UK Politics Thread (Part 1)

Depends whether they hold those opinions for real, are interested in the conversation, or whether they are simply on the wind up. It can be hard to tell sometimes.

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Surprised I have to state why eugenics is morally wrong but here we are. Ignoring the atrocities that have happened in various countries (From Peru, US to Germany) there are numerous arguments why it is morally despicable. Including:

  • Right to reproduce is recognised as a basic human right, its not a privilege.

  • Its a pseudoscience. Throughout history many of the traits of why people are sterilised (pauperism, mental illness, criminality, sexual promiscuity, aggression) have no evidence of any genetic basis or weak evidence at best. (Try separate nature vs nurture)

  • "Unworthy stockā€ is subjective. What defines the boundaries? If accepted for economic divisions, its not much of a leap to those with disabilities, physical characteristics, crimes or mental illness. (as has happened throughout history) Imagine a world without the like os Stephen Hawkings or Ray Charles. Imagine the premier league with no players from a poor background.

  • Wealth is transient. In good times I have been earning in top 1%, in bad times I was in the job center desperate to get a council house.

  • Besides the obvious separation between the classes, eugenics fosters discrimination, divide, and inequality among different ethnic, racial, economic, groups.

  • Eugenics does not address the problem. Its not therapy, its replacement. Governments should aim to better the lives of individuals and groups. By sterilizing does not deal with the problem at hand. It instead deals with the possibility of a future outcome. Be it the economic situation of parents or the likelihood the child will be a drain on society.

  • Most people look back at say the chemical castration of Alan Turning , as barbaric and deeply disturbing. They view genital mutilation by African tribes as uncivilized, or the ability of the state to define haircuts in North Korea as ridiculous. Suggestions the state should be able to sterilise the poor is no different. Barbaric, disturbing, uncivilized and more synonymous with a state aligned with the political extremes (far left or far right)

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Such a difficult topic to measure but itā€™s certainly part of it.

Another factor is the fact that many parents in this situation are simply ashamed to admit they are really struggling. Someone needs to physically ask the question. In many ways itā€™s similar to depression and for that reason alone I feel the whole idea that there are people struggling to have a even the most basic of life style in a modern Britain quite disgusting.

Hugely difficult and complex task addressing it though.

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Itā€™s not that simple I feel. Because if Bezos did give Ā£1b to the US health system a huge chunk of that would still end up up as profit for those health system providers, pharma etc. That whole system needs fixing

But otherwise youā€™re right. Would Bezos actually miss the odd billion? I doubt it.

Who decides about who is intelligent enough to breed or not? You? What is intelligence, how does it get measured? You should know that having a high or a low IQ has absolutely zero impact on being a good parent or not. Intelligence of the heart canā€™t be measured.

And at what age does that decision take place? Do you think that someone stays always the same, ie. always intelligent enough vs. always not intelligent enough?

If you reflect two seconds about what you wrote, youā€™ll quickly realise that it leads nowhere but towards more discrimination and suffering.

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:eyes:

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Yep. Wasnā€™t meant to be a deeply analytical and bullet proof response.

The gist of it was my point.

Regardless of the issues with my response itā€™s still more thoroughly and weā€™ll thought out than ā€˜ letā€™s spade the poorā€™

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Canā€™t believe youā€™re all still taking that shit seriously.

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Itā€™s even more than that. Wealth is mostly inherited, so basically life lottery.

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Some can answer the toughest of philisophical questions, others can create the most beautiful works of art, some can strip an engine and put it back together without a second thought and others, as the saying goes, can sell sand to an Arab. Weā€™re all different, not all of us have high IQs or are seen by some as intelligent but we are all needed to make up a working society.

There are people who look down on others but donā€™t give anything of real substance to society, we see them everyday. The so called leader of the free world is one of these people, Iā€™d rather we lose him than someone who is down on their luck and needing help to get by. Not everyone life turns out as they would have wanted for many different reasons.

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So we are talking hyperthetically obviously i.e. Everyone skirting around the elephant in the room (thatā€™s you)ā€¦

Do you accept your own judgement? Iā€™d question the IQ of your parents who managed to produce and raise such a horrible unempathetic person.

p.s. googling some Roman quotes doesnā€™t give you a high IQ.

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You might need to google, I just read books. Pratchett in this instance. In his instance who watches the watchmen. In whoā€™s hands do you place the power of judgement?

As for my parents, lovely insult, well done.

Whatā€™s a book?
Is that a caveman thing?
Anyone who reads books needs to be Guillotined. :wink:

Itā€™s a Roman quote ā€œa Latin phrase found in the work of the Roman poet Juvenal from his Satiresā€

And you are making sweeping judgements of the parents of millions of children in poverty, so expect the same backā€¦ No? Thatā€™s at least fair?

This is the problem with bullies, you like to it one way and when it strikes home you cry fowl. Just like all the Tory MPs trying to gang up on Angela Raynor who had the cheek to quote Ben Bradley saying parents are using food vouchers to buy drugs with no proof.

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Tbf, itā€™s quite a well known Latin phrase.

And? So is Carpe Diem, using it doesnā€™t make one clever. (Which was my point).

Right folks, I need to put this record straight. Having my views portrayed as poisonous and my parents being questioned makes me think that somewhere, the wrong end of the stick has been grasped, or at least on the pommel, not the handle.

Youā€™ll see from my recent posts that Iā€™ve asked questions. What Iā€™ve stated Iā€™d like to do is not euthanise people, condem or judge. Put me in power and Iā€™m not advocating for controlling who can have kids and how many (although itā€™s the single biggest issue that will ultimately face an expanding population) Yes, I hold right wing views. Yes I do think that children who are hungry should point at their parents. Why? Because itā€™s the truth. How could you possibly think otherwise? Or should society be to blame or the government? Surely we should consider all possible solutions to problems and then select the best one. Yes, I admit that I often go to the extreme. Thatā€™s what Iā€™m like. Argue with Mrs K and youā€™d understand why. I also appreciate that this could be considered being deliberately ā€œwinding upā€ which itā€™s not.

Put it like this with regards free school meals and my fishing analogy. If a manā€™s crap at juggling bottles but does it for fun and shows up at casualty every week with bleeding hands, the wrong course of action is to keep sewing him back together. The correct course is to do it first time and give him juggling lessons. If he does it again, give him more lessons. If he does it a third time, take the bottles off him.

Thereā€™s no question that there are problems in society. Weā€™ve been around and around this. The causes and solutions fot this vary depending on oneā€™s outlook. So judge me on this because itā€™s exactly what I would DO if I had the chance. Not a concept, not an idea, not a suggestion, not a thought experiment. You know Magic Thighs, sometimes I think we consider these concepts too deeply at times.

OK, child hunger is an abomination is a country like ours. Supplying special meals for the kids is to put a plaster on the problem. An ounce of prevention being better than a pound of cure. Wonder if that translates into Latin?

Youā€™ll all have seen that dancy fitness bloke who was all the rage oveer lockdow. Well howā€™s this for an idea. Have a celeb chef and some high influence famous person (Iā€™m too old) launch a massive TV program along the lines of ā€œAnyone Can Cookā€ Little Disney reference there. Premis of the show is that each week some yahoos (footballers, musicians, clowns, monkeys and at worst politicians) are shown how to cook a really simple and nourishing meal. Think the Generation Game for those with the memory. They then stumble through it but as itā€™s so simple, litterally, anybody can do it. The clever bit? The government gets into an agreement with the big delivery supermarkets such that that dishā€™s ingridients are delivered to those households who are elligable for FSMs the day before or during the week depending on logistics. Then have a huge social media push to show who can do the best version with THE KIDS GETTING INVOLVED COOKING. Free to enter if you canā€™t afford the ingridiesnts and teaches those who might never have been shown, how to cook the basics. A simple tomato sauce, bit of fresh basil, seasoning, some nicely sizzled bacon strips and a little hard italian cheese with a variety of pasta is a dish that an 8 year old can learn. Then move to the ā€œwhat can you add?ā€ section where people share ideas of embroidering on the almighty social twitstagram.

Week after itā€™s pizzas, then a basic stirfry (can be done in a frying pan, you donā€™t need a wok) then a curry etc etc etc, the list is endless. With enough media traction, it could become a real weekly event, particularly at the moment when thereā€™s little to enjoy. Who could say no to a child begging to try the latest craze if itā€™s free?

Teach a man to fishā€¦

If Iā€™ve stepped over the boundary of late, sorry. Thinking outloud as a blow off valve for the torture of work at the moment. Judge me by my actions, not my thoughts? Iā€™m not a murdering rampant genocidal maniac, honest.

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I think many peopleā€™s concerns are your lack of empathy for people that really and honestly need help. That with a combined failure to recognise that this is a far more widespread problem than you think

The problem and solution is apolitical one. When you have areas that have had major industries / employers simply move out of an area the solution to fill that chasm has to be driven by government. In that intrim period people need support. That is a huge failing of governments for as long as Iā€™ve been alive probably

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I donā€™t disagree with that at all. If 10000 jobs leave an area, that area will decline. Itā€™s not rocket science. But then as my gran used to say, we were poor but we had standards. We knew what was right and wrong. Using the reasoning that children go hungry because people have lost jobs and the government has done nothing is flawed. If youā€™re unemployed, there is a safety net. As Iā€™ve detailed before, that should be a home, warmth, clothing, food and utilities.

I have a huge amount of empathy for people who deserve it and a pile of local smack heads who try to rob me on a regular basis. You can imagine that I donā€™t have ANY empathy for them. Cue somebody saying itā€™s not their faultā€¦

Thatā€™s where the problems start. For may people that safety net is worthless. It does not provide ā€œwarmth, clothing, food and utilities.ā€

Not everybody is a smack head out to rob you. Far from it.

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