I can't describe how horrible and sad this makes me feel. I almost get sick thinking about this. How could anyone in there right minds take the life of a newborn child?
I find it hard to understand how people can simply shrugg it away by saying "well if the child is suffering." Life is suffering. A child's first experiences in the world are the painful ones of birth. We are living in a culture that has become afraid of pain.
We all have varying measures of pain in our lives. Some of us are called to endure more than others. And sometimes, as in these cases, a cure is possible. These children are living beings, that have rights to their own lives.
They aren't dogs to be put down.
I find it odd that you have a quote from Heinlein's "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" at the top of a page on which you express your disgust with the idea of killing newborn handicapped babies. One of the main characters in the book, Wyoming Knott, mentions having a baby that "had to be eliminated because it was a monster". Also, I'm reasonably certain that there are other passages in the book where characters speak in favor of "euthanasia" for eugenic reasons, but I don't have a copy handy to confirm this.
ReplyDeleteWell I have to say that I have never read that particular Heinlein book. Though I have read The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Citizen of The Galaxy, Starship Troopers, and The Puppet Masters.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that attracted me the most to Heinlein's writtings is his character's quest for freedom, and there was always an aspect of classical sci-fi in all of his stories. It's always the individual vs. the collective. It's always about someone's rights being violated. It wasn't a surprise considering that Heinlein was a self confessed Rational Anarchist.
That being said Heinlein was a nudist. I'm not. Heinlein was an atheist- I think he was fooling himself. Heinlein liked the idea of one world government. I think that's inconsistent with his belief system. Heinlein didn't have a problem with polygamy. I do.
So it wouldn't be surprised, to be quite honest, if Heinlein was in favour of euthanasia and eugenics.
Although I would find both to be in contradiction with the viewpoints he's expressed in the novels I've read from him so far.
The quote stays up, because Heinlein remains the quintensential freedom loving classical sci-fi writer of the 20th century. Perfect he most certainly is not.
I would just say, that where he was good, he was unbeliably good.