One hundred and sixty years ago this month, the Augustinian monk Gregor Mendel presented his experiments on pea plants to a group of scientists in Brno, Moravia, in which he offered a revolutionary explanation for the physical basis of heredity. Mendel’s discoveries drew a collective shrug from his scientific contemporaries (and the other monks in his abbey). Charles Darwin, whose contemporary theory of evolution would transform the scientific world, never even heard of him.

By the time Mendel’s work was rediscovered some forty years after he presented it, a growing number of scientists and science-adjacent supporters had started diagnosing the ills of society through a twisted understanding of Darwin’s “survival of the fittest.” These so-called social engineers decried the “melting pot” of human society, including the acceptance of different races, different creeds, and individuals with compromised mental and physical health. They predicted that such “dilution” would impede human progress and maybe even extinguish the human species. Sadly, the late rediscovery of Mendel’s demonstration of a physical basis for inheritance only fueled the spread of these ideas by giving them a sheen of experimental science support, ultimately leading to the emergence of a powerful eugenics (i.e., “good genes”) movement to do something about all those undesirables.

The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island was ground zero for the U.S. eugenics movement. Known today for its cutting-edge molecular biology, a century ago it was home to the Carnegie-funded Eugenics Records Office (ERO). The first part of the ERO’s work was basic research to determine the hereditary contributions to various “deficiencies,” physical and mental. The second part focused on solutions, i.e., programs to remove deficiencies from the population. These efforts included forced sterilization, marginalization from society, or even (it was whispered) eliminating individuals and groups the ERO and its supporters deemed unfit.

Miraculously, as the U.S. eugenics movement grew, so did the pushback against it. It is appalling today to see how deeply corrupted science was by those who supported ERO goals. But it is also gratifying to see how many other scientists risked their necks to stand up against the pseudoscientific ERO. In the end, the revelation of the eugenic atrocities committed by the Third Reich finally brought an end to the ERO and, it was believed, the global eugenics movement.

And yet…

Although it may not be strictly a “good genes” movement, we are seeing a massive resurgence of the animating principles of that first round of eugenics. These fundamental beliefs about inferior and undesirable racial, mental, gender, etc. traits — which remain firmly based in fear not fact — have never really gone away. They have merely been hiding in dark mental caves like some twisted Gollum-like creature waiting for a chance to re-emerge and exact revenge for their earlier exile.

Note also the people most hurt by the vomitous output of the West Wing since this past January. The poor and sick, racial, ethnic and gender minorities, etc. All societal outliers in the eyes of MAGA-loving (most of the time), white (usually), straight (for the most part) males (“biologically”). These unfortunate groups in the crosshairs of Project 2025 are the same ones targeted a century ago by the rabid eugenicists. And with the same goal of marginalizing these people to the point of elimination, regardless of the obvious bigotry and outright stupidity of those actions.

The major difference between now and then is that our present-day eugenicists are not even bothering to pretend that their political pogroms are supported by science or some other objective standard, other than their own likes, dislikes and superstitions. The major similarity between now and then is the ferocity of their sheer hatred of anyone “not like us,” captured most obviously today in their attempts to rehabilitate Nazi figures, symbols, language and ideas.

History demands that we not turn a blind eye to what these people are doing. As frustrating as it can be to wake up to this battle every day, I take some solace in the fact that enough thoughtful people eventually came together to beat back the first eugenics movement. We can do it again. And we should start by shining an unwavering spotlight on the effects of their actions and calling them out for what they are.

Fintan Steele is an ex-Benedictine monk and priest with a Ph.D. in biology/genetics. He spent most of his life in science communications, including scientific publishing and, most recently, for biopharma and academic centers. He and his husband live in Hygiene. Email: fsteele1@me.com.