I can't decide whether or not we're doing a good thing with health and medicine and everything. I mean, if somebody has some kind of debilitating genetic deformity, and it's possible that this could be passed down to their children, are we doing the right thing by saving them? I don't mean like if we can cure them, but just that we can keep them alive long enough for them to breed. Isn't this sort of thing going to screw us over later? Won't this result in a weaker populace, as these deformities spread and eventually make a huge percentage of the population have them? Are we in our right to save these people, or should we just let nature run its course?
This is sort of a big problem for me. Asthma, which I have, can be passed down from parents. In a natural setting, without the comforts of society, I'd be pretty screwed. Was it the right thing to do to let me live? Because I can't say that we should let natural selection work itself out without considering the ramifications for myself. Would it be wrong for me to have children? I don't know. Is my life torturous enough because of this to make it that big of a deal? I don't think it is, but what if my children felt differently about it? Is it worth that risk?
It's sort of a similar deal with the way we keep old people alive for so long. The people who can't see, can't hear, and can't move. What are we accomplishing by keeping them alive? It's really for our own sick benefit, because most of these people would probably rather just be dead than have to live like that, but we do it anyway, because it would be considered "wrong" to just pull the plug and let them die in peace. Sometimes the Hippocratic Oath doesn't work out so well.
Of course, none of this applies to non-hereditary traits. So even though in the wild, somebody born blind would be pretty screwed, nowadays I don't think it's wrong to keep them alive. It all has to do with the gene pool. What you have to ask yourself is are we in the right to let these kinds of people breed?
Be careful so you don't start sounding like you believe in genetic superiority, some sicko will come down on you. Not me, I totally understand what you're saying, but "anonymous" might not. Or he might blame it on the government like he does 9/11.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, here's something that bugs me along these lines. Where I work, a nearby high school has some of their special needs students come here 3 mornings a week and clean and stuff. Most of them are great, it's super super helpful to us, and I'm sure they benefit somewhat as well. HOWEVER there is one girl who is in a wheelchair and has no cognitive awareness that I can see at all. So, someone sticks a feather duster in her hand, props her arm up on the arm of her wheelchair and pushes her up and down the halls so she can "dust" the chair rails. Seriously? Who is this benefitting? Well, us I guess, our chair rails are clean, but she doesn't even know where she is, let alone what she's doing. Is this worth dressing her, taking her out in the cold, have the handicap bus drive her over here, wheel her in through the snow, take her coat off, and push her up and down the halls with a feather duster dangling from her hand. Dumb.
Oh, sorry, I'm on my work computer, and my name didn't come up. This is your Aunt Jill.
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