Reply #100: "Mongoloidism" [View All]

[outinforce]

I understand that there are still some people who insist on calling Downs Syndrome "mongoloidism". I happen to have a nephew who has Down's, and his mother is hurt every time she hears that term.

That said, I wonder if you have any factual evidence to demonstrate your assertion that a son procreating with a mother or a father with a daughter is aloways going to result in genetic anomolies. I could be wrong, but I don't think that is the case. It is certainly more likely that two recessive genes may come together and cause some genetic defect, but isn't that always the case?

And it does rather sound to me as though you really do think the government should be in the business of doing what it can to prevent the birth of "mongoloids". "Mongoloids" are often born to people who are not related, except by marriage, to one another. Would you suggest that if a couple gives birth to one mongoloid child, that it would be acceptable for the government to forbid them from having any more children, unless they first consent to an amniocentesis -- to guarantee against any "genetically malformed" people being born?

It would seem to me that if you advocate government control and restriction in order to control the spread of mongoloidism, you would also want to see that parents of one child submit to government regulation in order to ensure that they have no more children with "mongoloidism".