InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I WILL NEVER STOP THE TORTURE!"

Working For A Better Life (valkyrieofodin) wrote,
@ 2009-04-20 00:29:00

Current mood:	annoyed
Entry tags:	cut the bullshit, eugenics, petty bullshit, stuff that shouldn't matter

Eugenics, When Asked Why I Have To Vote No
Ok, ultimately, should Eugenics be practiced I have to vote no. Why you ask? Because it interferes with free will. Frankly, given the choice of natural selection the idiots will breed themselves to extinction. It's that we find ways of furthering them that causes the take over of the idiotic. But Eugenics? That stinks of Nazism. Now this is not going to be a popular post. On either side. But, Shit happens. Last week I got into a epic fight with someone very important to me. Over this very stupid subject and this is my final word on it. End of story. And yes I know, I sound like a bitch, guess what folks, sometimes I really am one.

(Post a new comment)

(Anonymous)
2009-05-03 12:20 pm UTC (link)

Hmm, I think it depends what you mean.

Do you mean providing help to the infertile, up to and including in vitro fertilization and surrogate motherhood? I'm not at all sure I believe in those things--I think nature has its own wisdom, there are kids who need adopting, and heck, I think if guys are too old or too drunk to get it up they should have to pay full price for Viagra, no insurance help that comes out of their co-workers' or the taxpayers' pockets, nature has her reasons and there are a lot of things more important that people tend to get no financial help with, like sexual reassignment surgery or plain old birth control.

Or do you mean having government policies or social pressure to breed only if you are healthy and goodlooking? That's awful, because love is also wise, and I think we should get the heck out of its way.

Or do you mean encouraging abortion when tests show a birth defect? I think that has to be the couple's decision, above all the mother's. One of the great things about modern medicine is that even seriously damaged babies can now live. Many, many things that used to be just a matter of accepting one's lot can now be fixed. From cleft palates to heart surgery on neonates or even in utero. On the other hand, modern medicine can keep alive some babies who will have a really miserable life and/or be a source of heartbreak to their parents: microcephalics are the example that comes to mind. I think it has to be the parents' decision in such cases, even if the child has already been born. And also I don't think the mother should be forced to submit to the prenatal tests. CVS sometimes causes spontaneous abortion and is sometimes wrong; I can understand on those two grounds alone why someone would rather not undergo it. Besides, things can go wrong during the birth, or at the last minute . . . though I don't think anyone would call decisions made as a result of such an event eugenics, in my own mind one must bear those things in mind when thinking about the morality of pressuring someone either to have a test, or to make a particular decision with regards to her own fetus.

The purest example of eugenics in a modern context is probably what we can't do yet except in a limited way for sex: pre-selecting for genetic attributes. I don't like the sound of that myself, and I would imagine few people who have read SF, where it was once a staple theme, do. But I don't think the answer is to forbid it. I think the answer is to build a society tolerant of human variation, where there is not any peer pressure to have an athletic child, a blue-eyed child, a male child, or even an intelligent child.

Short thoughts, hope not too shocking.

Frith,
M

(Reply to this) (Thread)

valkyrieofodin
2009-05-04 10:09 pm UTC (link)

I mean telling people whether or not they have a right to breed. Telling people that they, are too 'dumb' or whatever to breed. Yes, I agree that probably everyone should be required to pass parenting classes before getting the go ahead to have kids. But to tell someone that they aren't allowed to have kids because of their IQ which was the subject of the argument that this post was based on. Or that they don't have the right to breed for various other reasons... Well fuck that.

Eugenics as a whole. I don't agree with. Keeping people from reproducing because of ethnicity,or trying to breed for the perfect child I also find to be absolutely revolting. In general the idea that someone would abort a fetus because it happens to be disabled... That too bothers me as of course we both know isnorden and what would have happened to her? Need I say more? Or what about me? What if my parents had been told ahead of time "your daughter will have seizures, be bipolar, have migraines and endometriosis to name just a few things... wanna abort her now?" Sorry. I don't agree with that. After all I think I'm a pretty worthwhile person. So while some out there would say that it would have saved a lot of 'suffering' and they are right, because I went through Hel, sheer and utter Hel, I still would rather exist and have the right to exist. You see my point?

frith,
ayla

(Reply to this) (Parent)