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You're looking in the wrong place: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/450509/down-syndrome-iceland-cbs-news-disturbing-report http://www.nationalreview.com/a
by gwern 9y ago
You're looking in the wrong place: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/450509/down-syndrome-iceland-cbs-news-disturbing-report http://www.nationalreview.com/article/450509/down-syndrome-i...
- thriftwy 9y agoThey're (NR) welcome having Down syndrome children if the desire. Most people would rather not, I assume. However I suspect even they don't want to do it oneself, rather view it as a kind of community work awarded by lottery. They would like "somebody out there" having Down syndrome child so they can feel good about themself as not-eugenics-supporters.
- sp332 9y agoIf you're only in favor of eugenics when it's convenient - well, then you're in favor of eugenics.
- thriftwy 9y agoActually you can't mark Down syndrome elimination as eugenics, because Down syndrome sufferers are infertile (I guess) and thus unable to contribute in "-genics" either way. I would say, Down syndrome elimination is anti-eugenics, because people with genetic predisposition for Down syndrome will provide more non-Down offspring. Anyway, I've never seen any discussion about eugenics, except "the Bogeyman did it!" Eugenics aversion is something forced on the society from above.
- sp332 9y agoDon't try to make your ignorance my problem. Go do some research. There's plenty of discussion out there, I promise. Edit: I'm just going to leave you this because of your bogeyman comment. This is my hometown around the time my father was born. It's not about bogeymen. https://www.uvm.edu/~lkaelber/eugenics/NH/NH.html https://www.uvm.edu/~lkaelber/eugenics/NH/NH.html You're in your own for the rest though.
- thriftwy 9y agoI've never saw anybody asking for my opinion on eugenics. So there's probably just a lot of echo-chamber monologues.
- tree_of_item 9y agoIncredible. How can they spin prenatal screening for Down syndrome as a bad thing? It's a severe disorder with literally no benefits and we're absolutely better off taking steps to eliminate it.
- nsxwolf 9y agoIt's being reported as though a cure for Down Syndrome has been found, however the step taken to "eliminate" it is abortion. That may be of no consequence to the world view of the average SV engineer, but that explains how it is being "spun" as a bad thing by many.
- tree_of_item 9y agoYes, I read the article. I also don't live in Silicon Valley. I don't think it's "being reported as though a cure for Down syndrome has been found". That's the spin the National Review article puts on it. Here are the first two paragraphs of the quoted CBS article: > With the rise of prenatal screening tests across Europe and the United States, the number of babies born with Down syndrome has significantly decreased, but few countries have come as close to eradicating Down syndrome births as Iceland. > Since prenatal screening tests were introduced in Iceland in the early 2000s, the vast majority of women -- close to 100 percent -- who received a positive test for Down syndrome terminated their pregnancy. It's pretty clear that they're not talking about a cure. How is this a bad thing at all? How is this "eugenics"? Down syndrome is a serious, debilitating genetic disorder with no benefits in any sense. Why do we want it to exist? I'm not really seeing an argument against this besides the usual pro-life positions.