Eugenics is one of those ideas that has come to acquire a negative reputation for all the wrong reasons. Under pressure from mainstream academics and writers since World War Two, and largely due to its association with National Socialism, the very concept of eugenics has been derided and defamed for decades. Today it is widely seen as misguided, racist, or as some downright evil social-programming scheme; but in fact, as I will argue, it is vital for our collective survival. ...The term is certainly out of favor. Everyone will say he is against, saying that history has shown it leads to bad things, or something like that. Not really an argument.I claim that everyone, already, is a eugenicist—they just don’t use the term.
As a rough outline, though, what might a contemporary eugenic program look like? We must work from first principles here, and I find four to be of central importance. First: No one has a ‘right’ to bear children. In a dysgenic world, childbearing is a privilege, not a right. ...I do not expect these arguments to persuade anyone. If he is right, then we will have a systematic decline in the gene pool until some drastic action is necessary.A second core principle relates to the notion of human equality: In no meaningful sense are all humans equal. People differ in every conceivable way: abilities, skills, interests, capabilities, intelligences, creativities, appearance, etc. ...
Third: Eugenics works best in ethnically homogenous societies. ...
Fourth: The best individuals have the highest obligation to the community—and vice versa.
4 comments:
Roger,
What two consenting adults decide concerning their having a child is their own business. Not the government's, or the sheep skinned quacks who consider themselves knowledgeable enough to make everyone else's decisions for them.
Roger, the problem with eugenics is that it is almost always evil when imposed on someone, and since the government is involved, it becomes more about preferred popular politics than anything to do with biology.
The democrats are already trying to discourage women from having children in favor of importing millions of illegal aliens. How has that worked out?
There's your political 'experts' playing 'eugenics' right there. Now consider the political purity tests that have taken hold of academia, the media, and much of entertainment. Would you like such ridiculous buffoonery having more say in who exactly has children? Please review the last two hundred years of eugenics, it isn't pretty, less so when so called scientists got involved and put their pedigreed stamp on it.
Next time, please think before you decide to channel your inner Bernard Shaw out loud...because euthanasia is already a historically established instrument in the toolbox of eugenics. There is a very good reason the practice has fallen out of favor.
When having that child places a burden on society, then I expect society to regulate it. There are lots of policies that encourage or discourage children. Some may be evil. I expect to see more.
The mechanism through which a child becomes a burden on society is called the Welfare State. Before that, children were burdens on their parents.
Children can also become a burden by committing crimes, consuming resources, and fragmenting society.
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