We May Never Truly Fathom Other Cultures • Hacker News Board

Re: We May Never Truly Fathom Other Cultures

#121

Post by mercutio2 » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 2:26 AM UTC

oldmanjay wrote: post #99

08-15 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Well, we abort children legally Fetuses. A fetus is not a child . I don't care about your opinion, but I do care about precise use of language.

The language nitpicking seems like a grand way to miss the point being made and rather poetically make the exact same point at the same time.

Likening abortion to infanticide is akin to equating copyright violation with theft of tangible property.

It's an evocative analogy, but it seems like a deliberate category error to many.

Of course, I think safe inexpensive abortion is a great societal good, not a mild civil crime worthy of a hint of disapproval, so my analogy doesn't really hold up very well.

Re: We May Never Truly Fathom Other Cultures

#122

Post by 08-15 » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 11:51 PM UTC

oldmanjay wrote: post #99

08-15 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Well, we abort children legally Fetuses. A fetus is not a child . I don't care about your opinion, but I do care about precise use of language.

The language nitpicking seems like a grand way to miss the point being made and rather poetically make the exact same point at the same time.

The point being made is "I think a fetus is valuable." I get that. Duh. But even if everyone agreed, a fetus is still a different thing than a child. Believe it or not, there is hardly any disagreement about whether "abortion" of children should be legal.

Saying one thing while meaning another doesn't make the point, it obscures it.

Re: We May Never Truly Fathom Other Cultures

#123

Post by makomk » Fri, Oct 14, 2016, 6:40 PM UTC

emodendroket wrote: post #41

flubert wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Abortion.

Oh. Well, whether the ancients would have made a distinction or not they didn't have the means to do it safely or reliably.

I've seen it suggested that abortifacients of various kinds and effectivenesses were pretty widely known and used, actually. The Catholic Church and cultures influenced by it may well be the odd ones out here.

Re: We May Never Truly Fathom Other Cultures

#124

Post by MawNicker » Fri, Oct 14, 2016, 7:31 PM UTC

chillacy wrote: post #113

MawNicker wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Psychopaths have the ability to not feel other people's pain. Super important distinction. Unless you're just hate-mongering. In which case sure, they're as good a scapegoat as any.

There seems to be some evidence that people who are highly psychopathic do have underlying physiological differences which give rise to reduced empathy: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090804090946.h... I think we all have the ability to not feel another's pain. For instance, dehumanization is a classic technique in war propaganda.

My notion of these people (developmental and increasingly genetic) is that they exist as the scar tissue of humanity. I fear this new propaganda will only leave more scars than the old.

Re: We May Never Truly Fathom Other Cultures

#125

Post by emodendroket » Sun, Oct 16, 2016, 7:26 PM UTC

makomk wrote: post #123

emodendroket wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh. Well, whether the ancients would have made a distinction or not they didn't have the means to do it safely or reliably.

I've seen it suggested that abortifacients of various kinds and effectivenesses were pretty widely known and used, actually. The Catholic Church and cultures influenced by it may well be the odd ones out here.

The "safely" and "reliably" qualifiers are important here. Consider this text from the WP article about the history of abortion:

> Soranus, a 2nd-century Greek physician, prescribed diuretics, emmenagogues, enemas, fasting, and bloodletting as safe abortion methods, although he advised against the use of sharp instruments to induce miscarriage, due to the risk of organ perforation. He also advised women wishing to abort their pregnancies to engage in energetic walking, carrying heavy objects, riding animals, and jumping so that the woman's heels were to touch her buttocks with each jump, which he described as the "Lacedaemonian Leap."

I don't think people prescribing "energetic walking" and bloodletting have really figured this out.