250 Chapter 10
to abortionandassistedsuicideeasilyrisksbecominga socialDarwinistandeugeni-
cist.^100
For the politicallyleft-wingcriticsof laissezfaire,it wasconvenientthat,as Geoffrey
Hodgsonnotices,the eugenicsmovementwasseldom“describedas ‘SocialDarwinism’
untilafterthe SecondWorldWar.”^101 From 1947 to the 1990s,too manyacademicians
convenientlyforgotthat it was the Progressivesand socialists,morethanany free-market-
er, whochampionedeugenicslegislation.Oncetheywereableto stigmatizefree-market
economicsandeugenicslegislationas right-wing,bigotedsocialDarwinism,it became
easyfor suchwritersas LesterThurowto presumethatthe socialDarwinismof free-
marketersinevitablyhadto metamorphoseintothe socialDarwinismof the eugenicists.
In the postwardecadesthe politicalLeftcouldimplicatefree-marketadvocatesas right-
wing,bigotedeugenicistswhileignoringthatthe verysameprogressiveswhoinspired
them,and whomtheycelebratedas the enemiesof socialDarwinismand eugenics—such
as LesterFrankWard—wereactuallysupportiveof the eugenicistmeasuresthatwould
havehorrifiedSpencer.
For suchreasons,the manwhocameup withthe bestdescriptionof the socialDarwin-
ism tag is RobertBannister,whoascertainsit to be a “distortionand exaggeration.. .”^102
He notesinScienceand Myth, “Not onlywas thereno school(or schools)of socialDarwin-
ists,” but throughoutthe twentiethcentury,“the termwasa labelone pinnedon anyone
withwhomone especiallydisagreed.The so-calledconservativesocialDarwinistsof the
1880s(laissez-faireliberals...and the like)were,as socialDarwinists, the inventionof their
opponentsto the left.Eventuallythe labelwasused,not merelyto caricaturethe ‘let-
alone-philosophy’ (as it wastermed),but to denigrateprogramsof otherstateactivists
one happenedto oppose,whetherNewLiberals,fellowsocialists,or eugenicists” (empha-
sis Bannister’s). Unlikeother“labelsthat werealso initiallypejorative,” the socialDarwin-
ist one“is singularin thatvirtuallyno oneadoptedit as a badgeof honor.A social
Darwinist... was somethingthat nobodywantedto be.”^103
Thatwastruefor mostof the 1900s,but it mightnot be trueof a particularfringeof
societyexistingin the twenty-firstcentury.Predictably,schooled—but not necessarily
educated—membersof my generationhaveheardthe contrivedmythof a socialDarwin-
ismmovementthatspurredthe violenceof the Nazis.Strangely,misinterpretingthat
mythas historicalfact,someof the presentage’s alienatedadolescentsbecomefixatedon
Naziparaphernaliaandproclaimthemselvesto be modernpractitionersof the great
socialDarwinisttradition.The teenagedperpetratorsof the 1999ColumbineHighSchool
massacre,EricDavidHarrisandDylanKlebold,exaltedthemselvesas the inheritorsof
the social Darwinism mantle. In his diary Harris penned, “NATURAL SELEC-
TION!!!!!!!!!!![sic;he usedthatmanyexclamationpoints.]... Gettingrid of all the stupid
and weakorganisms.I wishthe governmentwouldjust takeoff everywarninglabel.So
thenall the dumbasseswouldeitherseverelyhurtthemselvesor DIE!”^104 Anotherentry
says,“NATURALSELECTION. Killall retards, people withbra[i]n fuck ups....
Geeeawd!Peoplespendmillionsof dollarson savingthe livesof retards,andwhy?I
don’t buythatshit like ‘oh, he’s my son,though!’ so the fuckwhat,he ain’t normal,kill
him.”^105
In an April26, 1998,entryHarriswrote,“It wouldbe greatif god removedall vaccines
andwarninglables[sic]fromeverythingin the worldandlet naturalselectiontakeits
course.All the fat uglyretardedcrippledstupidfuckheadsin the worldwoulddie, and
oh fuckingwellif a few of the goodguysdie to[o].... Worldwar II [sic]is the last timeI
bet Americawasproudof it self [sic].We beatthe fuckout of the damnzipperheads”—
the Japanese—“and the nazis.We cameback,frombeingbombedand loosing[sic]major
battlesto nukethatlittlepiece[-]of[-]shitisland” nationof Japan“andto takeoverthat
coolplacecalledDeutschland.”^106 Harrisalso wroteelsewherein his journal,“Isn’t Amer-