CRITICAL RUXPIN THEORY:

The Great Replacement theory -- which is really a conspiracy theory -- has made a comeback in recent times, forcing its way back into mainstream discourse. Once referred to as "white genocide" and before that as "race suicide," the concept -- born of the eugenics movement and fuelled by white supremacy -- posits the white race (whatever that even means) is being displaced due to low birth rates and interracial couples having kids. 

Why the concern? The underlying assumption, of course, is that there is something special about being white. Supremacists believe that the white race is superior to other races, and those who fall for the conspiracy theory believe that traditional culture and values are being erased.

Had the same conspiracy theorists been around in the first decade of the 1900s, they may well have been floating the great replacement theory in response to something as benign and unthreatening as teddy bears. A century ago, toy bears were accused of suppressing the maternal instincts in young girls -- which toy dolls supposedly helped develop -- and therefore would accelerate the "extinction" of "old stock" Americans.

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