Comment by mmooss
2 hours ago
The Nazis did do a lot of damage - far more than any benefits from the science would balance - and the 'science' contributed to it. The Nazis and many other racists have long argued that they are just being objective and the other side is biased.
How will you prevent that harm from recurring? Ignoring it hasn't worked, and doesn't distinguish the program you propose from a long line of racist programs and propaganda - that is, nobody can tell whether it's sincere or just another cover story.
But people can tell that it's not responsible, which is a clue about the thought behind it. We can't wash our hands of the consequences of our actions. If you don't prevent the next racist catastrophe, who will? Will you just do it and leave the consequences for others to clean up (and suffer from)?
"Hitler was a vegetarian. You aren't like Hitler, are you?" is a fair reason to run a garbage-collection pass over your beliefs if you're vegetarian, checking your reasons for it -- but invalid argument against claims that vegetarian diets are healthy. It sounds like mid-century historians collectively made the latter mistake.