The misfits and weirdos roster
I guess we’ll have to start paying attention to this Andrew Sabisky fella.
Downing Street has refused to condemn controversial past remarks on pregnancies, eugenics and race reportedly made by a new adviser.
This appears to be why Dawkins was musing aloud about eugenics yesterday, with such stimulating results.
Labour said Andrew Sabisky should be sacked for suggesting black people had lower average IQs than white people and compulsory contraception could prevent “creating a permanent underclass”.
Compulsory contraception for…whom? The parents of the future permanent underclass? How would he know which those were, exactly? Cue Dawkins explaining that it would totally work and we shouldn’t confuse that fact with whether it’s a good idea or not.
Mr Sabisky, appointed after the PM’s chief adviser Dominic Cummings called for “misfits and weirdos” to apply for jobs in Downing Street, has been contacted by the BBC for comment.
Define “misfits and weirdos.” Be sure to include “according to whom?” and “in what context?”. Show your work. Cite your sources.
Is Sabisky into craniometry by any chance?
Making cheap (or free) contraception available by choice would probably do more to prevent a “permanent underclass”, especially if you gave women the right and the means to make their own decisions about child bearing. And if you quit constantly going on about women’s needs to reproduce and the need for more taxpayers to support a bloated system.
@iknklast Your general point is true But in the UK, contraception (including abortion) is free. And access is reasonably straightforward, at least in urban areas (maybe not so much in rural but that’s not exclusive to reproductive health.
But this Sabisky fellow seems nice. I bet he fits right in at Number 10.
Re: Dawkins – yes it would have been nice for him to give that context. But even if he had, he was still wrong. Some people on Twitter have noted that artificial selection =/= eugenics and he’s conflating the two. Someone might need to explain that to him. Not that he would listen, he’s rather Trumpian in that regard.
Good riddance, Mr. Racist.
https://www.ft.com/content/3e0c31fc-5186-11ea-8841-482eed0038b1
Drat, paywalled. Maybe this one.
https://news.sky.com/story/number-10-adviser-andrew-sabisky-quits-after-controversial-comments-unearthed-11936738
Yes, but the most important thing is whether in the notices publicizing these services they use the word “women”, as that would be transphobic.
@YNNB Marie Stopes uses “women” and “girls”. The general NHS website uses the pronoun “you” because it addresses the reader directly. I’m pretty sure it did that even when I lived in the UK, because it talks about condoms and STI’s which are relevant to everyone who is sexually active.
As a general follow-up comment to YNNB’s good point about language point because it comes up time and again and it really chaps my hide.
I work in women’s health in low and middle income countries. That means I am interested in reducing maternal and infant mortality, reducing the risk of other pregnancy-related complications, including pre- and postnatal care, broadening access to contraception and abortion services, and disorders of the female reproductive system. I don’t have time for this TRA bullshit and neither does a pregnant woman in Ghana trying not to die from preeclampsia.
So accuracy, clarity, and precision in language can actually save lives.
Gosh. Who knew? /s
Claire, that’s true, and sometimes I do get a bit US-centric, where the idea of free contraception is perceived as sluts wanting honest, hard working men to pay them to have sex (with other men, not the honest, hard working men paying for it). But the other part of my comment is still the case in the UK, and everywhere – there is some expectations of society that women should have babies, and that they naturally must have babies to be happy and fulfilled. Babies are valued over women everywhere, and the messages women receive end up being decoded to: have babies if you really want to be women.
If only the TRAs would take on that message and get rid of it…then they would be doing some good.
According to today’s Guardian, Andrew Sabisky has resigned. One misfit & weirdo less, but I expect there are plenty more would be ones on Dom C’s little list.
I still find it unfathomable why, if this were the context, Dawkins would choose to say that particular thing about eugenics (i.e., it would work).
Exactly so.
Re Dawkin’s tweet–
https://unherd.com/2020/02/eugenics-is-possible-is-not-the-same-as-eugenics-is-good/