Everybody’s favorite malignant baboon of a congressman — Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa — is one of those politician dudes who opposes abortion SO HARD that he even opposes it in cases of rape and incest.
Today, speaking to the Westside Conservative Club in Urbandale, Iowa, he offered a defense, of sorts, of this position, by suggesting that if we erased all the children of rape and incest from human history that we wouldn’t have much human history left — and not many humans left at all.
What if we went back through all the family trees and just pulled out anyone who was a product of rape or incest? Would there be any population of the world left if we did that?
Considering all the wars and all the rapes and pillages that happened throughout all these different nations, I know that I can’t say that I was not a part of a product of that.
Huh. The fact that bad shit used to happen all the time in human history doesn’t mean that we should keep doing that bad shit for history’s sake. Countless women in history were re-traumatized by having to raise children conceived in rape and incest. Let’s maybe leave that in the past, huh?
You can watch the whole horrible thing in the video below.
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“Mentally defective genes” are not the reason that rapists are rapists, and cut out that ableist bullshit here.
However, if rapists were turfed out of society, we would almost certainly have a better, less horrible society. Not because of bullshit gene determinism, but because of social dynamics. A society that doesn’t tolerate asshole behavior will have less asshole behavior, regardless of where the genes come from.
See: the case study of the baboon troop who had all their aggressive males die out and developed a much more caring, empathetic culture; when baboons from outside the original troop joined, they also adopted the caring practices:
https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.0020106
@Victorious Parasol
Could agree more about troll’s these days. Nothing about seagulls, no links to tangental articles, not even a respectable wall of text. Trolling has just gone downhill.
WWTH:
TBF, at least some people in the past were undoubtedly born from rape and incest – likely more than today. King is probably overestimating the number in his mind, if only because so much of US abortion debate revolves around “rape and incest” exception. These conservatives think it’s worth forcing women to have dangerous DIY herbal abortions if there’s any hope it will deter a few women from trying.
Though King’s argument still doesn’t make sense. Should we now abstain from abortions because any child born in our time will likely be an ancestor of many people in the distant future? Or whatever he thinks is the connection.
@Moon_Custafer, Lumipuna
Conservatives like to pretend abortions can be retroactive. At least, a number of antichoice protestors have shouted at me “What if you were aborted?” or something like that.
@Naglfar
Obese is a term with a lot of history of pathologizing a body type. Please do not use it as if it’s a neutral word.
I almost wish that Republicans actually were confused about how causality works, instead of being the bigoted, empathy- deficient assholes that they are.
“We can’t allow abortions in the case of rape and incest because then every person who was ever born from rape or incest would cease to exist!”
“We can’t enact gun control because then the soldiers in the American Revolution wouldn’t have guns to fight the British off with!”
“We can’t remove statues of racist assholes because then we’ll be removing them from the timeline and it will cause untold ripple effects that will change our present to something unrecognisable!”
At least that way they might be able to be shown that legislation isn’t a time machine and can’t affect the past.
@moregeekthan
Some days it’s just not worth it to go out for silflay. 😉
@kupo
I’m sorry. I did not mean my comments as derogatory to any group. It was intended to rebut Sack’s (obviously derogatory) comments. I was unaware that the term was considered pejorative, as I had mostly heard it in medical contexts. I am sorry to anyone that I offended, and I won’t do that again.
I would never have been born if my grandfather hadn’t served in the British navy in WWII. This doesn’t mean I have to support future invasions of Poland.
I said it yesterday and I’ll say it today: Iowa police, please obtain a warrant to search Steve King’s residence for missing women.
@Kätzenjammer:
Ditto, except father and Royal Artillery. Also, I wouldn’t have been born if my parents’ first son hadn’t died at a young age, but this doesn’t mean I have to oppose decent healthcare for kids.
@Naglfar
No problem. I know it’s widely used by medical professionals and that makes it so most people are unaware of the stigma or how it’s systematically used to refuse patients treatment, and that makes this a very uphill battle for fat activists. Thanks for being understanding. 🙂
Well, I was going to lament the fact that I missed the latest troll, but honestly this last one was so dull I’m kind of glad I was busy.
Disappointing troll is meh….
@Gaebolga:
I know! The troll didn’t even come with any history to correct. I’m so disappointed.
I also have to wonder… would his tune change if he found if the pregnancy was from a black or Hispanic man raping a white woman. Because I think it would. And I’m guessing he would be in favor of forcibly aborting the embryo even if it wasn’t the result of a rape.
@Things Come Undone : while other people already talked on the topic, I would like to insist on *how* spectaculary wrong and nonsensical is the expression : “the psychopath gene”
You see, almost all characters come from the combination of differents genes. There is at least nine genes involved in the color of your eyes. For more complex abilities, the number go up – there is thousands and thousands genes involved in cerebral development.
There is also a *LOT* of traits who aren’t entirely, or at all, genetical. Your height isn’t entirely genetical for example. It’s probable that the personality of someone is only very partially genetical, since the search for genes involved in specific behavior have been wildly unsuccessful.
The second problem that expression have is that it feed the myth that they are good and bad genes. That’s a seriously wrong and problematic belief, which have led to horrors both by americans and nazis. One of the two most common example are how having a darker skin is an advantage close to the equator, and a drawback closer to the pole ; the other classic example is a variation of a gene which if you have one of your two copy mutated you’re immune to a nasty parasite, and if you have two mutated copy you have a nasty genetic disease.
To tie with your example, it’s rather probable that there is several hundred or thousands genes who participate to empathy and ambition. If their variations are all tilted toward not having empathy, the bearer probably have a predisposition to be a psychopathe ; but if all are tilted on the other direction, the bearer probably have other problems.
The third problem is that talking too much of genes remove human agency. While the genetic make up of someone have probably a lot of influence on what he can do, it’s important to remember that at the end of the day, humans still make choices and aren’t piloted by their genes (or God, or anything else). Even if I lust way too much about someone, the reason for that is still that I am an asshole in some ways, and not that I have the horny-for-redhead gene.
The two last point is important to me, because in the end, they are the kind of discredited science used by nazis to make themselves look like realists. While 90% of the people who misuse genetic don’t mean harm with them, it’s important to remember what they allow.
@Miri
Yes, precisely ?
@Catalpa
That’s fantastic to know about the baboons. Thanks for sharing that article.
@kupo, Naglfar
Just backing up kupo with a real-world example: a friend of mine went in to see an endocrine for not having ever had a period and having massive weight gain since the time menses should have struck. She was told that because her thyroid came back normal, there was nothing more that could be done, no more teats, absolutely nothing doing, until… she lost weight. Because being obese was causing all her problems.
When she went in for that being a symptom, having been a rail-thin child all her previous life. No tests for PCOS, Cushings, any of the shit I’ve been tested for, just the failed thyroid test and then a diagnosis of “Welp, everything wrong with you is caused by obesity and your moral failing of eating like a hog”.
She is now afraid of going to the doctor and has tons of untreated medical problems. It took 3 months for me to persuade her to go to the doctor for black discharge from the breast.
Obesity shaming from doctor has real consequences.
I truly love the fact that David hasn’t blocked Sack yet.
Can you imagine being such a waste of human skin that even when you post obviously derogatory bait to incite a reaction, that reaction is a tepid “Meh. It’s more trouble to block this pathetic and pusillanimous purveyor of puerile poppycock than it is to come up with this alliteration.”?
The funny thing is, I just thought to myself “I sense the sounds of mockery! I should go check out WHTM to see the object of derision! I’ll bet it’s Sack again.”
Looks like I was right. Maybe it’s time to hit the casino.
It is significant that before I knew what Fatrelle looked like, I knew what Fatrelle looked like. After confirming via Google Images, I said: ah. Yes.
@Sack
I still don’t know how David’s weight is significant in any way here. The only significant thing here is how your juvenile attempt at mockery demonstrates your lack of independent thought or creativity. Maybe you can try coming up with something intelligent or at least interesting for me to rebut.
lol ? they’re still trying SO HARD! Imagine being THIS thirsty! I’d be embarrassed for Sack if I wasn’t having such a lark laughing at them.
Keep stepping on those rakes, Sack!
When you’re a less entertaining troll than Richard in the other thread, you really need to reevaluate your life and your choices.
Nah. Because that’s the point: it’s such a simple and obvious statement. But it needs to be made again, and again, and again.
Steve King: famous, wealthy, fit politician.
David Futrelle: Obese (proof). Broke (proof). Shut in (proof).
@Sack : so basically you say nothing about thoses two people ? Because none of the thing you say have any importance.
I recently read “War Against the Weak”, an excellent social history of eugenics. One point made abundantly clear in the book – eugenics, as theorized and practiced, was based on wholly inadequate science. You can’t make ‘better people’ by limiting the right of ‘bad people’ to reproduce, or encouraging the ‘good people’ to do so. The Bene Gesserit, the Howard Families, and the Marching Morons are science fiction.
Regarding the OP, King is what looks back at you when you stare too long into the abyss.