Back when I was living in Silver Spring, Maryland, doing doctoral studies at the Catholic University of America, I went to a drug store to pick up a few items. It was busy, so when I got to the checkout lane, I had to wait in line for one of the cashiers to be open. After several minutes, it was finally my turn, but then a man rushed forward with a newspaper in his hands, and went to the cashier I was heading towards. He ignored the line. He thought he could just checkout if he got there before I did. I told him to get in line. His response was one which I will never forget, not because it upset me personally, but because it showed me the kind of attitude many in the DC area had: he said that he was an important person and that gave him the right to go ahead of everyone else (who, therefore, were obviously in his mind unimportant). I do not know who he was, or why he thought himself to be so important, but I remember my response was that everyone in line was an important person and I reiterated that he should get in line. I don’t remember if he relented, but I don’t think he did. That doesn’t matter here. What matters, why I remember the event, is that it showed me the way many people think, the way they let pride get the best of them, and through that pride, think they can end up thinking no one else has any worth and so their rights can be ignored.
I have not thought about that event for years, but it came back to me immediately after I heard what Dr. Mehmet Oz said about those on Medicaid: they will have to prove that they matter. What a statement! People have to prove they matter! If they don’t, then, he thinks they obviously do not matter, and if they do not matter, society should not care for them because only those who matter should be cared for by society.
This is the thought pattern which lies behind eugenics: the people who matter are, those who are superior; those who do not matter are those who are inferior, and because they are inferior, they should not be cared for or looked after, indeed, they should be eliminated. Dr. Mehmet Oz is only saying the silent part out loud. To the Trump Administration (and those who inspire its ideologies, like Curtis Yarvin), those who are deemed worthless are considered unfit to survive. People who appear worthless will have to prove otherwise, and if they don’t, they should be swept away with everyone else they want removed from society (by any means necessary). The innate worth and dignity of all humanity is denied by them. Christianity (and many non-Christians, religious and secular alike) teach that each human person is fundamentally full of value and worth, and if they are, they don’t have to prove it to others. Once the intrinsic value of the human person is denied, once it is something which is generated by what they do (what an extreme Pelagian concept!), then, not only can they be denied basic human rights, they can even be denied access to the means to prove they are of worth because, instead of having intrinsic value, human persona are intrinsically valueless to them. This is what they use to justify systemic structures of sin and the oppression which follows, because if no one has any initial worth, then they do not have to be given the chance to gain it. Racism certainly has followed with this ideology. We see, in our modern society, many view value based upon how much wealth they have; those who are rich, either because they inherited it or because they found a way to accumulate it fast, have worth, while those who do not, have none. This is why the ultra-rich are constantly being promoted by Trump and his allies: they have worthy because they are rich, and because they are rich, they deserve more handouts from the government (such as greater tax cuts, or loan forgiveness), while the poor are said they are worthless (and so the little they have should be taken from them and given to those who matter, the rich).
When I was young, and a conservative evangelical, I was taught about the evil of eugenics. I was shown how it denied the dignity of humanity, the dignity which God promoted by way of the incarnation and the teachings Jesus gave during his earthly ministry. That message not only stayed with me, it became more and more important over my lifetime, not only as I discerned the ways human dignity must be protected and affirmed (such as through social justice, as was taught to me by many great saints of the Christian tradition), but by the way many of my former conservative evangelical compatriots have gone from denouncing eugenics to supporting it in action. Indeed, it has been an issue with many of them for quite some time, as can be seen in the way they treated the poor, calling them worthless (such as the rhetoric surrounding those who were on welfare, calling many “welfare queens”). They ignore the poor were the ones Jesus supported, the ones who society oppressed and said were worthless, were those in whom Jesus said he would be found. Christians need to remember this, so that they realize, if they accept such a degradation of human dignity, especially of those in the greatest need of it being shown to them, they are doing it to Christ, who is found in and with them. If they believe Christ matters, then those in whom he is found must matter to them, and if they matter, Christians need to do to make sure they are properly respected and protected by society.
I know what it is like to be told I do not matter, and I know what it is like to stand up for my rights, for my human dignity. I have had several such experiences dealing with these issues throughout my life. I suspect most of us have. What they have done for me has given me a greater sense of what others, those who suffer greater indignities than I have, experience, and has only led me to stand more and more with them and their rights, especially when their rights are being systemically removed from society. No wonder many of those promoting modern day eugenics decry empathy: they know if people practice it, they will see through their ideology, as they will see the value and worth of everyone, especially those who are being systematically oppressed.
Dr. Oz asks many to prove they matter. He will, of course, never accept what they say or do to answer him. He has already determined they do not matter. He has already denied their intrinsic value. What we need to do so is respond to this modern-day expression of eugenics, and those promoting and supporting it, the same way we did in the past. We need to stamp it out. We need to take it down. Some people need to explain all the ways the ideology goes wrong, and make sure those explanations are taught in the schools so that the next generation will not fall for them. Others need to be less theoretical and more pro-active, doing what they can to help the people society, especially the Trump Administration, seeks to disenfranchise. Christians must look back to the past and embrace the way Christians were in ancient Rome: when Christians saw the way the empire undermined the dignity of many, they set up a parallel structure in society to help promote the rights, and with it, the needs, of those Rome would cast aside. In many respects, this was what led to the ascendancy of Christianity in the Roman Empire. They set up a “state within the state,” one which promoted the common good that the state should promote, doing it better than the official state. Society was transformed from within. Christians need to do so again, but this time, making sure they work with all those of good will, working to promote the dignity of everyone by word and deed. It is imperative that Christians, and everyone else who stands for the dignity of every human person, seek the transformation of society and the government so that those who would abuse power and deny the dignity of their fellow humanity, be it migrants, women, gays, the poor and homeless, or some other class of person, would be removed from power and replaced with those who understand and accept the dignity of every human person. We need to make sure government fulfills its proper function, which includes the promotion of the common good.
I will always remember being told I did not matter. I did not accept the claim, far from it, which is why I defended my rights and dignity, and the rights and dignity of everyone else waiting in line. I will remember it, not because I was upset or hurt from the sentiment, but because I saw the way evil works in society. I saw firsthand the attitude which would soon gain power in the United States. And from that day, I have made sure I would always resist it the best way I can.
* This Is Part LXV Of My Personal (Informal) Reflections And Speculations Series
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