Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

We still don't have a cure for stupid.

This is a nature v. nurture argument if I ever saw one.

I'll have to note that the academic argument here pretty much has to be in favor of nurture by default.

[Firewind]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

We also have these dipshits to deal with:

You have huge dipshits like that in the UK too. One of the more facepalm worthy was the Moral Guardians and Anti Birth Control people causing a shitstorm about a teenage girl buying condoms because she was 15. However underaged teenage boys for some reason get a free pass. Thing is, these would have been the first people kicking up a shitstorm if that girl ended up pregnant. Apparently only teenage boys are allowed to be responsible in the UK.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

This is a nature v. nurture argument if I ever saw one.

I'll have to note that the academic argument here pretty much has to be in favor of nurture by default.

It's pretty much irrelevant which it is.

If it's nature, then keeping stupids from breeding improves the population by virtue of fewer stupids being born.

If it's nurture, then keeping stupids from breeding improves the population by virtue of fewer offspring being taught to be stupid.

[Firewind]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

Four things that depress me about the response to a soldier being straight up murdered by a crazy person (whose parents may well have been normal people):

1. Hijacking of something tragic for political means that makes me pray that some of the people in this thread aren't registered to vote.
2. The fact that people are even considering eugenics as a good idea, setting the world back a good 100 years.
3. The assumption that stupid people can ONLY have stupid kids and smart people can ONLY have smart kids regardless of genetic or environmental factors which is just frankly wrong.
4. That some people think they have the right to say who can and can't reproduce and that they have the right to take that away from people for failing to meet some arbitrary factors or some arbitrary test score.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposing change, actually I'm usually the first to advocate change. What I'm trying to say is that there's no miracle quick fix solution and even the approach I support which is; better education on what happens if you don't stick something on the end of it, access to education on what happens if you don't stick something on the end of it and access to birth control to everyone regardless of age, sex, sexuality or gender has obvious flaws, the most glaring being "Well you will have people that flat out won't listen anyway". Forcing people to be unable to procreate to me, just seems to be something that will cause more harm and problems than the benefits it could bring.

RISUG does actually seem to sound pretty promising and making it more widely available would be a major step up. Sure it doesn't stop STIs from spreading but given how lazy the majority of the population is it would be a major step up. As TM said, you wouldn't need to make it mandatory if it was cheap enough given just how convenient it would be to people since it means no more fumbling around for a condom, and/or women don't have to worry about chemically altering their body's hormone balance. Hopefully it will turn out to be safe.

[Taskmage]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

You have huge dipshits like that in the UK too. One of the more facepalm worthy was the Moral Guardians and Anti Birth Control people causing a shitstorm about a teenage girl buying condoms because she was 15. However underaged teenage boys for some reason get a free pass. Thing is, these would have been the first people kicking up a shitstorm if that girl ended up pregnant. Apparently only teenage boys are allowed to be responsible in the UK.

That actually makes sense. A teenage boy buying condoms is probably lying to himself. A teenage girl buying condoms is definitely going to have sex.

[DakAttack]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

Even in the rightest hands we could find, I can't imagine a standard we could use, whether academic, socioeconomic, or psychological, that wouldn't have innate racial and cultural bias.

I imagine it would be something more akin to acquiring a license to drive. There would be a course on pregnancy, raising children, education, and whatever else may be useful to know. At the end, you're required to take and pass a test before you're licensed to procreate. I think it would either give hopeful parents a lesson on what to expect and how to handle various situations or completely deter others by virtue of being a lengthy course that requires some amount of effort to complete. Otherwise, you're free to hook it up as long as you're using some form of contraception.

[Taskmage]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

I'm concerned that such a program would do as good a job at preventing bad parents as driver's ed does at preventing bad drivers, but in principle it doesn't sound too bad.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

To be fair, we hand out driver's licenses like candy and that's something that needs to stop too.

[DakAttack]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

Driver's ed prevents the worst drivers. We have nothing to prevent the worst parents.

[Firewind]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

That actually makes sense. A teenage boy buying condoms is probably lying to himself. A teenage girl buying condoms is definitely going to have sex.

Either way at least those teenagers are being responsible which is more than most adults can say. I'd rather a teenager actually be safe and responsible then end up ruining their life with an unwanted pregnancy.

To be fair, we hand out driver's licenses like candy and that's something that needs to stop too.

Same in the UK really despite of the number of hours of driving lessons you need before you're even allowed to take the test. Once you've passed the test then you can drive like a maniac all you want as long as you don't speed or drive without insurance, then the police will come down on you like you just steamrollered a box of babies. Funnily enough because it makes it look like they're stopping more crime they think it's a job well done even though it's doing nothing to stop actual serious crime.

But seriously forcing people to retake a driving test every 3 years would cut down on the number of idiots on the road and would also mean that males under 30 will actually be able to afford insurance and a car.

[Taskmage]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

As a side note, I think we need better urban design that gives people reasonably alternatives to driving by being more pedestrian-friendly and providing decent public transit. In some parts of the country, like mine, having a vehicle and being able to drive is basically required for life. It's almost impossible to get a job if you can't. The terrible screening process is at least in part related to the massive number of people who need to be screened and the economic importance of getting them through the screening.

[Firewind]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

Chester and Oxford are two cities where it is actually impossible to get anywhere by car unless you like sitting in traffic jams all day. London, Birmingham and Manchester are worse and are basically considered to be worse than living in Tokyo for if you want to drive through the cities.

Nottingham and Glasgow should be bad for traffic too but aren't, mostly because there are areas of those cities where if you stop, you WILL be robbed and/or carjacked at gunpoint at best. So nobody stops in those two cities, ever.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

Yeah, it'd be nice if our country had anything remotely resembling decent public transportation. I've got it pretty good where I live since I'm within walking distance of the metro and there's a fair number of bus routes, but it's still absolutely pitiful in terms of coverage and convenience. There's too many cars on the road, but no one's willing to make any meaningful investment in public transportation.

[Taskmage]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

This place sure is lively today.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

It's the friday before a holiday weekend. Work's been slow.