From: L' Ermit (lhermit@hotmail.com)
Date: Thu Feb 14 2002 - 18:34:42 MST
[Kirk Steele] Virtual violence doesn't kill people. A lack of proper
parenting kills people.
[Hermit] Nods.
[Kirk Steele] Childbirth is no longer appropriately an inalienable right.
Especially when it has been shown that only 1 eighth of the population is
capable of [b]properly[/b] bringing a new member of our future society from
the cradle to the voting booth. And much fewer of them still, actually
choose to bear children.
[Hermit] One question: Could you please expand on how "properly" is defined
above. I suspect that this word, in this sentence, is more than a little
like Mary Poppin's portmanteaux.
[Kirk Steele] I think China has got the best approach for the long term
survival of the species. Establish an institution of parental licensing.
Prove to society
that you are worthy of the privilege of adding to the future societal
burden. Link I.Q. to breeding license. Neuter Stupid. The Big Blue Marble we
call Earth is too small to permit dumb to run rampant from the womb anymore.
[Hermit] If pipe dreaming (which this is (for supportable but hopefully
self-evident reasons) in a democracy with an unqualified franchise) why just
qualify on intelligence? Intelligence alone is to my mind not a particularly
useful qualifier. Largely because there are many clever but not smart, and
intelligent but whom I would not want as a neighbor people out there. I'd
rather see a combination of genes (no nasty recessives) and position. Let me
explain. Say that you add up (for all the following, for both parents) the
years of education (with passes - seven years in grade 3 does not count :-)
), the number of years of meaningful public service (military, fire brigade,
EMT, etc) and the amount of tax paid to date in thousands, less medical
bills and welfare received (also in thousands), and receive an additional
license each time the score passes 30. If a priest or other kind of shaman,
-30 is added to the score, if a Baptist priest, -60. Permit wannabe parents
to buy additional kids only by placing an amount in escrow to cover the
estimated public cost of raising or executing them. Seems to me that this
would be a much more sensible system as it would encourage the more
desirable social qualities as well as pragmatic intelligence.
[Hermit] People breaking these laws and not aborting could be provided with
free tubal litigation or orchidectomies as their reward for being too stupid
to breed. Having always like the idea of the "Gom Jabbar" test, we might
also consider a rapid improvement in the overall quality of life by
providing state funded post natal abortions to all those over 40 scoring
less than 25 on this scale. <humor warning>
Thanks
Hermit
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Sep 25 2002 - 13:28:43 MDT