Marketable Parenting Licenses

[Crown]

On principle I disagree with the idea entirely. Having met many genetic defects (not in the literal sense), and human excrement....License away!

[Newtonian Fury]

I believe China's policy is a good one.

Forced abortions and infanticide?

So far, the penalty for violating this rule is purely financial.

Wrong.

Do you actually know the fucking policy?! If not, shut up!

[Newtonian Fury]

Christians have no place in China. They should be all hunted down and re-educated. Infanticide is not a crime. They should not have any rights at all. Forced abortion is a good thing if it ensures the society's well-being.

[Colonel Olrik]

Do you actually know the fucking policy?! If not, shut up!

Are you chinese, by any chance? Just because it seemed a harsh response

As far as I know, there are some cases of infanticide amongs the rural population because of couples prefering to have a boy instead of a girl.

[Colonel Olrik]

Christians have no place in China. They should be all hunted down and re-educated. Infanticide is not a crime. They should not have any rights at all. Forced abortion is a good thing if it ensures the society's well-being.

All right a new village idiot. On behalve of those who are victim of infanticide, and as son of Christians, I say:

Fuck you, sir.

[Newtonian Fury]

HAHAHA

The abortion of female fetuses is a problem among the ignorant rural communities. Now, there is a female population inbalance. The government must be more aggressive in its gender equality lessons in school.

Christianity has spread like a blight by sending missionaries accross the globe. Sometimes, it subverts the population. Sometimes, it forcibly impose itself on the people. Ever since China have become more tolerant toward Western religions(and religion in general), some people have regressed back into superstition. With an aggressive Christian(and sometimes Islamic) missionary invasion, there must be a even more aggressive atheist response by the government to ensure proper children development.

I was not so clear on infanticide. I meant "infanticide", as pro-Lifers call it, inside the womb(i.e. Abortion). I definitely would not want killing babies once they're born. That was another problem with female babies and parents in China. Babies not yet born should not have rights. It only complicates issues and what needs to be done.

[Colonel Olrik]

Well, that's slightly better. I disagree with your views strongly, but what really put me off was someone supporting infanticide. Which is, btw, defined as killing little children.

[Newtonian Fury]

The definition of infanticide is used in so many different context in the US, depending on which group is using it. It just more and more confusing on what infanticide really means when you have pro-Life fundamentalists on one hand and neutral medical doctors on the other.

[XPViking]

Nick. Good point.

XPViking

[SWPIGWANG]

god, human life is cheap.

I guess even utilitarism would go the way of dust soon enough....

[Nick]

The definition of infanticide is used in so many different context in the US, depending on which group is using it. It just more and more confusing on what infanticide really means when you have pro-Life fundamentalists on one hand and neutral medical doctors on the other.

infanticide = killing infants.

An embryo is not a foetus is not an infant, no matter what some pro-life nuts might say.

On the effect of the one child policy in rural China: my understanding is that it actually resulted in full-blown infanticide. After all, you don't find many ultrasound machines in rural villages! In a rural context, the preference for male children over female children isn't even all that irrational (raw physical strength counting for a lot more than it does in an urbanised environment). This was a foreseeable effect - and the Chinese policy makers failed to take it into consideration. Now they are trying to deal with the consequences.

On Christian evangelists: err. yes they are very annoying. In China, on television, wherever. Hmm. . . I wonder if the Chinese or Indian governments could sue the Catholic Church for exarcerbating those countries' population problems?

SWPIGWANG: OK, you suggest a way of controlling human population growth, then. If you hadn't noticed, humanity no longer has any significant natural predators on the face of the Earth. The only two things with the capacity to control our population are our intelligence and our stupidity. Our intelligence does it by looking for fair and workable ways such that those who wish to have children can, while keeping the overall population growth down. Our stupidity does it by letting the population growth run wild until it finally outstrips the available resources, at which point famine and disease bring things back to a manageable level. We don't have an option here. Earth's carrying capacity is finite - we haven't reached it yet, but we will one day.

[Newtonian Fury]

On the effect of the one child policy in rural China: my understanding is that it actually resulted in full-blown infanticide. After all, you don't find many ultrasound machines in rural villages! In a rural context, the preference for male children over female children isn't even all that irrational (raw physical strength counting for a lot more than it does in an urbanised environment). This was a foreseeable effect - and the Chinese policy makers failed to take it into consideration. Now they are trying to deal with the consequences.

Actually, Chinese policy makers know something like this would happen. Parents killing female babies have occured long before any law. But the situation was very desperate. A bloated population coupled with an almost non-existent economy was an ingredient for starvation. The government had to attack this problem from two sides: expand the economy while reducing the population. And so far, this has worked. The Chinese population is decreasing; the economy is growing rapidly. Most children of this generation do not have to know what hunger is(unlike their parents).

The unfortunate side effect of this is that some parents would rather abort females. Ultrasound machines are now actually available in rural areas because of this. Like I said before, this has lead to an inbalance of gender population. There are literally more guys than girls. Marriage will definitely be a problem for their generation. But I am hoping that the government would come up with a solution with little or no side effects.

[Nick]

Actually, Chinese policy makers know something like this would happen.

I must confess that my knowledge of the situation is not particularly detailed - I had assumed that the planners had missed that particular consequence. I guess I didn't really consider the option that they recognised it, but considered it an acceptable risk.

Parents killing female babies have occured long before any law. But the situation was very desperate.

Now that you mention it, I seem to recall seeing something along those lines before. Something about female children being seen as not worth the food they would eat? Which would naturally lower the perceived risk of the OFOC rule, since if female children are getting killed anyway, then. . .

The unfortunate side effect of this is that some parents would rather abort females. Ultrasound machines are now actually available in rural areas because of this.

*nods* the one child one family polict certainly has it flaws, but as a drastic solution to a critical problem. . . I can't say I like it, but doing nothing was certainly not an option, and I can't point to any alternatives which would have been as effective. Interesting to know about the ultrasound machines, though.

And as far as poverty goes - AFAIK, of all the nations, China in recent decades has made by far the greatest strides in combating poverty.