Response to a call for justification
My understanding of queer theory is that it is a critique of the labelling and catagorisation of sexual identity and gender identities and the roles and assumptions which come with them in society.
It challenges the notion that identity is fixed, and instead aims to show how 'homosexuality', 'heterosexuality', 'female' and 'male' are socially constructed and enforced. It aims to reveal that each individual holds complex nauances and varying degrees of gender and sexual fluidity through out their lives which in turn influences behaviours, preferences, and choices.
Not only does it provide a valuable deconstruction of the heteronormative discourse which contextualises society by revealing its mechanisms of dichotomous catagorisation - gay/straight, female/male - and the limiting effects this has on social roles and freedoms, but more importantly, it advocates for the expression and acceptance of an infinite spectrum of sexual and gender identities. Queer theory demonstrates how each person's experience of sexuality and gender is valid, unique, and potentially transformative.
As for your topic of discussion, personally I find eugenics quite sad and mistaken - the notion of a selective genetic breeding and shaping of the population to me, neglects to remember the importance of the social, emotional, intellectual and spiritual progression of humanity.
Additionally, eugenics influences only the proportions of physical traits (physical structure/propensity towards diseases ect) which are more likely to be passed on in successive generations. It has no bearing that I know of on intelligence, as the potential the human brain holds to learn and develop is subject more to early environmental and social factors such as education opportunities afforded, and positive attidudes and reinforcement to learning from family and peers, or disadvantages like early exposure to alcohol and drugs in the womb and other psychological factors creating a negative external environment
In biology, Darwin and Lamarck once believed that parents could pass on adaptations acquired within their lifetimes to their children ('Lamackism'). This was found not to be true. Intelligence is an acquired trait, not a heritable one!
Finally, eugenics is known to be a puristic philosophy, one which purges diversity, and seeks to destroy minorities. We queers are one such minority which would hold no place in the politics of eugenics. Personally, I am happy to keep diversity alive, and to work towards improved social and cultural understanding, even if it is a bumpy and long ride at times.
As for not deliberately choosing to have children with a 'dumb person', aside from the growing over-population of the world, and my preference for 'quality' over quantity, I personally believe that evolution through intergenerational breeding is simply too slow, and that education, community living and global connection are the keys to fast-tracking larger-scale understanding and evolving towards a more conscious and aware human culture.
In the 60s, LSD culture fostered 'communitas' where groups of people lived together in a state likened to 'a primordial union'... where usual societal divisions of rank and responsibility were bypassed, and little importance was placed on personal property and social conformity. There was a belief of being 'synched in' to things of greater mystical and spiritual signifiticance and also to each other.
Not only was LSD enjoyed socially, but until the 70s it was used in government funded research for its transformative healing properties for psychiatric patients with long-term anxiety, depression or schizophrenia. It's ability to do more good in dismantling psychological blocks and emotional fears for patients in a few small doses, than years or decades of psychotherapy had rendered was recognised.
At that time some people such as Timothy Leary advocated for the wide-scale use of LSD so its psychoactive properties could 'turn on the minds of all members of society' and awaken the world collectively. Others such as Aldous Huxley believed these things best to be used with discretion, by individuals who were most ready and most likely to benefit from them - intellectuals, artists, economical and political leaders - in order to nurture positive societal transformation from the top down.
Entheogens aside, many avenues for empowered learning and self-actualisation are available to us within our lifetimes. And due to an increased flow of information through the internet, leading to a quicker globilisation and the merging, creation, and revitalisation of a myriad of cultures - it does feel, that the world is speeding up. (According to some physicists, time *is* speeding up, as the universe expands the Schumann Resonance or 'heartbeat of the Earth' has increased from 7.83 cycles/second in 1980 to now 12 cycles/second..!)
And as time quickens, both the natural and the social worlds we are living in seem to be speeding up in conjunction, conspiring to achieve a heightened and more connected collective consciousness. Our recent spate of snow-balling global natural disasters - floods, cyclones, earthquakes - I take as evidence of a 'wake-up call' to a more 'connected-to-each-other-and-to-nature' consciousness.
Education, increasing community connection, and the recent global communication and access to instantaneous information through internet has wrought so many changes already, and done much to alter the growing shape of culture, and to a degree, to disintegrate many old prejudices and discriminations in the last couple of decades alone. Humanity is moving forward, and I believe that empowering education, more community and nature connections, and quality global communication will be the best modes with which we can continue to do so...!
It challenges the notion that identity is fixed, and instead aims to show how 'homosexuality', 'heterosexuality', 'female' and 'male' are socially constructed and enforced. It aims to reveal that each individual holds complex nauances and varying degrees of gender and sexual fluidity through out their lives which in turn influences behaviours, preferences, and choices.
Not only does it provide a valuable deconstruction of the heteronormative discourse which contextualises society by revealing its mechanisms of dichotomous catagorisation - gay/straight, female/male - and the limiting effects this has on social roles and freedoms, but more importantly, it advocates for the expression and acceptance of an infinite spectrum of sexual and gender identities. Queer theory demonstrates how each person's experience of sexuality and gender is valid, unique, and potentially transformative.
As for your topic of discussion, personally I find eugenics quite sad and mistaken - the notion of a selective genetic breeding and shaping of the population to me, neglects to remember the importance of the social, emotional, intellectual and spiritual progression of humanity.
Additionally, eugenics influences only the proportions of physical traits (physical structure/propensity towards diseases ect) which are more likely to be passed on in successive generations. It has no bearing that I know of on intelligence, as the potential the human brain holds to learn and develop is subject more to early environmental and social factors such as education opportunities afforded, and positive attidudes and reinforcement to learning from family and peers, or disadvantages like early exposure to alcohol and drugs in the womb and other psychological factors creating a negative external environment
In biology, Darwin and Lamarck once believed that parents could pass on adaptations acquired within their lifetimes to their children ('Lamackism'). This was found not to be true. Intelligence is an acquired trait, not a heritable one!
Finally, eugenics is known to be a puristic philosophy, one which purges diversity, and seeks to destroy minorities. We queers are one such minority which would hold no place in the politics of eugenics. Personally, I am happy to keep diversity alive, and to work towards improved social and cultural understanding, even if it is a bumpy and long ride at times.
As for not deliberately choosing to have children with a 'dumb person', aside from the growing over-population of the world, and my preference for 'quality' over quantity, I personally believe that evolution through intergenerational breeding is simply too slow, and that education, community living and global connection are the keys to fast-tracking larger-scale understanding and evolving towards a more conscious and aware human culture.
In the 60s, LSD culture fostered 'communitas' where groups of people lived together in a state likened to 'a primordial union'... where usual societal divisions of rank and responsibility were bypassed, and little importance was placed on personal property and social conformity. There was a belief of being 'synched in' to things of greater mystical and spiritual signifiticance and also to each other.
Not only was LSD enjoyed socially, but until the 70s it was used in government funded research for its transformative healing properties for psychiatric patients with long-term anxiety, depression or schizophrenia. It's ability to do more good in dismantling psychological blocks and emotional fears for patients in a few small doses, than years or decades of psychotherapy had rendered was recognised.
At that time some people such as Timothy Leary advocated for the wide-scale use of LSD so its psychoactive properties could 'turn on the minds of all members of society' and awaken the world collectively. Others such as Aldous Huxley believed these things best to be used with discretion, by individuals who were most ready and most likely to benefit from them - intellectuals, artists, economical and political leaders - in order to nurture positive societal transformation from the top down.
Entheogens aside, many avenues for empowered learning and self-actualisation are available to us within our lifetimes. And due to an increased flow of information through the internet, leading to a quicker globilisation and the merging, creation, and revitalisation of a myriad of cultures - it does feel, that the world is speeding up. (According to some physicists, time *is* speeding up, as the universe expands the Schumann Resonance or 'heartbeat of the Earth' has increased from 7.83 cycles/second in 1980 to now 12 cycles/second..!)
And as time quickens, both the natural and the social worlds we are living in seem to be speeding up in conjunction, conspiring to achieve a heightened and more connected collective consciousness. Our recent spate of snow-balling global natural disasters - floods, cyclones, earthquakes - I take as evidence of a 'wake-up call' to a more 'connected-to-each-other-and-to-nature' consciousness.
Education, increasing community connection, and the recent global communication and access to instantaneous information through internet has wrought so many changes already, and done much to alter the growing shape of culture, and to a degree, to disintegrate many old prejudices and discriminations in the last couple of decades alone. Humanity is moving forward, and I believe that empowering education, more community and nature connections, and quality global communication will be the best modes with which we can continue to do so...!