• qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website
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    3 months ago

    Not sure if you’re trying for eugenics, but it certainly sounds like you are.

    Incentivizing sterilization probably means that marginalized groups will preferentially take advantage of it (well-off people can already take long vacations, etc.). So now we have a disproportionately sterile lower class, while the upper class can have kids as they see fit.

    Don’t get me wrong, overpopulation is a real thing. But e.g. Japan’s declining birth rate doesn’t seem particularly happy, and I’m not sure government sponsored sterilization bribery is great either…

    • Bye@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      By that argument, the lower rate of reproduction is western countries is eugenics, since it’s a consequence of policy (education).

      Actually one of the best things that poor folks can do to escape generational poverty, is to have fewer kids. That way, kids inherit a larger share of their grandparents assets, and more can be passed down. Generational land ownership, for example, is extremely powerful. Fewer children per family also lowers the financial burden of education, enabling better education for comparatively fewer people. That’s not eugenics, it’s smart family planning.

            • Bye@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              Any policy can disproportionately affect the birth rate of one group vs another. Is improving abortion access eugenics? Is incentivizing having children via the tax code eugenics because those incentives are stronger for some groups compared to others? Is for-profit healthcare eugenics because it makes it more difficult for poor folks to safely have children? Are fossil fuels eugenics because they lead to higher infant mortality in poorer industrial areas?

              No, none of those things are eugenics