Harkness – MacGillivray Stories

Thomas Jefferson wrote the U.S Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was inspired by America’s struggle to escape the yoke of British imperial rule. It is still, in theory, one of the founding pillars of American society; however, it is not of the ‘privileged-wracked’ British society. Furthermore, it is only a ‘theory’, because the ‘theory’ does not reflect practice. How do we both prove that there in fact is equality given the state of things as of late?

The USA is also a ‘class society’ in many ways. People are stratified into privileged and under-privileged classes due to various factors. Some of those are the forces of capital, skewed government, history, ethnic and gender belonging, and etc. Yes, people may be ‘born’ equal, but this moment of equality lasts perhaps only a few seconds after a mother gives birth. Of course, this is hardly true either. Is the child of a heroin addict born in a charity hospital in an American slum ‘equal’ to the child of a rich mother born in a costly private hospital? I don’t think so.

Social Mechanisms

People are separated into classes due to many social mechanisms. One may ask, why do the rich and powerful go to so much trouble to make sure that the social mechanisms are operative?

Obviously, certain social mechanisms serve the interests of the rich and powerful. These social mechanisms are also needed to maintain power and privilege, lack of change, and near-zero level upward social mobility in such a society.

One example is the discriminatory practices in education. According to Ainley, this is clearly evident in American society; good higher education is very expensive, and usually requires that one has well-off parents (2014; 2016).²⁴⁸ 

On the other hand, one cannot help but mention the fact that language functions as a straitjacket on ‘free thought’. In other words, our ‘prejudiced’ mother tongue controls the way we think. Of course, this is nothing new. People try to change words that discriminate against genders and ethnic groups as well as other social groups. But language does not consist of isolated words. Language is a complex network of ideas related to culture. Thus, you are not going to ‘liberate’ language and culture by changing a few words.  

Genetic Engineering

We are perhaps progressing forward into a world where a complicated operative system of social mechanisms isn’t needed anymore to ensure that the rich and privileged classes maintain their dominant position. Due to scientific progress in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and genetic engineering, we can envision a future where children will be further differentiated according to the wealth of their parents. Such a future scenario is skilfully depicted by Erik Sherman in the Forbes magazine: 

“Early this month, scientists announced that they had edited genes in a human embryo to remove a disease-causing mutation. The work was astounding and the answer to prayers of many parents. Who wouldn’t want a chance to prevent what would now be needless suffering by their children? But that wouldn’t be the end of it. Many parents would want to ensure their children had the best of advantages through genetic improvement. Those with means could obtain them” (2018).²⁵¹ 

Brave New World ²⁴⁹²⁵⁰

Just like how wealthy parents today pay for a better future for their children by sending them to expensive schools and colleges; in the future, they will be in a position to ensure a better life for their children already in the embryo stage of life. Of course, this technology will not only be related to a child’s future health. It also extends to their physical and mental capacities. In other words, scientific ‘progress’ will enable the creation of a ‘super caste’. This was already envisioned and implemented by the German Nazis in their Lebensborn programme.²⁵²

Sherman further explains: 

“Such improvements would certainly include physical characteristics because they can affect success. For example, taller people tend to be more financially successful in life. One study showed that over a 30-year career, a six-foot tall person would make $166,000 more than someone five-foot five-inches. 

Almost all Fortune 500 CEOs are at least six-foot two-inches tall, even though that is true of only 3.9% of the population. Families far from the upper caste are unlikely to have the funds to indulge in such treatments (for their children). It will be the wealthiest who do, just as they already do. The result could become a Huxley-like dystopia with a class structure even more rigid than today.

In ‘Brave New World’, it was the intentional reduction in mental and physical abilities that created the alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and epsilon categories of humans. We already countenance wide disparities in educational and cultural resources based on income. This makes it more difficult for people to move out of a lower economic background. Manipulating the innate abilities of those with the most would additionally extend the differentiation and the advantage.”²⁵³

I talk more about the inequality seen in the educational system on this post: Private and Public Schools in Post-war Britain.

Sources

²⁴⁸ The development and costs of private schools and private universities in the United States are discussed in detail in an article in the conservative magazine “The Atlantic” in 2021 (Flanagan, 2021).

²⁴⁹ Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. 1932.

²⁵⁰ ‘Bokanovsky’s Process’ – see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokanovsky%27s_Process Read: 24 November 2012.

²⁵¹ Erik Sherman: “Genetic Engineering Will Make Income Inequality Much Worse,” https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman/2017/08/20/genetic-engineering-will-make-income-inequality-much-worse/?sh=2d96899d3d75 Read: 24 November 2021.

²⁵² The Lebensborn programme was a state-supported association in Nazi Germany with the goal of raising the birth rate of Aryan children of people classified as ‘racially pure’ and ‘healthy’ based on Nazi racial hygiene and health ideology. (…) Lebensborn provided welfare to its mostly unmarried mothers, encouraged anonymous births by unmarried women at their maternity homes, and mediated adoption of these children by likewise ‘racially pure’ and ‘healthy’ parents, particularly SS members and their families.
The Cross of Honour of the German Mother was given to the women who bore the most Aryan children. Abortion was legalised (…) by the Nazis for disabled and non-Germanic children (…). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebensborn

²⁵³ Erik Sherman: “Genetic Engineering Will Make Income Inequality Much Worse,” https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman/2017/08/20/genetic-engineering-will-make-income-inequality-much-worse/?sh=2d96899d3d75 Read: 24 November 2021.