3rd Reading

       Hello, me here, and welcome back to the weekly grind.

       In the 3rd reading, there is much talk about eugenics, the influence of music, and race. If eugenics is the concept that believes humans should specifically breed with other humans to create a specific race. Now, if this seems familiar to you it may be because this is what humans do to pets, farm animals, and other assortments of animals. This concept, evidently, led to talk about the Holocaust and other “purges” of people.

       Along with this, came the idea of creating humans to perfection as the creator pleases. "With careful, ruthless management the pure stock could be preserved, and inferior races contained, controlled, or extinguished" (181, Aronson). This reminded me heavily of how scientists have begun to study how much of a child's DNA can be controlled. As ten or so years ago, it was known that scientists could use preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to test if a genetic disease would be passed down to your child ("The Need to Regulate 'Designer Babies' "). While this may be nice, especially if you or your parents suffered from a genetic disease, scientists were able to take it a couple steps further. They were able to discover that certain embryos were more prone to a trait than another ("The Need to Regulate 'Designer Babies' "). This means they could specialize their height, hair color, eye color, and other physical features. Stepping away from the timeline, scientists only discovered how to specialize traits for babies 70 or so years later. Just imagining how much influence and power that would have in the 1940s is frightening. It also shows that the concept of creating the “superior person” still exists, whether it is from a good old fashion learning or a genetic change.

       Another point that Aronson writes about is Richard Wagner. If you are interested in classical or opera music like me, you may know him as a composer. However, Aronson brings him into a whole new light. Some people "[...] found inspiration in his powerful operas [...]" (183, Aronson), however, that motivation was to kill people. The most prominent example, even now, is around 1969 when Charles Manson, one of the most televised killers of his time, came into the picture. After he and his followers were caught, the motive behind his many killings was a song: "Helter Skelter" by the Beatles (Berson). It became widely known that his killings were influenced by the song "Helter Skelter", as he thought the Beatles were sending a coded message about the race war he thought about (Berson). Although this shows how much music can influence people, no matter what time period, it also shows that racism still exists. Manson had the belief that blacks and whites should have a race war and fight against each other, this war would be called the Helter Skelter.

      The last point is about how people identify themselves with their race, then versus now. Aronson talks about how "[...] Takao Ozawa, a Japanese man, who had grown up in America [...] argued that his skin color was white [...]" (194, Aronson). In the past, people tried very hard to be white as it symbolized more privilege. Whether it was people whose grandparent was African American but they looked white or if it was a Japanese man who had enough confidence to identify as white. Now, although this may be a special case, we have a person who chose to not identify as white but as black. Rachel Dolezal was born white; however, she decided to identify as black for many years (Karimi). The roles of each race have not necessarily changed, but you still see the dissatisfaction people have with their own lives.

       Overall, these all show that these topics are still relevant today. No matter how many years go on, the topic many evolve slightly but it will continue to have similar concepts.

Works Cited

Berson, Scott. "What Was Helter Skelter, Charles Manson's Doomsday Fantasy?" Miami Herald, 20 Nov. 2017, www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article185581763.html. Accessed 21 Mar. 2019.

Karimi, Faith. "Rachel Dolezal, White Woman Who Portrayed Herself as Black, Accused of Welfare Fraud." CNN, 25 May 2018, www.cnn.com/2018/05/25/us/rachel-dolezal-welfare-fraud-allegations/index.html. Accessed 21 Mar. 2019.

"The Need to Regulate 'Designer Babies.'" Scientific American, www.scientificamerican.com/article/regulate-designer-babies/. Accessed 21 Mar. 2019.