All The Young Dudes

Oh Lord! Praise Be They That Drag Their Knuckles…..

Oh Lord! Praise Be They That Drag Their Knuckles and Lag Their Brains. For theirs is the nadir of human progression.

Exactly what I thought when I read the latest media report on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill,
Couples Could Win Right To Select Deaf Baby, by Richard Gray, The Telegraph’s Science Correspondent, but more accurately, a Misrepresentation [or Misinterpretation] Correspondent. Positions which are pretty common in the media.

Jesus’s last word’s on the cross, have special significance for me now. “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do!”

Now I’m not going to refresh your jaded minds about this Bill, or the resulting campaign, you can do your own reading and research, by going to the source, STOP EUGENICS. Nor am I going to regale you with stark illustrations of hearing ignorance as to what constitutes disability, and how often it’s not the deafness that is the problem, and how their world actually contributes to the many of their perceived limitations of deafness [indeed, disability]. If you ask anything of the hearing, don’t ask them to think! The mop up operation would be just horrendous!

What I am gonna do, if I haven’t already, is throw out all pretense of impartiality and bi-partisanship, and go for the jugular. Hearing people are stupid. Hearing people are stupid. Come on Deafies, repeat after me. Insert as many four letter words as you feel appropriate. Then repeat the mantra. But really, you don’t have to do this to convince yourselves of their stupidity, they have already convinced us. By responding to a media misrepresentation of the issue, with their own uninformed views. How clever is that?

The irony in the hearing response to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, is that are doing the exact same thing they accuse us of doing. You must remember, the scenario, if presented with two embryos, one with the hearing gene and one with the deaf gene, and they choose the hearing one, they have engaged in eugenics. They are just using the excuse of eliminating disabilities or other negative and undesirable traits as a guise for their eugenic act. They are creating perfect hearing people [that's an oxymoron if I've ever heard one. Where one says "I Believe", and the rest reply "Bah!"]

Now having said all that, and enjoying venting my spleen, there was one rather enlightening comment to the article, Couples Could Win Right To Select Deaf Baby, someone who actually understands and appreciates, the diversity and the glory of humanity. The quote speaks for itself. I can’t say anymore. I’m all vented out.

52.This is possibly the very point where the real debate on ethics in genetic research takes place; not cloning, not hybrids, but this. Since we began to unravel the secrets of DNA the question has surfaced time and time again; What if we could change this? What if we could change that? And then the final question, do we want to? There can’t be many who would want to see a child born disabled (and I can’t imagine many deaf or blind parents actually choosing this for their children, even if the option were available), but then disabilities are a fact of life. We are human not only because of our achievements and our improvements but because of our flaws. Take homosexuality, for example. On the surface it does nothing to advance the species, contributes nothing to our evolutionary journey, and yet it happens. Remove it from our genetic make-up, and what would the knock-on effect be? One geneticist once joked, “Less ballet”, but it could actually prove if not cataclysmic then at leist seismic. It is impossible to say how much of a part sexual desire and deviant (in the truest sense of the word) variations on that theme have had in our development over the centuries. Take away a significant aspect of human sexuality (an aspect present in almost every other warm-blooded species you could care to think of) and who knows what the end result might be? The same could very well apply to disabilities. While nobody wants to see a fellow human being struggle or suffer, it may just be possible that the role disabled people play in our society is a part of what makes us, well… us.

There’s more irony afoot this bill than is apparent. Particularly amongst the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill’s main proponents. I’m not going to elaborate on this one. You know how to use the net. You do the research.

Should I ever, highly unlikely, but please indulge me, if ever I am presented with two embryos. Both with the hearing gene. My question will be, is it intelligent. If the the answer is no, or they can’t confirm it’s intelligence, then I will direct them to destroy the frigging thing. There’s enough intellectually bereft hearing people in the world today, whose first language is “Bah!” add another “Bah!” and we can all sing, “Bah Bah Black Sheep!”

Readings Of Note:

Stop Eugenics
The Good Doctor
Disability Now Coverage
MEDIA WATCH: The Certainty Principle
Hearing Beethoven
The Right To Remain Silent
Telegraph on ‘deaf babies’ we are still failing to get the message across
Stop Eugenics
ANALYSIS: The HFEB & Clause 14(4)(9) Media Feeding and Talkback Frenzy: Part 4
ANALYSIS: The HFEB & Clause 14(4)(9) Media Feeding and Talkback Frenzy: Part Three
ANALYSIS: The HFEB & Clause 14(4)(9) Media Feeding and Talkback Frenzy: Part Two
ANALYSIS: The HFEB & Clause 14(4)(9) Media Feeding and Talkback Frenzy
Deaf People & Genetics: Media Coverage, Part 2
Deaf People & Genetics: Media Coverage
MEDIA WATCH: A Cacophonous Din of Ignorance & A Sane Voice [More Linx]