# I didn't feed them enough! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 18, 2008, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-feed-them-enough/453304 "2008-06-18T04:39:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-feed-them-enough/453304/41 "2008-06-23T18:38:23Z")
[QUOTE=eleanorigby] Oh, brother. :rolleyes: I am not worried about my “ethical” lines. I am conveying feelings of strong anger, disgust, horror, dismay despair and other negative emotions–I ran out of words and my thesaurus isn’t handy. How is sterilization unfair? Never mind–I really don’t want to know your answer. You don’t need to save me from myself, really–it’s ok to express thoughts and feelings about this appalling situation in strong terms. They don’t have to hold any ethical (or even logical) line–they’re\* feelings\*. _Feelings_ are the heart of the matter—but not negative ones. In my humble opinion, you’re letting _compassion_ cloud your judgment, as badly as rage. > [@](#): > > What will likely happen is that they will go to prison–how does that help the mentally ill mom? Dad I’ve pretty much written off–she may have been out to lunch but he was still a viable member of society What good would prison do? It reinforces the concept that in a society of laws, actions—even atrocious ones—have consequences. That there are certain basic standards of civilization that each person must live up to. _Your_ feelings seem to be that commiting an atrocious act is grounds enough for insanity—because only an insane person could commit an atrocious act. Such reasoning leads to a situation where only thing you have to do to escape penalty for a crime is to commit it. There is as much reason to assuming that he’s as “crazy” as she is, or that she’s as sane as he is. But we’re back to feelings again—and you say you’re not “out for blood,” and that it would be unfair to punish someone too insane to be held responsible for their actions—there’d be no logic to acting on feelings of anger, and disgust. But at the same time you seem to use those same feelings to justify taking action against people who, by your own logic, are effectively guiltless. Merely sick people who, if treated, are now normal again. “How does it help to sterilize normal people? What purpose does it serve?” If feelings alone are enough to remove a person from the gene pool, they’re surely also enough to clap them in irons. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-feed-them-enough/453304/42 "2008-06-23T18:41:28Z")
[QUOTE=eleanorigby] Oh, brother. :rolleyes: I am not worried about my “ethical” lines. I am conveying feelings of strong anger, disgust, horror, dismay despair and other negative emotions–I ran out of words and my thesaurus isn’t handy. How is sterilization unfair? Never mind–I really don’t want to know your answer. You don’t need to save me from myself, really–it’s ok to express thoughts and feelings about this appalling situation in strong terms. They don’t have to hold any ethical (or even logical) line–they’re\* feelings\*. _Feelings_ are the heart of the matter—but not negative ones. In my humble opinion, you’re letting _compassion_ cloud your judgment, as badly as rage. > [@](#): > > What will likely happen is that they will go to prison–how does that help the mentally ill mom? Dad I’ve pretty much written off–she may have been out to lunch but he was still a viable member of society What good would prison do? It reinforces the concept that in a society of laws, actions—even atrocious ones—have consequences. That there are certain basic standards of civilization that each person must live up to. _Your_ feelings seem to be that commiting an atrocious act is grounds enough for insanity—because only an insane person could commit an atrocious act. Such reasoning leads to a situation where only thing you have to do to escape penalty for a crime is to commit it. There is as much reason to assuming that he’s as “crazy” as she is, or that she’s as sane as he is. But we’re back to feelings again—and you say you’re not “out for blood,” and that it would be unfair to punish someone too insane to be held responsible for their actions—there’d be no logic to acting on feelings of anger, and disgust. But at the same time you seem to use those same feelings to justify taking action against people who, by your own logic, are effectively guiltless. Merely sick people who, if treated, are now normal again. “How does it help to sterilize normal people? What purpose does it serve?” . If feelings alone are enough to remove a person from the gene pool, they’re surely also enough to clap them in irons. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-feed-them-enough/453304/43 "2008-06-23T19:10:32Z")
Let’s try that _again_… [QUOTE=eleanorigby] Oh, brother. :rolleyes: I am not worried about my “ethical” lines. I am conveying feelings of strong anger, disgust, horror, dismay despair and other negative emotions–I ran out of words and my thesaurus isn’t handy. How is sterilization unfair? Never mind–I really don’t want to know your answer. You don’t need to save me from myself, really–it’s ok to express thoughts and feelings about this appalling situation in strong terms. They don’t have to hold any ethical (or even logical) line–they’re\* feelings\*. [/quote] _Feelings_ are the heart of the matter—but not negative ones. In my humble opinion, you’re letting _compassion_ cloud your judgment, as much as rage. > [@](#): > > What will likely happen is that they will go to prison–how does that help the mentally ill mom? Dad I’ve pretty much written off–she may have been out to lunch but he was still a viable member of society What good would prison do? It reinforces the concept that in a society of laws, actions—even atrocious ones—have consequences. That there are certain basic standards of civilization that each person must live up to. _Your_ feelings seem to be that commiting an atrocious act is grounds enough for insanity—because only an insane person could commit an atrocious act. Such reasoning leads to a situation where only thing you have to do to escape penalty for a crime is to commit it. There is as much reason to assuming that he’s as “crazy” as she is, or that she’s as sane as he is. But we’re back to feelings again—and you say you’re not “out for blood,” and that it would be unfair to punish someone too insane to be held responsible for their actions—there’d be no logic to acting on feelings of anger, and disgust. But at the same time you seem to use those same feelings to justify taking action against people who, by your own logic, are effectively guiltless. Merely sick people who, if treated, are now normal again. “How does it help to sterilize normal people? What purpose does it serve?” If feelings alone are enough to remove a person from the gene pool, they’re surely also enough to clap them in irons. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-feed-them-enough/453304/44 "2008-06-23T20:39:49Z")
Are you any fun at parties,\*\* Ranchoth\*\*? all I can do is thank you for pointing out my logical inconsistencies and avoid you by going back for more chips and dip. I think you’re full of it, but I’m going to go now. I now feel stabby. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-feed-them-enough/453304/45 "2008-06-24T08:45:18Z")
[QUOTE=eleanorigby] Are you any fun at parties,\*\* Ranchoth\*\*? [/QUOTE] I think time and events have long proved by now that, no, I am not. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-feed-them-enough/453304/46 "2008-06-24T10:34:43Z")
[QUOTE=eleanorigby] Are you any fun at parties,\*\* Ranchoth\*\*? all I can do is thank you for pointing out my logical inconsistencies and avoid you by going back for more chips and dip. I think you’re full of it, but I’m going to go now. I now feel stabby. [/QUOTE] Lucky stabby! ---
**Author:** ![Mellivora\_capensis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mellivora\_capensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mellivora_capensis)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-feed-them-enough/453304/47 "2008-06-24T11:28:47Z")
Reminds me of Dave Pelzer and _A Child Called It_. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-feed-them-enough/453304/48 "2008-06-24T15:05:22Z")
[QUOTE=Ranchoth] I think time and events have long proved by now that, no, I am not. 😉 [/QUOTE] Oh, Christ–thank you, a saving grace! Here, have a canape. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-feed-them-enough/453304/49 "2008-06-24T18:34:00Z")
Could we please stop using the term “father” when referring to the sperm doner here? He doesn’t meet any definition of the term that I recognize. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-feed-them-enough/453304.md?page=2)