nation to the extent that millions of people willingly committed atrocity after atrocity. Even though Nazi policy was the forced emigration of Jews in the beginning, it morphed into what we know as the Holocaust after this strategy failed. This resulted in the mass murder of Jewish men, women, and children through the use of technological innovations like the gas chamber.
The "truth" of Jewish racial inferiority was forcefully replaced after the loss of World War Two. While there were probably still those that believed in this "truth" it was no longer the chosen truth of German society because it was no longer socially acceptable and therefore had lost the ability to soothe the conscience of the nation.