Where did the ‘elite couple breeding to save mankind’ meme come from?

Twitter is going crazy over a new meme about “pronatalism” (aka pro-birth), which was apparently sparked by a controversial article in The Telegraph titled, “Meet the ‘elite’ couples breeding to save mankind.”

The article itself highlights several couples from Silicon Valley who are actively trying to have as many children as possible, but it focuses mainly on Simone and Malcolm Collins — two wealthy husband-and-wife entrepreneurs who created The Collins Institute for the Gifted.

The main goal of all this feverish baby-making? According to the people behind it, it’s to counteract the declining global birth rate, which they see as a great risk to the future.

The Collinses, along with other couples in the article, seem aware that a lot of this theory is often linked to neo-Nazi principles (particularly those of pro-nationalism), but they insist that it’s not about spreading any one race of people. Instead, the goal is just to create more humans on Earth — regardless of race, religion or background.

That said, the fact that the people leading the wave are highly successful Silicon Valley types left many people on Twitter feeling just a bit icky about the whole thing. Especially when you consider this: The Collinses have three kids, one of whom went through genetic testing and embryo selection to ensure they wouldn’t be obese or suffer from anxiety when they grew up.

Soon after the article began circulating, so did the memes. But instead of featuring the couples who were actually highlighted in the piece, Twitter users began to pair together famous characters and celebrities for a more humorous take on it all.

But not everyone who read the article is here to make jokes about it. In fact, a lot of people couldn’t help but draw parallels between what the “elite couples” are trying to do and the practice of eugenics, which has a disturbing history (to say the least).

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