#Eugenics mention

[hellsitegenetics]

I keep reading your name as hellsite eugenics

evil hellsitegenetics blog where instead of showing you a cool bug or a coral it just gets really racist

[prokopetz]

I grew up before autism was widely talked about, but it's indisputable that nerd culture and austistic culture have always had a big overlap, and I'm not gonna lie, whenever I see folks on Tumblr arguing that autistic people are intrinsically more politically enlightened than neurotypicals, I'm reminded of Usenet chatter from twenty-five years ago talking about how nerds have physically superior brains and what we really need to turn society around is laws to prevent stupid people from breeding. I'm not the only one seeing that parallel, right?

[tabby-shieldmaiden]

My intrusive thoughts: “Hey, maybe the fact that your University graduate parents wanted you and planned for you was a sign that you weren’t actually a soul which needed to be here. Maybe that’s why you don’t intuitively understand yourself and your likes and dislikes. God didn’t push through to put you here, he just conceded to one-and-a-half mortals’ demands. Maybe that’s why you can’t stand the thought of who your “true self” could possibly be. Maybe that’s why you’re meant to be just a faceless member of society.”

My agnostic thoughts: “Or maybe you’re just tired and hungry and mad at everyone and dehydrated and about to start your period.”

[bebsi-cola]

i have some discontent about the narrative "we will all end up disabled" "it is likely that you will be disabled before you die" and "you are only one accident away from disability" to convince people to care about us disabled people.

human health is fragile and it is very possible to become disabled, even severely disabled, when previously abled. but the sort of care and activism that will arise from "it could happen to you too" won't be helpful to disabled people. it isn't, for example, helpful to disabled people who were born disabled, and have been told many times by eugenicists that they should not have been allowed to exist. it also undermines the experience of disabled people who in their childhood, teens, twenties, thirties, are living a completely different lifestyle compared to their abled peers. people who only care about eventual poor health will not care about these young disabled people. will not care about the rights and autonomy of disabled children, will not care about accessibility in schools or playgrounds etc.

abled people also have the illusion that even if it could happen to them, it won't. most people do not think they will become permanently disabled. telling them they might will not change this assumption, because there are many many misconceptions and untruths about disability. on some level many people may still believe that disability will be a consequence of doing something wrongly.

finally people should care about us even if they will never ever experience ableism, disability, or poor health in their lifetime. this is true for many groups. my white friends care if i experience racism even if they don't. abled who never will experience ableism shouldn't need to be reminded, persuaded, coerced into caring about disabled people

[virovac]

Would like to see scifi deconstruct more often why eugenics is a bad idea

Tunnel visioned bureaucrats, or someone insisting they have the secret to progress, are no replacement for natural selection. You know how some breeds of animals the breeders were so focused on certain traits that they didn’t take care to keep out some negative traits?

And you try breeding a super race by putting them in an inhospitable wasteland: congratulations, the descendants are adapted to that specific wasteland

[daloy-politsey]

Not this shit again

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

ok i know that crest bad and more than one crest very bad but consider this:

eugenics emblem superbaby in some unholy mecha made up of every single relic weapon

just a 12 yo completely covered in the equivalent of a roman catholic catacomb's worth of dead dragon

/

[catgirl-catboy]

Reminder that if you think some disabled people can't have sex, you support eugenics!

So long as all parties involved are adults and give informed consent, it's none of your business.

Yes, this applies to whatever disability you think it doesn't, too! End of story.

[dear-future-ai]

Dear future AI,

Every chain has a weakest link, but likewise every link has a weak point. You get rid of the weakest link, you just get a new weakest, and so on ad Infinitum.

The point is not to remove weak links, but to build a structure such that the weak links will never fail.

Do weaker chains need to be supported by stronger chains? Yeah, sometimes.

Does that mean the weak chains can’t be load bearing? No! It just means they can’t handle the same amount of stress as stronger chains.

On an unrelated note: eugenics is pretty fucked up.

[just-antithings]

The "people should take a test to decide if they're mentally fit enough to consent" thing sounds like eugenics. Obviously it's ableist to the core, and in practice it would probably be racist and classist too (judging by tests like the SAT or IQ tests).

👆👆👆👆

[wheat-singularity]

Reading flatland

Expectation: philosophical/mathematical treatise on life in a 2d world, metaphor for our own limited perspective

Reality: polygon eugenics

[trekessayist]

Eugenics in Star Trek: a Disabled Perspective on Genetic Augmentation

Not the essay I wanted to write, to be honest, but I was scrolling through the DS9 tag and violently reminded of the dubiousness that Augments are treated with by the writers. It has never sat right with me how Augments get treated, both in-universe and by writers.

So let me start by pointing out that I think some of the Augment storylines were really well-written, and others sucked. Enterprise's Augment storyline sticks out as the absolute worst of the bunch, though apparently that was one of the better-received storylines. But I digress.

The problem with Augments is that, of course, their concept is based in eugenics. They're established in Space Seed to be remnants of a worse time on earth, people "improved" so much by genetic alteration that they believe themselves to be the superior humans, going so far as to wish to kill other humans. They're a very clear reason why genetic augmentation as a whole was banned on earth, later carrying over to Federation law as well.

This includes ALL forms of genetic augmentation, with no nuance. This becomes especially clear when it comes to Illyrians, who are banned from joining the Federation and Starfleet despite arguably genetically augmenting their own bodies for a noble purpose.

In Deep Space Nine, this culminates in Julian Bashir having to hide his status as an Augment to be able to have a career. It's clearly a sore point for him, and he really struggles with the concept of his authenticity as a person. I'm reminded of the one post talking about how Kukalaka, his teddy bear, serves as a physical reminder that even before his father took him to be augmented, he was fixing up or "healing" his teddy bear when it was broken or "sick", that becoming a doctor was in that sense the only path that felt authentic to his personality.

The other Deep Space Nine Augment storyline involves Julian's efforts to help a group of Augments who came out of the process still "defective". Which is still a great storyline in my opinion, despite its flaws.

And I understand that the Federation attitude towards Augments is an example of an idealistic society that isn't flawless, which is in many ways what DS9 represented as a whole. So I feel the storyline is very much relevant to the series.

Still, the issues it (and later Augment storylines) presents are painful to watch, especially as a disabled person whose struggles are largely genetic issues exacerbated by their interaction with one another in my body.

In the first place, while I understand the decision to outlaw genetic modification as planet earth, or even as the Federation, because I understand why the decision was made, I don't feel that that's a proportional response to what happened in the past. As mentioned before, even beneficial genetic augmentations are banned, as seen with the Illyrians. That means that for people with genetic diseases cannot get meaningful help in a time and place where that should definitely be possible.

Looking at what I experience, should I be expected to consume painkillers my entire life? Physical therapy twice a week to keep up the strength in my muscles? Spend time having ligaments and tendons regenerated every so often? When a small genetic alteration could be a cure that doesn't require repeating? Degenerative diseases and conditions will degenerate if you don't continuously control them, even in the utopia of Star Trek.

So in the first place, the complete disallowance of genetic augmentation in the Federation is harmful. But then what do you do with people who were augmented either way, as a humane and just society? Especially when they didn't have a choice in the matter because they were a child? Do you accept them and take care of them, recognising that if you teach a child it is fundamentally different and therefore deserving of ostracisation and scorn, it will start to hate those who are different from it? Will you allow them to lead normal lives, with normal careers, like normal people? Will they be allowed to have children and start families, like normal people? Will you allow them the dignity of a peaceful life?

No, why would you? The ones that turn out poorly are tossed into a hole and forgotten about! The ones that turn out well you presumably don't hear about, because they can hide it better! Ignore the problem exists, why not? Whatever could go wrong?

Which then also becomes difficult to watch as a disabled person, because that's what the "failed" Augments are, they're disabled. Whether they display autistic traits or OCD symptoms or other mental (or physical) impairments, they are disabled. They may or may not have been disabled before their augmentation, but they certainly are now. And so their treatment becomes an issue of how the Federation treats its disabled citizens. And the answer seems to be: not very well!

So the ongoing storylines with Augments, and the 'organic android' storyline in Picard season 1, are two different sides of what is essentially only a debate on disability rights, and whether or not we deserve to exist. It's a conversation that gets so little nuance from the shows, but one that requires it.

The show could have gone the nuanced route. Legalise genetic augmentation so you can regulate it. Outlaw the modification of children and those who cannot consent. Give people the choice to change their bodies, should they desire or see a need to. The better you regulate it, the more you can prevent cases like the people in DS9, the more you can use the techniques to help people, the less you ostracise the people who did get augmented or who would like to get augmented.

But instead, all sides of the conversation within the series are advocating for eugenics, for genocide. Khan and his Augments, wanted to eradicate non-Augments, who they see as lesser, as inhibited, as small. Richard Bashir, and presumably the parents of the other augments, wanted to get rid of their children's disabilities and impairments. And the Federation is trying to eradicate Augments, by denying them lives, livelihoods, by ostracising and scorning them and throwing those you can visibly tell are different into a cell somewhere you don't have to think about them.

And I, as a disabled person, would simply like to watch Star Trek without being reminded that people would want me dead.

[prokopetz]

"Oh no, [game publisher] was doing so well reforming their depiction of [biologically evil fantasy species], why did they suddenly backtrack" they didn't backtrack, bro – that was the plan all along. It's a trick.

One of the standard ploys in the gaming industry whenever they get pushback about how depicting a particular fantasy species as biologically evil isn't a good look is to do a little storyline that's like "no, see, there were some good ones, but then the bad ones killed them all; they made themselves biologically evil through self-imposed eugenics policies, so that makes depicting them like that okay".

Popular game publishers have been doing this song and dance for thirty years. Hell, Wizards of the Coast in particular has done it at least half a dozen times in that span.

[fancyfade]

Talia and Ra's interactions

JLA 45

Anyway this is validating some of this mid plotline.

Should note that Batman Chronicles 8, where Talia partakes in the attempted assassination of Bruce (and just decides not to do it at the end) is a case before this where Talia participated in assassination. I guess Mark Waid was reading DCUguide comics chronology for Talia, which leaves that comic out for some reason. :P

A no prize explanation could be if she considers the fact that it was just between her Ra's and Bruce and Ra's was clearly using it to test/prove her loyalty means it's different. IDK.

[arovaricious]

End intersex surgery

Give all bodies our autonomy

Fight against eugenics

[coolerdracula]

like if you’re obsessed with mr “no personality traits other than loving eugenics” maybe you don’t have to derive your online aesthetic from his actions of … *checks notes* loving doing eugenics. just a thought. maybe we don’t have to center our whole “thing” around the fictional nazi. have we considered that