andros already showed why this is has better points against it then for. However, you still don’t have a case, even if he never posted. The “slippery slope” arguement is already a real danger, and soon after this law comes into effect, I bet we will see people pointing out the registration as a recognition of dangerous people, and greater action should be taken against them.
annonymoniymonininity:
Finally somebody spelled the word correct!
I’m OK with the mutant, but please … no Irish.
… are mongoose blood and Gingold soda goimg to be on the “restricted substances” lists?
I hope not. Not only do those not lead to the type of mutation mentioned here, but the day the gov. tries to take away my abilty to stretch, or the ability to run real fast is the day I <This message censored by order of the Sentenal Supreme. Return to the last page.>
This is such a non-issue.
You guys are just making this whole thing up in order to have something to rant about.
This is a good point. Actually, those who are HIV+ are a perfect paralellll (extra l’s added to make sure I have enough). They can be dangerous to others, especially if they do not know of their condition, and there’s still an unfortunate tendency to view them with fear among general public, especially the ignorant ones.
The ethical way to treat mutation registration is to handle it as all other sensitive medical information. What we do here in United States of Europe is to test all newborns for various medical conditions. The information is kept strictly confidential, but all parents get a list of likely problems to look out for, and those who need it will also get reminder letters from the Department of Health if there are conditions which are likely to be triggered at some specific age. To take one example: I got a reminder letter at 12, telling me that my nearsightedness was likely to set in within a few years, and could thus get corrective treatment at the first onset of the problem, instead of having to wait until I noticed that I couldn’t see things clearly. (I read a diary written by an ancestor of mine in the 1980’s, and it seems like that’s what happened to her. Seems like the stone age, to me.)
So, test everybody, keep the info strictly confidential, and have some kind of support/treatment center which contact those who are at risk.
And yes, I do know that there’s a danger of confidential information getting loose. You don’t have to remind me of the latest scandal in Brussels. It’s not a perfect solution, but it seems to be the best one available.
I would say that this test should be administered at birth or even prenatally. We test for many dangerous things, and this is a dangerous thing - both to the child and the people around it. Test each baby, inform the parents of the result, and keep it strictly confidential.
Then I’ll oppose the actions urged by those people.
If the girl was attending private school or being home-schooled, I suppose you’re right.
But a solution doesn’t have to be perfect to be desirable. We do an instant background check on all people buying guns from a dealer. We do this in spite of the fact that a person can buy a gun from a private citizen with no such check. We don’t scrap the background check simply because there are circumstances in which it can be avoided.
“Register.” Not “punish.” With the lists kept private, no one is “known” as out of the norm, as you suggest, and not punished thereby.
Others may not. We all know how convincing arguments can be when sprinkled with words like “imminent danger” or “threat to our country/liberty/freedom/society.”
You can’t compare being a mutant to owning a firearm. You can buy a gun. You can steal a gun. ou choose to own a gun. You can’t be born with a gun.
These people would be registered simply for being different. If someone proposed the Asian registration act, they’d be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail. Why is it okay for mutants? Because they could be dangerous? We don’t know that they are dangerous any more than we know any other person is dangerous. It doesn’t take mutant powers to be a danger.
No, but mutant powers help, especially when you can hospitalize thirteen people by accident, just by being you.
You can do the same in a car, just by being you.
I support registering dangerous drivers. If there were a test that could be administered at birth to ascertain whether a person is a dangerous driver, I’d support that test and the registration of its results.
Oh, and it’s not a perfect analogy. Dangerous drivers aren’t dangerous just by being themselves. They make choices. Mutants don’t make the choices, and the girl who hospitalized thirteen people didn’t make the choice. It just happened.
So for one person, a whole group should be persecuted?
And who will decide if a driver is dangerous, Microsoft?
:rolleyes:
The Supreme Court would rightly strike down the Asian Registration Act.
Classifications based on race aare inherently suspect, and must pass the strict scrutiny test.
The mutant gene is not a racial characteristic, and classifications based on it are not inherently suspect; the government needs only to pass the rational basis test.
Certainly anything like a official register could be used for negative purposes–every bit as much as the national census could be misused if handed to the wrong person.
The important issue here is that, regardless that humans with extra powers could just as equally help out the nation as harm it–there is no way to assess these powers and deal with them in a proper way without them being registered.
In the case of rogue mutants for instance–a mutant could kill a person with only the power of his mind from a mile away. How can we expect the police to determine who the culprit is when the victim simply fell dead where he stood? Thr only way to solve such a crime might be an exhaustive search of the capabilities of local mutants. Most will not have been able to commit the crime in such a method and they can be ignored, leaving a list of names to check and see if there is any connection to the victim. There is nothing nefarious in that–and simply an organized system of law and order cannot continue without the powers of and the knowledge of the mutants living in our towns and cities.
So then it would be okay to have a Registration Act for Down’s Syndrome; a genetic mutation…because we can’t have those people with their lesser abilities becoming a danger to us…yes? or would you consider Down’s Syndrome to be part of the Mutant Registration Act? What about Sickle Cell?
Does any genetic deviation from the norm count as a mutation or does one have to have the specific “X” gene to count? How would it be constitutional to allow registration of one type of genetic mutation and not the other?
Why does my “X” gene that allows me to grow red nose hair require me to register for the Act, but Timmy’s Down Syndrome doesn’t?