by TWilliam » Fri 06 Mar 2009, 03:15:05
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'I')f you were just talking about euthanasia, what the fark has that got to do with 'parasitism?
Nothing. Euthanasia was a tangential discussion that I was drawn into with Ludi, arising from my response to a post by Bas, wherein I posed a question, based on the assumption that there will be a significant human dieoff occurring through the course of this century, about whether it was preferable to simply ignore the issue and let 'Nature take its course' along with all the misery that implies, or to instead seek ways to minimize that misery through identifying and implementing more humane methods of population reduction. (A question which, incidentally,
still has had no response.)
I stated that I for one was in favor of the second option, and expressed the opinion that if a drastic reduction of the population
is going to happen anyway,
and stipulating that
if we as a species wish to maximize the chances of at least
some percentage of the race surviving, then it makes more sense to be selective than to leave it up to blind chance to pick who stays and who goes.
I then posed the logical follow-up question, "How to decide?" and offered my opinion on one possible set of criteria. My exact words were, "I suppose there might be any number of ways, but I for one believe that selecting a) obvious genetic defectives at birth, b) intentional grifters in all their myriad variations, and c) those that are no longer
capable of self-support and lacking
willing and capable familial support as the first to be winnowed is one of the more equitable choices. No racial or national biases, just selection made in line with the tendencies of Nature when left to her own devices."
I then asked, "Have you a better suggestion, given the goal of maximizing our chances as a species for
long term survival?"
Nowhere have I insisted that these are
the criteria, or that this was even necessarily
the solution to the problem. All I did was ask what might be preferable and offer
my opinion on
one possible approach. And I invited people to suggest alternatives if they felt they might have better ones.
Instead, I get lambasted by Ludi and yourself for advocating eugenics and
murder, for chrissakes. I
advocated neither.
"It means buckle your seatbelt, Dorothy, because Kansas? Is goin' bye-bye... "