If Alex knew anything about eugenics, he would have been offended before completing the first page. However, because of his ignorance, the book's opening summary seemed harmless enough:

 

"During the course of the twentieth century, a profound change took place in scientific and public attitudes to eugenics. In the first half of the century, virtually all biological scientists and most social scientists supported eugenics, and so did many of the informed public. . . .In the last three decades of the century, eugenics became almost universally rejected. . . .There is nothing particularly unusual in the rejection of a scientific theory. . . .What is unusual is the rejection of a theory that is essentially correct. . . .This is what occurred in the twentieth century with regard to eugenics."

 

As Alex soon discovered, the opening summary was anything but harmless. The author proceeded to espouse one unimaginably arrogant statement, one certifiably insane "solution," and one poorly reasoned justification after another. Soon enough, the theory of eugenics became clear: it was racism on steroids. Certain humans were born superior, and, as such, it was their job to manage and cull the herd. The inferior many existed only for the "benefit of the State," and, as such, the State had every right to eliminate undesirables from the gene pool.

This wasn't a book that warned readers about the dangers of a scientific society run amuck; it was a book that advocated the creation of that society. Unlike the other two authors, who (more than likely) unknowingly served evil ends, this author was unapologetically aiming for them. His underlying argument was very straightforward: he and his kind were genetically superior and, therefore, had the right to shape mankind as they saw fit. Society was their laboratory, and the people were their lab rats.

Alex spent the next five days learning everything he could about eugenics, which is to say he spent the next five days fluctuating between a state of horror and rage. He could hardly read a single page of Eugenics: A Reassessment without underlining multiple sections and writing arguments against the author's assertions. He went online to do more research, and that only made matters worse. To his dismay, he verified that eugenics actually began in the United States, funded and guided by the dominant class, and was directly connected to the atrocities in Nazi Germany. As he dug deeper, the big picture began to emerge.

A scientifically crafted eugenic society was the inevitable and ultimate exercise of power. Howard's "final revolution" represented the last form of human government because, once established, the inferior class would have no way to challenge it. The dominant few would not only decide how the masses would live, they'd decide who among them would be permitted to live. And if a member of the dominant class was ever foolish enough to resist the system, they'd be demoted and sterilized, if not outright eliminated, for threatening the "stability of the State."

Alex filled nearly an entire spiral notebook with challenges and notes, spending between twelve and fourteen hours a day doing research. During the first couple days, he wondered how it was he'd never heard of eugenics. He wondered why, of all the useless information taught in school, eugenics was never mentioned once. By the end of his research, the question answered itself. This topic wasn't for the masses; it was reserved exclusively for the masters.

On the day before his scheduled meeting with Howard, he tried to summarize his thoughts:

 

I hardly know where to begin, so this is just a rough summary for now. I have to at least try to organize my brain if I'm going to challenge Howard on this tomorrow. My God, what a mess.

 

I have to start by saying that, without a doubt, this has been the most infuriating five days of my life. These unbelievably sick, power-hungry, hypocritical pieces of shit not only exist, they sit at the top of our social food chain! They're hailed as our "best and brightest" leaders! I found a good quote online (taken from a book I plan to read called War Against the Weak) that sums up the social status of these people:

 

"One hundred years of eugenic crusading by America's finest universities, most reputable scientists, most trusted professional and charitable organizations, and most revered corporate foundations. They had collaborated with the Department of Agriculture and numerous state agencies. . .to breed a new race."

 

If this was all just hypothetical, like the nightmare scenario described in The Scientific Outlook, it wouldn't be nearly as upsetting. But it wasn't. These people actually sat around in rooms together, thought these policies up, and began using their power to make them happen. Hitler wasn't the leader in a movement to create a super race; he was their follower. Both the research he relied on and the eugenic theories he used to justify his atrocities originated with, and were funded by, the American dominant class!

 

I found a ton of unbelievable information related to eugenics online. One thing that really stood out was something called Operation Paperclip. Supposedly, after Hitler was defeated, our own government not only helped important Nazis escape prosecution for torturing and experimenting on Jews but it also brought thousands of Nazis into the US and, after carefully whitewashing their past, gave them government jobs!

 

I have to note how painful it is to discover this stuff and then confirm that it's all true. . .And it really hurts to know that if it weren't for Howard, I probably would have lived the rest of my life without ever knowing about any of it. What does that say about the power of the illusion? It's just plain scary.

 

Alex paused. Scary was definitely the right word. He wondered what other horrible secrets he'd learn in the coming weeks, horrible secrets that weren't even hidden. Secrets that anyone with an Internet connection and the ability to read could verify instantly. If it was this easy to enter the real world, didn't that prove Howard's point? Didn't it prove that, if it wasn't revealed by an expert or an authority, it might as well not even exist?

 

I'm flustered because there are TOO MANY things to attack. I've damn near filled this notebook, and now I'm trying to boil it all down into some summary that captures how wrong it all is. It ain't gonna happen, so I just have to write a rough summary for now. Here goes:

 

First problem: if this isn't a violation of basic human rights, nothing is. That alone should have stopped the "intelligent few" from ever proposing it, let alone implementing it. Of course, that assumes they actually care about human rights. This book makes it perfectly clear that they don't.

 

Second: arrogance. I could go on all day about the arrogance. There isn't a shred of humility. But how could there be? Anyone who assumes that their tiny group has the right to dominate / eliminate billions of human beings must be unbelievably arrogant. Right?

 

Third: hypocrisy. I guess this is another obvious one. In the author's ideal world, the masses will exist only for the good of the State, and, of course, he and his associates will be "the State," so that works out pretty good for them. Somehow, I don't think he'd be as excited about forced sterilizations if his bloodline was labeled "unfit" and slated for extermination.

 

Fourth: fear and insanity. I've got to admit that the author does an excellent job of appealing to fear. He says all of the things that a leader like Hitler would want to hear. Basically, his fear angle boils down to this: if we don't get the inferior class under control, the human race will go extinct. More importantly, if your enemies create eugenically enhanced humans, but you do not, then your enemies will conquer and enslave you. You will live as the inferior class because that's what you'll be. Throughout it all, the inevitability of a single-world government is pounded into the would-be dictator's head. The subtext is: "It's going to happen, so you better make sure it's YOUR nation that rules the world."

 

Finally: contradictions. It's ironic that he obsesses about the importance of superior intelligence throughout the entire book while, at the same time, he lacks the intelligence to see the contradictions in his own arguments. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised by this. He's got nothing to gain by proving himself wrong.

Off the top of my head, here are a few of the things I found extremely upsetting. This should be enough to refresh my memory for tomorrow's meeting with Howard.

 

When he talks about the approximately sixty thousand eugenic sterilizations that were performed in the United States, he complains that it was nowhere near enough. Specifically, he says it represented only 0.1 percent of those who should have been sterilized.

 

Well, unless I've forgotten how to do math, I have to multiply 0.1 percent times ten to get to 1 percent. Then, I have to multiply that times one hundred to get to 100 percent. In other words, I have to multiply sixty thousand times one thousand to get to the number of people he feels should have been forcibly sterilized in the United States alone—SIXTY MILLION people!

 

"In the United States, the 60,000 or so sterilizations amounted to less than 0.1 percent of the mentally retarded and psychopathic, so the effect on the prevalence of mental retardation and psychopathic personality must have been negligible."

 

Keep in mind that his definition of "psychopathic personality" is, itself, psychotic. In his world, psychopaths are people who "don't conform to social norms" (like accepting that they must be sterilized, I suppose). Psychopaths are those who "fail to sustain a monogamous relationship for more than one year." You're a psychopath if you don't want to pay taxes (because refusing to give your money to psychopaths who want to kill or sterilize you is surely psychopathic). If that's not enough, you're a psychopath if you lack remorse for your actions, drink too much, are "antisocial," or regularly break the speed limit while driving. In other words, anyone targeted by the dominant class could be labeled a psychopath for any arbitrary reason, and then they could be removed from the rest of history.

 

Later, he discusses a parental-licensing system to prevent psychopaths from breeding. It starts by sterilizing ALL members of the inferior class—the genetic elite obviously wouldn't be targeted—and then reversing the sterilization IF it pleases "the State" to grant the couple a license.

 

"The most effective solution to the problem of preventing births to unlicensed couples would be to require all 12-year-old girls to have some form of long-lasting contraception, such as the IUD or the contraceptive implant. . .Similarly, all 12-year-old boys would have to be sterilized by vasectomy or by some other technology."

 

Regarding that "other technology," he talks about:

 

"The production of a virus causing temporary sterilization. Contraceptive viruses were developed in Australia in 1997 for the sterilization of rabbits, kangaroos, and other pests. . .The ideal for humans would be a contraceptive virus acting for about 10 years that could be given to 12-year-old boys. When they were aged 22, they could apply for licenses for parenthood. If they failed to obtain these, they could be vasectomized."

 

He claims that all arguments against his eugenic plans are emotional and irrational. He says they are based on a value system that puts the rights of an individual above the rights of society. (Who would have guessed? He is the good guy in all of this. He is just trying to protect the rights of society against all the psychopathic individuals.) This was probably the hardest thing to stomach—the hypocrisy, the absurdity of it all. Him acting as if he is morally superior and defending society when, in reality, he wants to make society helpless against the truly psychopathic INDIVIDUALS who claim the right to control us completely. It is such a blatant contradiction that you have to wonder how a man of his supposed intelligence could possibly miss it.

 

After explaining the inevitable creation of a single-world government, he openly admits that:

 

"It would be impossible to run a world state as a democracy. If a democratic constitution were established, with countries given independence and voting powers. . .the oligarchy controlling the world state would find itself outvoted. . .The oligarchy would see no reason to allow this to happen and to forego the advantages gained from having secured world power. It would view democracy as an experiment that was tried and failed. It would learn the lesson of history and would not regard the democratic experiment as worth repeating."

 

I think that pretty much says it all. I scribbled a mountain of angry rebuttals in the margins of the book, but I nearly tore a hole in the paper writing my reply to the quote above. I'm writing it again here:

 

"So now we see that, in the end, it has NOTHING to do with your so-called social rights. The ruling oligarchy will decide, against the wishes of the global society, what it wants. This has been my objection from the start. This isn't about social rights; it's about the individual 'right' of a handful of rulers to impose their will against the best interests and wishes of society."

 

There seems to be an endless amount of additional information related to eugenics online. Here are just a handful of things I'd like to look more into.

 

1) The White House's current science czar, John Holdren, co-wrote a book in the late 1970's. His book suggested using the food supply to sterilize people, having the government carry out "compulsory abortions," and creating a "planetary regime" to enforce whatever population limits the global government decides to implement.

 

2) The dominant class plans on using genetically modified crops, including "spermicidal corn," which has already been developed, to cause sterility in the herd.

 

3) Many prominent and wealthy people are openly calling for massive reductions in the inferior class (reducing it by as much as 95 percent), but, unlike before, now they're using global warming as the justification. (I immediately thought of Howard's phrase "pretexts for policies" when I read that.) I'm having a very hard time dealing with this. I have to say, it's a little too easy to imagine these elite scumbags sitting around patting themselves on the back while they kill off damn near everyone and enslave the survivors.

 

Alex took the time to picture the dominant class actually doing what the words described. He took the time to picture the end result. It was an infuriating vision where good-hearted, honest people were exterminated like rodents—while the real rodents of the earth lived like kings above them. His desire to attack the perpetrators began to overwhelm him, so he employed his usual remedy—eyes closed, a few deep breaths through the nose, loud exhale out the mouth. . .repeat, repeat, repeat—and something interesting happened.

Though the anger he was feeling subsided, his desire to punish the guilty intensified. His mind slipped into a very cold, calculating place. Focused and calm, he felt the emotionless and mechanical mindset of "it," but he was still in control. There was none of the guilt or feelings of failure that followed his nightmares or physical outbursts. In fact, it felt good. It felt powerful, but not in an evil way. For once in his life, it actually felt right.

 

"I am not your enemy, Alex. I have protected you, and I have helped you protect others. I am necessary."

 

The voice was crystal clear and dead serious. It reverberated through every cell in his body. Alex couldn't argue, nor did he feel any urge to. It had protected him. It had helped him protect others. And if he was about to go against the likes of Howard, its fearless and calculating nature could very well be necessary. But the awful nightmares flashed across the screen of his mind—his contorted, levitating body, the demonic laughter. . .the evil. Still calm and prepared for any answer, Alex asked:

 

"I need to know once and for all: Am I good or am I evil?"

 

The answer came immediately:

 

"That is your choice. Obey your conscience or ignore it. That, alone, will determine the nature of your existence in this world."

 

The answer was so simple that it left Alex dumbfounded. Decades of doubt and fear suddenly seemed ridiculous. He wasn't at the mercy of some cosmic script written in stone. He wasn't now, and never would be, irrevocably good or evil. The obvious answer had always been that he was whatever he chose to be. And if Howard served no other benefit, he had managed to drive Alex to this profound truth about the power residing within him. Like all human beings, Alex's power sought expression, and his conscience was there to restrain and guide its application.

Even his past physical outbursts that created such feelings of helplessness took on a different look. As long as he wasn't seeking to dominate others or abuse power, he could never become the horrible creature that tormented him in his nightmares. Those nightmares, he concluded with an enormous sense of relief, weren't meant to show him what he was. Rather, they warned of what he would become if he ever chose to embrace the ruthless path of power without conscience—what he'd become if he chose to join the likes of Howard.

 

At 1:00 a.m., Alex set his alarm and got into bed. He looked forward to a good night's rest and the scheduled showdown with Howard. For the first time in his life, Alex felt a genuine sense of purpose. This was far bigger than making a lot of money, having a nice house, or even entertaining millions of people with a good book. This was the kind of stuff that good books were made of. It was a real-life battle between right and wrong, and he was ready to play his part.

Just prior to falling asleep, Alex remembered the dream he'd had a week earlier, before he knew that Howard was legitimate and before he'd read anything about the "real world." He jumped out of bed, grabbed his notebook, and reread what he'd written.

 

In the dream, I was Joe Riggs.

 

I discovered a world that I never knew existed, where predators run the show and, as such, are NEVER held accountable for their crimes. Fearless and focused, I decided to take matters into my own hands. One by one, I took them down. But, after killing half a dozen, I realized I was wasting my time. I was just creating vacancies in the system for other criminals to fill. I realized it was the system itself—a system based entirely on deception, theft, and violence—that needed to be destroyed. That was the only way to cut off their access to money and power. Nothing would change until that was done. I had to figure out how.

 

Alex chuckled a bit to himself. The dream had done a pretty good job of predicting the real world that Alex was now discovering. It also did a good job of predicting his reaction to those who created it.

If he was going to prevent whatever hellish system Howard and his buddies were trying to usher in, the system that empowered them had to go. After that was taken care of, justice could be served. Alex wasn't Joe Riggs, but the distance between them was narrowing.