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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Eugenics is a venerable American tradition, but I am against it.

What an asinine question.[/quote]

I can't believe it took 5 pages to see a response like this, but it is a 100% the only correct response.

[/quote]

This is not eugenics in the traditional sense. They are not saying people should be forced not to have kids, just a general question of whether someone thinks it’s a good idea or not. The reality is that life is unfair, genetic heritability is real and family history matters. This is just one factor among many people should ideally consider when they decide whether to have kids and how many kids to have. [/quote]

It one thousand percent is eugenics. Should we also test the IQ of people before we determine whether they are smart enough to have children? Should we only have tall people reproduce? See how it's a slippery slope?

You don't want people who are imperfect in a million different ways reproducing. You want perfect robots. It's sick.[/quote]

To me the weirdest thing about this instinct is the belief that there are people with "perfect" genetics. Who? Who are these people? Do you know anyone whose family truly has no issues anywhere in the family tree? Because I definitely don't. Especially not when you introduce the question of mental illness. There are family lines that seem to be physically healthier than others, or where the genetics lean towards physical strength, height, etc. But a family line with no mental illness? I don't believe it. It's too common. You find mental illness, propensity for addiction, etc., in families that are rich and poor, in good looking people and strange looking people, in tall people and short people, in people of all races and ethnicities. Mental illness is actually this great equalizer, revealing the fundamental vulnerability of being human.

Humans have these complex brains that are capable of doing things that other animals can't do. We can figure out how to build skyscrapers and make medicine. We also invented guns, bombs, and chemical weapons. The human brain came up with slavery and genocide. We also invented art and literature. Some of the people who have created some of the most beautiful and enduring pieces of art in the world were afflicted by severe mental illness. Some of the people who have committed the worst atrocities in human history appeared to many to be perfectly sane. The idea that we could somehow perfect the human experience by just figuring out who is "mentally ill" and how is not and then not letting the mentally procreate demonstrates a bizarre misunderstanding of history and human nature. Good luck with that.[/quote]

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