Forum Overview :: Biohazard: Code Veronica :: Senor Barborito MetaFilter Post

[quote name="Senor Barborito MetaFilter Post"]The biggest example that sticks out in my mind is the sweeping excess of security we've seen in the United States lately. It may be good for your child, and as a result many of my formerly sane friends are advocates of the Patriot Act because things like libraries surrendering checkout lists of patrons doesn't affect their children. This is detrimental to the formation of a healthy, progressive society . . . at least in my opinion. The entire gated community nesting instict is at odds with a diverse, dynamic, and liberated populace that I believe makes for a better society than one ruled by the nameless fears and boogeymen lurking in the shadows that currently plagues the mind of American parents. Consider the vast repression of personal liberty afforded to schoolchildren and the overreaction to the slightest sign of aggression in our modern era - these are directly attributable to this same phenomenon, and I believe that this repression has a greater longterm detrimental effect on the whole of the school populace than minor physical harm (a few fistfights, etc.) does to a few. In place of a few cuts and bruises and important life lessons we have factory-produced citizens who consider current limitations on their freedoms a relief when they emerge from our educational system. As to the latter half - you're misplacing cause and effect. I am suggesting that lack of general intelligence and education results in a slightly higher likelihood of breeding, and (far more) a much greater tendency to produce more than two children. One can certainly breed without being an idiot. Finally, saying that breeding causes people to become stupid is a vast oversimplification because raw intelligence doesn't factor into it. Rather it triggers a refactoring of personal priorities with the wellbeing of one's offspring as the greatest good - and that wellbeing may be at odds with the liberty of the greater populace. posted by Ryvar at 7:04 PM PST on March 2 [/quote]