Richard Dawkins has been in the news a lot lately, and most of it has been negative. Fist he went after trans people, and then in an interview he was asked about a previous tweet where recommended aborting fetuses that showed signs of Down’s Syndrome. He was basically defending eugenics.
On a personal note, I value his intelligence, his understanding of biology, but he’s always struck me as an officious troll who just wants to get others riled up. He comes across with the same type of fundamentalist thinking that fundamentalists of other groups use. “I’m right, there can be no opinions outside of mine, and I’m going to ‘evangelize.” To be clear, I’m not saying atheism is a religion, but the nature of fundamentalist thinking is similar amongst all groups.
In this latest case, he was asked to defend (by a father of a child with Down’s Syndrome) a previous comment where he said that it was ‘immoral’ NOT to abort a fetus with this particular disease.
“Abort it and try again.”
As if children (or potential children) were a batch of pancakes, and we could throw out the ones we don’t like.
One thing I have never liked about Dawkins is his approach to life. For him, as for all fundamentalists, life is all about the “value” one brings to the table. He has no interest in the mystery, the enigma that is life—that is humanity. Life is just a series of chemical reactions, random chaos and has no actual purpose other than we just happened to show up.
Whether or not he’s right, the idea that we could care for, and love someone who doesn’t match these ‘ideals’ for life is both profound and wonderful. That we seek to heal even while nature works against us. That we can connect to others in a perfectly altruistic way. For most of us, that’s our mystery. Living is a mystery, and our appearance here holds some significant value. “Why?” are we here. What makes us unique in the universe (if we even are)? What is the difference between life that has value or life that does not have value?
From a totally Nazi perspective, Dawkins eugenics makes sense: only bring in those lives that are just like us—just like we want them to be I (white, strong, muscular, male, blue eyes, wealthy…). Yet it’s ironic that most of the evilest people we know didn’t have any such diseases and wouldn’t have been noticed if we were to do a DNA test on them. Chairman Mao, Lenin, Trump, Hitler… at any point they would not have revealed their vile selves until after they were adults, and in power, and had destroyed millions of lives.
Maybe there really isn’t a response to this. On one level, the illogical side of logic, eugenics makes perfect sense. However, I am also human: with feelings. I experience love, hate, anger, compassion, empathy… These tend to be common to most of us, scientist and laymen alike.
My mom once told me she had considered abortion… but by that time I was thirteen, and it was way too late.
Jokes aside though, I have often felt like Job:
“Why did I not perish at birth, and die as i came from the womb:
~ Job 3:11
I personally have never clinged to life and would have preferred that I was never born in the fist place. I agree with Job. Though I have never gone so far as to curse my mother.
But no DNA test would have picked up on my personal struggles with life. I have struggled with suicidal thoughts most of my life (due to abuse, molestation, and mental challenges). But I don’t have Down’s Syndrome… nor anything else that could be picked up in a DNA test. So, what does that mean. Does this mean I’m better simply because I don’t have those things show up in a per-natal test?
Even though I struggle with my own challenges to find purpose in life, this is not true of everyone… and it’s especially not true of those who have dealt with other challenges. And I think, that’s what Dawkins forgets… life is about the experience, and there are those who want that experience, who welcome that experience, regardless of his opinion. Life is mysterious… why are we here? Dawkins doesn’t care. All he sees is the genome. But something… God only knows… wanted us here. Is it earth? Is it the sun? is it the galaxy? I wish I knew.
I have often been asked, as a pro-choice advocate, ‘what would I do if it were me…?’ Personally, I don’t know what I would do. But I do not think I would treat it as a batch of pancakes where I could simply make another.
Which brings me to the next question: What other imperfections would he screen out?