Eugenics and Daleks
Eugenics is defined as the science of improving a human population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics. There have been several times in history where this was or is being practiced. Some examples of eugenics include the Ancient Greece, Nazis, and Daleks. Ancient Greece used eugenics to help promote different bodily characteristics over another. The Greeks also killed off gays, lesbians, promiscuous women, and degenerates. As most of you know the Nazis killed off Jews and everyone that was not an Arian. Then as we know Daleks kill everything that is not a Dalek. This is one version of eugenics that kills of any undesirable things in the gene pool therefore keeping them from reproducing and making more undesirable traits or life forms. There are other forms of eugenics that are being practiced today. The United States is genetically working towards eliminating certain diseases and promoting healthier traits. This is a form of eugenics that does not involve killing off beings. Even though this form does not kill off beings people question the ethics of it. It is obvious why the first forms of eugenics were not ethical. The second form of eugenics is sometimes thought of as not ethical because people believe that the people practicing this are playing God. The main argument against this is these people believe they are working towards promoting better lifestyles.
It is easy to see that eugenics is very broad and can be argued one way or another for hours on end. Daleks are not the only race in Doctor Who that practices eugenics. They are easily the most obvious race that does practice eugenics. In an earlier post I wrote about the creation of Daleks. Davros created this race with no form of emotion besides rage. He got rid of all human emotion because he thought that this only held the human race back. Daleks believe that they are, “the superior race, and they want to get rid of the lesser races.” [1] It seems pretty blunt but it is as simple as that.
As the Dalek story moves on in Doctor Who they begin to dwindle in size. At one point in the episodes, “Daleks in Manhattan” and “Evolution of the Daleks” they begin to question their ways. Dalek-Sec questions why there are only four Daleks left and billions of humans. This eventually leads to Dalek-Sec altering himself by becoming the first human-Dalek. Dalek-Sec has the body of a human and the head of the Dalek without the suit. Dalek-Sec (now a human-Dalek) did this because it wanted to find a way to help make the Daleks more supreme, in addition he tried to find a way to limit all emotion out of humans before making more human-Daleks but failed by the hands of the Doctor. Upon doing so the Doctor is quoted in “Daleks in Manhattan” as, “creature born to hate, whos only thought is to destroy anything that isn’t Dalek.” Eugenics comes to mind here but it is strange that the Daleks begin to question their existence and try to incorporate humans into their “supremeness.” According to the Daleks humans are not as supreme as Daleks because they have weakness that are emotions. During this two-part story the Daleks have the chance to kill the Doctor but want him alive instead to have the closure of killing him in front of all the Daleks. So Daleks have their own weakness of not being able to kill the Doctor when they get the chance and the Doctor is their other obvious weakness because he never fails in defeating them.
Eugenics has many positives and negatives. Some question its ethical implications just like the world did with the Nazis. The Doctor stopped the Daleks from causing genocide against humans just like the Allies in WW2. Daleks just like any being in the universe are going to have its flaws and they have them for a reason. Eugenics is a way to try and alter these flaws but it has never been successful.
References
[1] Furubayasha, “Eugenics and America,” https://genderandsocs13.wordpress.com/ (accessed 10 April 2016).
