Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Snip those fat guys!

So in California the state is sterilizing guys for being fat, in an effort to get those fat genes out of the gene pool.

http://www.pnmj.org/0032205_curing_obesity.asp


Good Lord.

I can think, offhand, of about nine different behavior patterns I’d like to see cut from the gene pool – being a Winger, tailgating, and using leaf-blowers being right up there at the top of the list – but there are really good reasons why we don’t just start weeding, folks.

Look up the genetics behind malaria sometime, for a nice thought exercise: there’s one.

Look up the eugenics movement at the beginning of the previous century for another.

Here’s a third: maybe fat guys have other genes attached to them that maybe we might like to keep in the gene pool – like, oh, I don’t know – intelligence? Creativity? Not being an asshole? You weed out the genes for obesity, those genes go with them. I’m not even a geneticist, I just did a few years as an anthropology major, and even I know that.

Also, notice what the medical report says about the program they are imitating:

"The program's roots began in countries such as India and China , where the respective governments of those countries are attempting to stem the tide of overpopulation. Sums of money are paid to men who submit to voluntary vasectomy. The program is highly effective, given that the incentives for action are both a limit to overcrowding (societal concern) and monetary gain (personal concern). Given the effectiveness, The San Francisco Medical Society took note and took action. "

This program is sterilizing guys at random -- random folk from the gene pool who don't want to have kids. There's no attempt at eugenics at work here.

Whereas our buddies in California have an agenda:

"By offering such a highly effective form of birth control freely to men who, by clinical diagnosis, have been deemed genetically inferior to the normalized median of homo sapien development[by which they mean, they have decided these guys are too fat], such a gene line would effectively be eliminated. "

There is a giant difference between trying to cut down the overall size of a population and trying to weed out specific genetic strains from a population. These guys don't need to pretend they don't know that, either.

Fuckwits.

1 comment:

zelda1 said...

If you want a male child, easy. If you want a child that is inferrior genetics free, easy too. But fat genes have not been that easy to isolate. I see why they are doing this, after all, Californian's still wear shirts that say, "Harpoon a fat lady and keep the beaches beautiful." So, it isn't surprising that they are now trying to continue guranteeing the perpetuation of those beautiful beaches by lower the risk of those terrible obese children. Well, the truth is that while fat people are not so desirable in some people's minds, some scientist theorize that the reason of the genetic fat gene is that it is one of the survival genes in case of a food shortage. Guess who would last the longest. Not that skinny assed model or actress, or those skinny men or pumped up on steroids men. Nosiree, it'll be all those people whose thighs rub together and whose bellies giggle when they walk. Yup, it's those people who will live to perpetuate the species. How dare those Californians allow such a thing. If there is one thing I have learned since turning a half a century old: people come in all shapes, sizes, colors, beliefs, intelligence, and personalities. The other thing that I have learned is that it isn't what is on the outside but what is on the inside that matters and truthfully most of what is on the outside has made the inside of that person who they are and how they respond to their world and to their fellow worldians. I have yet to find a fat person who has ever not been able to empathize with the underdog. Shame on Arnold for letting his state act in such a backwards way.