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Search Results: eugenics

INTERNATIONAL

Singapore punishes women for living longer
- Sangeetha Thanapal
- 07 August 2018
2 Comments
Singapore has one of the world's lowest mortality rates, with a general life expectancy of above 80. Singapore's women outlive men by about five years, making the country second in the world for how long its women live. It seems the Singapore state has decided to punish women for it.
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AUSTRALIA

History of disability discrimination is present in Australia
- Justin Glyn
- 29 March 2016
9 Comments
People with disabilities have lived on society's margins since biblical times. In 1939, extending eugenics and sterilisation campaigns developed in the US in the early 20th century, Hitler authorised the vernichtung lebensunwerten Lebens ('the destruction of lives unworthy of life'). Unfortunately, not only has discrimination not been eradicated but those of us with disabilities, much like indigenous people, the poor, refugees and others with limited voice in society, continue to be seen as soft touches.
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RELIGION

How do we navigate medico-legal questions without a bill of rights?
- Frank Brennan
- 03 December 2015
The consideration of medico-legal problems in the public square of a pluralistic democratic society keeping pace with profound technological change is often marked by simplistic assertions, precluding considerations of comprehensive world views, whether religious or philosophical. It is now commonplace for doctors to be told to leave their consciences at the door, as their patients are consumers and they are suppliers and of course the market decides. Debates about law and policy are often resolved with simplistic assertions about individual rights and autonomy, with little consideration for the public interest, the common good, and the doctor-patient relationship. Even conscience is said to be a matter for contracting out. This evening I ask whether there are more compelling ways to resolve medico-legal dilemmas, while conceding a limited role for law in determining the range of acceptable answers.
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AUSTRALIA

Naming and renaming uni's racist monuments
- Jeff Sparrow
- 02 December 2015
7 Comments
For many years, historian Gary Foley has drawn attention to the racist past inscribed throughout the infrastructure of Melbourne University. Now, some staff and students are campaigning to rename facilities linked to particularly egregious individuals, such as the Richard Berry building, named after a leading eugenicist who stole the corpses of Indigenous people for research designed to prove the racial superiority of whites. While some accuse the campaigners of politically correct censorship, in fact the past has already been censored, and the campaigners are dragging it back into the light.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Ethical torture porn in genetics research
- Tim Kroenert
- 20 June 2013
During a lecture at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, biologist Geoff Burton speaks of the agonising genetic disorder that claimed the life of his infant son. He insists that his subsequent research into prenatal diagnosis and treatment is not related to eugenics. But merely naming the slippery slope doesn't negate it.
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AUSTRALIA

Angelina Jolie's pain is a gain for all of us
- Michael Mullins
- 20 May 2013
12 Comments
Angelina Jolie's rational choice to undergo a pre-emptive double mastectomy has shown that science can improve human wellbeing with the use of highly specialised surgical techniques. But other rational choices we might make, in favour of techniques that involve therapeutic cloning, would do more to undermine human civilisation.
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AUSTRALIA

Racist massacre in the Dominican pigmentocracy
- Jeremy Tarbox
- 01 October 2012
9 Comments
A Dominican drivers license specifies skin colour: white, light, dark, almost black or black. 'Black' likely brands the holder as a poor and inferior Haitian. Understanding this pigmentocracy is especially relevant now, on the 75th anniversary of the worst peace time human rights abuse of civilians in the Americas during the 20th century.
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AUSTRALIA

Infanticide and the spectre of eugenics
- Michael Mullins
- 05 March 2012
25 Comments
It's alarming that two Melbourne academics are arguing for the legalisation of infanticide. It is worth recalling that in 1939 academic argument led to the Victorian Parliament legalising eugenics, of which infanticide is a form. Fortunately it was never practised due to embarrassment over the Holocaust.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Cucumbers and climate change deniers
- Brian Matthews
- 08 July 2011
9 Comments
European Parliamentarian Francisco Sosa Wagner risked ridicule to defend the honour of cucumbers. He stands in contrast to Christopher Monckton, politician and professional climate change denier who has called Australian economist Ross Garnaut a fascist.
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MEDIA

Andrew Bolt and free speech
- Ellena Savage
- 01 April 2011
36 Comments
Some perceive the racial vilification case against Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt as a challenge to free speech. But this case is about more than silencing critiques of the construction of race, and indeed Bolt himself.
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ENVIRONMENT

Choosing the sex of your child
- Kevin McGovern
- 08 April 2010
3 Comments
The media has reported that Australia's ban on couples using IVF to choose the sex of their children might soon be lifted. Some of the supporters of sex selection for non-medical reasons are fertility doctors for whom there is a considerable financial incentive.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

'Freaks' on film
- Tim Kroenert
- 04 September 2008
1 Comment
In 1932, Todd Browning's Freaks sought to unsettle with the 'otherness' of its circus sideshow performer characters. A modern-day festival of films by and about people with disability emhasises not otherness, but humanity.
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Search Results: eugenics