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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 9, 2024

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That gets rid of quite a few teenagers right there.

On a less flippant note, it takes all kinds. While you may reasonably measure drains on what you're conceptualizing as 'society at large' in terms of money spent, I am not at all sure that families of the developmentally disabled make that kind of judgment. Some probably do, sure. There are people who really thrive when needed, even when needed constantly. Caretaking isn't roses and good times, certainly, and bad decisions get made (your example of disrupted classrooms is a good example). I think there's a line here between concern for society and simple assholery and hatred of the dumbs.

On a less flippant note, it takes all kinds.

It doesn’t. It doesn’t take serial killers to make our society function. A nonverbal quadriplegic is not contributing in some ineffable but vital way to the fabric of society. A schizophrenic with unrestrained violent urges is not a cherished part of our beautiful melting pot.

You’re right that teenagers often have some of the qualities I would point to as worth filtering out from society; the difference is that those teenagers can generate be expected to grow out of it. Those traits are temporary. Whereas for the actually useless dysgenic people, the traits are not only permanent over the course of that person’s life, but will also very likely manifest in the next generation due to heredity.

I was more specifically talking about caregivers. You're right, though, this wasn't clear.