Eccentric Flower talk:200906/Son of Linkage

Iain:

as I say, even if you prefer boys, surely half a brain would show you that deliberately creating a huge population imbalance is not a good idea. But no. Apparently there is not half a brain at work here.

I point out, purely for the sake of argument, that people don't make decisions like that on a "what's best for the country" basis, but on a "what's best for me" basis. Given a society that prizes males that highly above females and a state that enforces a one-child limit with draconian vigor, you're going to wind up with this sort of result.

It's going to be interesting to see how China (and, to a somewhat lesser extent, India) decide to refocus their excess males. Apart from a rather strong encouragement of emigration, if I were Russia, I would be very worried indeed. They've got the opposite problem -- rampant depopulation across the board -- and there's going to be all that oil-laden Siberian expanse with so very few people in it...

-- 20:06, 8 June 2009 (BST)

Columbina:

I find

"People don't make decisions like that on a 'what's best for the country' basis, but on a 'what's best for me' basis"

and

"Apparently there is not half a brain at work here"

to be roughly synonymous statements in this context. If we can't occasionally work toward a greater good, what was the point of becoming a highly evolved mammal in the first place?

The underpinning of this gripe is that I wouldn't be such a misanthrope if we were better-evolved. I mean, we're still pulling crap that was rookie mistakes for Neanderthals.

-- 20:18, 8 June 2009 (BST)

Iain:

I mean, we're still pulling crap that was rookie mistakes for Neanderthals.

And we et 'em all up, too, so you can see how well enlightened non-self interest worked out there!

Also, having now seen Kymm's entry, I want to write something called "The Rage of the Gays."

-- 20:26, 8 June 2009 (BST)

Danima:

The comments at volohk are a truly elegant conversion of several modes of mass transportation into a single physical location. It's not like watching a train wreck; it's *better*. I can't look away.

-- 20:43, 8 June 2009 (BST)