*Several edits to add links, and fix broken ones.
I'm sitting in Constitutional Law II, waiting like a crocodile, literally in the shadows with the light over my seat out. The first stupid comment today, from a repeat offender...
But in the meantime, an inebriated Amber has requested in the comments that I discuss two headed children. I learned a long time ago to placate inebriated Amber with bagels, cream cheese, ramen, beer, and now, two headed children. So, well, what can I say, having a spare head that has, oh, about as many signs of sentient life as Terri Schiavo, is really, really weird. I know it happens in nature all the time, but still, a head that blinks, has brainwaves, and moves its mouth when the other head nurses it odd. My knee jerk reaction was that 500 years ago in western Europe, or today in most of the 3rd world, such a child would be rather swiftly eliminated from the gene pool and the mother suspected of unnatural intercourse with the devil. ( for that matter, it would not be prudent to leave a two-headed alone with my grandmother for long). I find it disturbingly hypocritical that on a personal level I think a 3 headed, 6 legged frog is interesting, almost pet-fodder, and a two headed baby turns my mind towards infanticide.
The ethical issues of removing heads, especially if similar to a two-headed snake, the extra head was completely functional is difficult. It, I suppose brings entirely new meaning to the pro-choice arguments about removing an unwanted growth. On a male baby, removal of a spare head would be darkly ironic in that way, I suppose.
What does one call it if such a person kills one head? abortion? body modification? homicide? suicide? How many souls does it have? How many social security numbers? What if the head that runs the body abuses the other head(s)? Credit Rating? Employment? and the list goes on and on.
Well, too complex for me, time for lunch...
I'm sitting in Constitutional Law II, waiting like a crocodile, literally in the shadows with the light over my seat out. The first stupid comment today, from a repeat offender...
But in the meantime, an inebriated Amber has requested in the comments that I discuss two headed children. I learned a long time ago to placate inebriated Amber with bagels, cream cheese, ramen, beer, and now, two headed children. So, well, what can I say, having a spare head that has, oh, about as many signs of sentient life as Terri Schiavo, is really, really weird. I know it happens in nature all the time, but still, a head that blinks, has brainwaves, and moves its mouth when the other head nurses it odd. My knee jerk reaction was that 500 years ago in western Europe, or today in most of the 3rd world, such a child would be rather swiftly eliminated from the gene pool and the mother suspected of unnatural intercourse with the devil. ( for that matter, it would not be prudent to leave a two-headed alone with my grandmother for long). I find it disturbingly hypocritical that on a personal level I think a 3 headed, 6 legged frog is interesting, almost pet-fodder, and a two headed baby turns my mind towards infanticide.
The ethical issues of removing heads, especially if similar to a two-headed snake, the extra head was completely functional is difficult. It, I suppose brings entirely new meaning to the pro-choice arguments about removing an unwanted growth. On a male baby, removal of a spare head would be darkly ironic in that way, I suppose.
What does one call it if such a person kills one head? abortion? body modification? homicide? suicide? How many souls does it have? How many social security numbers? What if the head that runs the body abuses the other head(s)? Credit Rating? Employment? and the list goes on and on.
Well, too complex for me, time for lunch...
posted by Bob at
12:07:00 PM
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