Once I tried to talk my friend out of the religious fanatism that she has gotten herself into. I suspected she has histronic personality disorder and she did mention more than once that she was more upset about being at being unnoticed and unpopular rather than being unable to commune with God or for having a weak faith. So after another emo session with her deploring her "ugliness" being the cause of her unpopularity, I sat her down for a good talk. I started off by trying to explain to her that there are people even uglier than her in this world, and how she should not use this as an excuse to diet and exercise like a fanatical moron. This is a rough transcript of our conversation:
ME: "Why do you think some children in this world are born deforned or defective in some way in mind or body?"
HER: "Erm, because of incest lor, It's their parents' fault"
ME: "What??? Who told you THAT?"
HER: "My Pastor lor"
Her answer shocked the hell out of me, I ditched her because I could tell what a lousy conversationalist she would be and I hated Mega Churches with a vengence ever since. I'm fully aware that it might be possible that she misconstrued the pastor because the other Christians that I know have never heard of such a thing. But give me a reason to hate mega-churches a littel more, will you? Anyway, this conversation raised many questions in my mind.
-Is this what religion teaches a person? Christianity's main tenant is to love and forgive everyone!
-Deformed people are a source of reflection that we should be happy with who and what we are. NOT as a source of criticism that they are like "this" because of some action in their past life or their parents' sin.
-What's the point of educating a person all the way to University level if they can't use their goddamn brains?
-What happened to all the science, biology and research topics that we've been given throughout our academic life? Shouldn't they help us to be more open to alternative and more realistic reasons as to how and why things happen?
When I ask this question to anyone else with a brain, that they know how to use, the answer is always linked back to genetics. When children are born like this, it's not because God is punishing their parents for commiting incest! It's just a matter of probability! Almost everyone has a defective gene somewhere in their DNA (we aren't perfect creatures) it can affect your offspring both positively or negatively. Unique traits such as eye color, jaw shape, hair color are all products of "defective" genes that branched off from the original DNA many centuries ago.
Children with deformities are unfortunate because the "wrong" gene was activated due to a freak of nature or because their parents didn't know they had recessive "problematic" genes. So you shouldn't blame the parents nor the children, they are equally innocent becaue it is something beyond their control. Besides, I always maintained the view that God frowns upon such stuff but he must be one heck of a bitchy bastard if he makes an innocent kid suffer for his parents' sin (if any).
Incest is a common sin worldwide, but normally they take pains to ensure that they conduct it discreetly and don't have children. I think every country in this world has laws against incest because it is established that it would result in long term inbreeding problems such as a concentration of genetic coding errors. From what I gather in my research, incest is fine for a few generations, but anything beyond 5 generations is problematic. How do I know this? From studying History!
The best example is the Habsburg Dynasty. Over the course of 500 years, they have intermarried a lot just to maintain power within the family. They are all Christians, so they don't practice incest in the sense of marrying within the immediate family (i.e. parents, siblings or first cousins). By the end of 500 years of marrying cousins, nieces, uncles, etc all the genetic errors accumulated into creating the disgusting Charles II of Spain.
Charles II not only suffered an extreme version of the Hapsburg lip, his tongue was said to be so big for his mouth that he had difficulty speaking and drooled. He also suffered from an oversized head, intestinal upsets, convulsions and, according to his first wife, premature ejaculation.
"He was unable to speak until the age of four, and could not walk until the age of eight. He was short, weak and quite lean and thin. He was described as a person showing very little interest in his surroundings," Professor Alvarez said. "He looked like an old person when he was 30 years old, suffering edemas [swellings] on his feet, legs, abdomen and face. During the last years of his life he could barely stand up and suffered from hallucinations and convulsive episodes," he said.
Taken from: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/revealed-the-inbreeding-that-ruined-the-hapsburgs-1668857.html
Let us take a look at this German couple- they are siblings who grew up apart and fell in love with each other after the death of their biological mother. Regardless of Germany's incest laws, they had 4 children together. The first 3 children were forcefully taken away from them and place in foster care. It raises the question of ethics- did the government have the right to take away a mother's child from her just because they feel her choice in their paternity was faulty? Their children are all fine and healthy individuals, is the fear of parental influence so great that it necessitates the heartbreak of a mother for the good of her children?
Taken from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6424937.stm
My post is going to be a lot more graphic from now on. I want to use pictures to prove my point "If deformity is due to incestuous parents, that's a very harsh price for their children to pay". In reality, these children are all by products of faulty genes.
Down Syndrome (Trisomy 21)
This is a picture with a kid with Down Syndrome. It is NOT because his parents are incestuous. It is because he has an extra Choromosome 21. Individuals with Down syndrome tend to have a lower than average cognitive abilities, often ranging from mild to moderate developmental disabilities. A small number have severe to profound mental disability. It occurs in approximately 800 to 1,000 births. It must be noted that these statistics are heavily influenced by older mothers.
Harlequin type ichthyosis
Call this baby a demon spawn or whatever and I swear I'll slap you. Children with this defect normally die very young due to infection or dehydration. I can only imagine the pain they are experiencing. The oldest survivor is only 24 years old.
The features of sufferers are deformed facially and cranially. The ears may be very poorly developed or absent entirely, as may the nose. The eyelids are severely everted (ectropion), which leaves the eyes and the area around them very susceptible to trauma. They often bleed upon birth. The lips, pulled by the dry skin, are fixed into a wide grimace (eclabium). Arms, feet, and fingers are almost always deformed in such a way that they cannot bend properly, and may be below the normal size.
Taken from: Wikipedia
It is a hereditary disorder caused by recessive genes. So means if the child's father and mother both have this gene stuck somewhere in their DNA, it might become a dominant gene in the child.
Siamese Twins
Conjoined/Siamese twins are identical twins or non identical whose bodies are joined in utero. A rare phenomenon, the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 50,000 births to 1 in 200,000 births, with a somewhat higher incidence in Southwest Asia and Africa. Approximately half are stillborn, and a smaller fraction of pairs born alive have abnormalities incompatible with life. The overall survival rate for conjoined twins is approximately 25%. The condition is more frequently found among females, with a ratio of 3:1.Taken from: Wikipedia
Two contradicting theories exist to explain the origins of conjoined twins. The older and most generally accepted theory is fission, in which the fertilized egg splits partially. The second theory is fusion, in which a fertilized egg completely separates, but stem cells (which search for similar cells) find like-stem cells on the other twin and fuse the twins together.
Again, they are borned like this due to freak of nature, not because their mother commited incest.
Neurofibromatosis
Neurofibromatosis (commonly abbreviated NF) is a genetically-inherited disease in which nerve tissue grows tumors (e.g. neurofibromas) that may be harmless or may cause serious damage by compressing nerves and other tissues. The disorder affects all neural crest cells (Schwann cells, melanocytes, endoneurial fibroblasts). Cellular elements from these cell types proliferate excessively throughout the body forming tumors and the melanocytes function abnormally resulting in disordered skin pigmentation.The tumors may cause bumps under the skin, colored spots, skeletal problems, pressure on spinal nerve roots, and other neurological problems.
Taken from Wikipedia
If either one of your parents has this gene, you have a 50% chance of getting it. So it depends on your luck. This is what the elephant man suffers from.
Ok, enough of graphic examples. Other genetic problems include: Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), Sickle Cell Disease, etc... Go read up more on your own.
Back to the topic, so is it fair for children to suffer from such deformities just because their parents' so called "sin"? Rubbish. Don't look down on these kids, EVER. Admire them and their family for having the courage to grow together and learning how to accept each other for who they are. These children have to grow up with the constant scorn and humiliation heaped at them by the so called "perfect" people who deem them to be misfits in society.
Think again, some of these people who are of "sound mind and body" end up being society's greatest parasites. They don't get proper jobs because they think the job and pay is beneath them, they ruin their health by taking drugs and alcohol, they refuse to study and spend their time loafing at the nearest shopping arcade leering at people, etc. And some of these people end up anorexic or bulimic because they think they are fat. By the time they are done damaging their bodies, even the starving kids in Africa look better than them. So who is worse off?
Ironically, the loudest voice decrying such children belong to religiously devout people. To them, it is easy to point a finger and screech "That child is a spawn of the devil, he is evil!" or "That child's parents must have commited a grave sin like incest for God to punish them with such an abomination" or even "That child's mother must have mated with an animal or the devil himself for such a child to be even born". That's just horrible, why has no one spared a thought for the pain that the child and his/her parents are undergoing?
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