By the turn of the twentieth century, Americans were increasingly concerned with the idea of "fitness?

Question

(physical and racial). Was this a good or a bad development, and why?

Answer 1

I have a hard time imagining that they don't mean the twenty-first century, since the term didn't seem to be popular until recently. In either case, I can't imagine how this would be a good thing racially. In terms of physical fitness, presumably it would lead to better health, which is a good thing. However, the whole idea of "fitness", implies an ideal which may be near impossible for most people to reach, and there is often a corresponding denigration of anyone who does not achieve this ideal. We often globalize our assumptions about such people - someone who does not spend his/her days at the gym, for example, is often assumed to be ugly, stupid, and lazy, although there is no evidence that there are connections between those things.

Answer 2

The late Victorian Era was rife with well meaning pseudo-science and discovery. What they lacked in actual knowledge, they usually made up for in enthusiasm.

Archeology was busy uncovering, preserving, destroying, and stealing Egyptian artifacts from the Valley of the Kings.

Darwin's theory of evolution was becoming common knowledge. Serious thought competed with total misunderstanding to make a monkey's uncle out of science.

Eugenics was recognized as a good idea, but the genetics was still for plants not animals. The “science” behind improving humanity was short sighted and misinformed. Hereditary health was usually measured by social standards rather than objective means and experiments were often swift and criminal (nearly the opposite of where we sit now: informed and overly careful).

And the new "health" craze was becoming big science and big business.
Everything from chewing your food and healthy portions, to colon cleansings and electrical body stimulation were all the rage.
Fortunes were made and lost in the health food and grain industry. Everyone seemed to know what was best and most of it seems ludicrous now.

Good or bad does not seem to apply. It was the age of the middle class revolution. More and more "common" people were literate, and more and more junk science was being done by literate people for literate people.

In an era where the middle class is slowly dieing it is easy to look back at that era as our golden age. The First World War had not happened and a clever man without a college education could still create a revolutionary invention or isolate an atomic element.
We, also, banned American Sign Language and destroyed deaf culture because we were frightened of anything that was not normal. We continued to impoverish the Native Americans and fenced in the last of the frontier.

It was just another turn of the wheel. We have gone through a Victorian revival several times since then, and I am sure we will be having another similar era again soon.

Answer 3

I think this had to do with image portrayed in movies and film...as far as im concerned this was a bad thing. Women and men have to keep up with the "glamorous look" and ultimately leads to bad vices and somtimes death.