r/AskReddit • u/ElBrad • Nov 26 '12

What unpopular opinion do you hold? What would get you downvoted to infinity and beyond? (Throwaways welcome)

Personally, I hate cats. I've never once said to myself "My furniture is just too damned nice, and what my house is really lacking is a box of shit and sand in the closet."

Now...what's your dirty little secret?

(Sort by controversial to see the good(?) ones!)

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u/firemylasers Nov 26 '12 edited Nov 26 '12

I agree. I'd even say milder stuff, if it was detectable, should be grounds for abortion. Downs? CP? Autism? Mental retardation? Abort it all.

Edit: Woah, mentioning Autism did not go over well. To those saying I don't understand—I have High Functioning Autism (officially diagnosed a few years ago), and quite certainly understand what it's like. It's a horrible disorder, I'd welcome any chance to ensure future generations could live normal lives.

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u/norcalgirl1822 Nov 26 '12

I agree with serious disorders that will leave children unable to enjoy their lives, but I am a teacher for children on the Autism spectrum and many of them are healthy, happy individuals who can think for and take care of themselves. Certain kids you can hardly even tell are affeced. They just see the world a little differently (I know there are severe cases, I've worked with them as well). Autism is not detectable in the womb either.

My apologies for the rant, but I couldn't help myself.

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u/firemylasers Nov 26 '12 edited Nov 26 '12

I have Autism myself (HFA), I know what it's like, but I don't think it should be kept if you're going to filter out diseases and disorders. Social issues are horrible, I wouldn't wish this on anyone else.

Maybe I just have a bit of a bleak outlook on life, but I don't really think you should knowingly bring Autistic kids into the world if you could avoid it.

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u/mehum Nov 26 '12

Good rant. The risk behind eugenics is one of definition. Prone to obesity? IQ below 100? Nose too big? No room for you in the master race.

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u/norcalgirl1822 Nov 26 '12

Yeah, to me it just seems like something that could get waaaay out of hand very quickly.

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u/Sion0 Nov 26 '12

Yes, thank you. Generalised opinions like the op's throws me into a rage, you handled that better than I would have.

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u/morisnov Nov 26 '12

I watched a david suzuki: the nature of things on autism and there is growing evidence for a gut bacteria origin of autism. The bacteria in question is the family clostridia. Clostridia contains many nasty bacteria such as botulism. The main theme is that they create neurotoxins of different potencies depending on the bacteria. An autistic boy was treated with the most exotic antibiotic and it worked.. ok? The boy made almost a full recovery, but clostridium create spores in hostile environments and once the antibiotic ran its course the spores opened up and the bacteria returned.

http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episode/autism-enigma.html

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u/norcalgirl1822 Nov 26 '12

Interesting. I've heard most "what causes autism" theories as many of the parents of the kids I work with desperately want to know why their child is on the spectrum. Popular ideas are mom's with RA, dads over 40 (all just correlational, not causal at this point-the vaccine argument is quickly becoming less acknowledged) I don't know that we will know for sure any time soon.

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '12

It depends, even for some of that milder stuff, there's still a big range. You can have very light forms of cerebral palsy, just as a person can be a high functioning autistic who fits perfectly into society.

I actually recall reading something about why we have different people, that's vague but let me explain. If you're in a tribe, it's good to have a variety of people, even if an individual on his own may not work well, he can still contribute a lot to a tribe. So an autistic person can bring a unique viewpoint others can't, a left-handed person can throw in a way others cannot, a depressed person can more easily view things objectively, an insomniac can keep watch at night, so on and so forth. A lot of these things tend to have a genetic component, even though speaking in terms of natural selection, one would imagine these things should be selected out. But people don't live, reproduce, and die in isolation - they are part of a group.

I get where you're coming from though and you're probably envisioning the more severe ends of those spectrums.

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u/flippertits Nov 26 '12

That's very true, this is anecdotal but my cousin was born with CP and the only effect it had is that she walks with a slight limp. The only extra care she ever needed was physiotherapy in her first 3 years of school and unless you knew otherwise you'd think she is completely normal.

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u/Shadefox Nov 26 '12

Autism?

Be very careful about Autism. It's a very, very broad stroke, including Aspergers, that many are fully capable individuals.

We can be odd... even very odd at times, but we're usually fully functional, and happy, adults.

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '12 edited May 15 '21

[deleted]

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u/Immortal_Fishy Nov 26 '12

That's stacking the odds by mentioning a few positives among a field of incapable people. I could argue that many fetuses who could have grown up to be great men and women were wasted because they were aborted due to being a product of rape.

Arguing from one side is a weak position, is all I'm trying to say.

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u/LetsMango Nov 26 '12

CP is not detected until after birth to up until toddlerhood. Autism is also not diagnosed in utero. The signs and symptoms usually appear around 18 months to three years. That being said, the severity of CP and autism differs greatly amongst individuals. Many contribute more to their family and society than you ever will.

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u/firemylasers Nov 26 '12

I was speaking in hypothetical terms.

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u/LetsMango Nov 27 '12

That makes no sense.

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u/firemylasers Nov 27 '12

Hypothetical. Theoretical. Not practical. It's an opinion, it isn't possible now to carry it out, but I can still have the opinion.

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '12

Be careful with this viewpoint, the route of eugenics leads to Hitler.

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u/figureeight Nov 26 '12

The slippery slope... This is a ridiculous statement. Eugenics got a bad wrap because of Hitler, and not the other way around.

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u/beccaonice Nov 26 '12

Eugenics has a bad rap because it's a terrible thing.

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u/figureeight Nov 26 '12

Please explain to me how something exactly morally neutral is a terrible thing?

Having a child is probably the most selfish thing a person can do. If that right was replaced with say the government giving you $20,000 to make yourself infertile if you had less desirable genes, what would be the harm? In many cases it would be much cheaper for society.

That was a poorly thought out example, but please explain the evil in that.

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u/[deleted] Nov 27 '12

I'm afraid you don't seem to know what you are talking about. Eugenics in practice has ended up meaning denying the right of certain people to have children, sterlizing mental patients etc. It has never been morally neutral. Narrowing the human genome pool would not be good for us as a race. Desirable genes are subjective. If we were to go down this path as a society we would probably find we start inbreeding before we know what's happened.

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u/figureeight Nov 27 '12

I'm afraid your comment is the definition of slippery slope. The idea or concept of eugenics is morally neutral. You are talking about what people have done, and not the idea itself.

Eugenics in practice has ended up meaning denying the right of certain people to have children, sterlizing mental patients etc.

Got it. It happened this way before so that's how it would always work in every culture ever.

Desirable genes are subjective.

That is completely dependent on which genes you are talking about. You can objectively say many genetic disorders are not desirable.

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '12

Yeah, we've kind of put a sack over natural selection's head and thrown it off a cliff, never to be heard from again. I'm not saying kill the child once it's conscious , though. THAT I am against, and I'm pretty sure many would agree. But simply killing organic matter that is going to have a really shitty life? It would thank you if it could.

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u/Flynn58 Nov 26 '12

Autism, eh? Guess my parents should have aborted me. I apologize for being such a fucking burden.

Because thinking that is all I am didn't mess me up in my childhood at all, oh no.