(urth) An Evil Guest - Big Questions, Major SPOILERS

John Watkins john.watkins04 at gmail.com
Sun Sep 21 16:08:00 PDT 2008


The eugenics connection is, I think correct.  As for no one being
"heartless" enough to kill a "defective" child post delivery, I direct
you to noted ethicist Peter Singer.  Money quote:

"''I do not think it is always wrong to kill an innocent human
being,'' Professor Singer told the rapt audience in Harold Helm
Auditorium. ''Simply killing an infant is never equivalent to killing
a person.''"

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E2D91530F930A25753C1A96F958260&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

If Wolfe is pro-life, as many conservative Catholics are, he'd be
quite likely to be aware of Singer's stance on the moral significance
of the life of a disabled child.

On Sun, Sep 21, 2008 at 6:56 PM, Gwern Branwen <gwern0 at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 2008.09.21 18:40:08 -0400, Matthew Keeley <matthew.keeley.1 at gmail.com> scribbled 3.4K characters:
>
>>    Re: ATF: I should have remembered about the ATF.
>>    Re: defective: I considered that, but "defective" has the ring of manufacture about it; as in
>>    "I returned the defective TV to the store." And these aren't kids being aborted from the womb:
>>    this is "post-parturition" (i.e. after-birth) abortion. Are we supposed to assume that there
>>    are people who would a) give birth to a child with Down Syndrome and then b) abort it after
>>    living with said child for a few years. I don't think anyone good enough to do a) would be
>>    cold-hearted enough to do b).
>>    -Matt
>
> I've not enjoyed EG yet, but the moment someone mentioned 'defective', I immediately thought of eugenics. Particularly in post-birth situations, I think that's the right connection to draw (Nazis and 1930s and all).
>
> --
> gwern
> 17 Bugs SS8 Undercover Tie-fighter AST Goodwin SABC CFC IWIS
>
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)
>
> iEYEAREKAAYFAkjW0SsACgkQvpDo5Pfl1oKVgwCggN43hRMj+tQ9ObwYtCw/FMo4
> UWgAn3yGEKjWMgLE3I98Gq2w2ag6/hhw
> =o7eY
> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
>
> _______________________________________________
> Urth Mailing List
> To post, write urth at urth.net
> Subscription/information: http://www.urth.net
>



More information about the Urth mailing list