Re: Eugenics series, Part 2
While I find the idea of eugenics utterly abhorrent, I am not entirely following Kevin Begos’ argument. He makes excellent points about pushes for population control (which is a major driving factor in the birth control industry even today) and the push for the sterilization of minorities; however, he does not flesh out his connection between poverty and minorities. Mr. Begos may assume that the reader could easily draw a link between the need to sterilize minorities and his references to poverty, but I find his argument to not follow this.
He began this week’s article (“From bad to worse,” May 25) with a discussion of illegitimate children and the need to reduce the tax burden by caring for fewer poor through sterilization, and then he immediately jumps to minorities. This simply does not follow without some explanation of how he sees the two are connected. There were plenty of poor Caucasians, and in fact in our country I would say that connecting poverty to minorities certainly requires more explanation (as the majority of Americans are not and have not historically been upper or upper-middle class).
Mr. Begos makes valid points, but I would push him to be a bit more scholarly about his arguments and to make sure he’s not making assumptions without offering explanations.
T. Elyse Hopple
Raleigh
Editor’s note: Part 3 of this series, in this week’s paper, focuses on the sterilization of minorities.
Re: Desdemona
I think that Byron Woods missed the point in his assessment of Miranda Kahn’s Desdemona (“Larger than life,” review of Deep Dish Theater’s Othello, May 11). I’ve seen plenty of willful, nervy, haughty senator’s-daughter Desdemonas. What I loved was seeing one who was young, sheltered, naive, vulnerable, head-over-heels in lovebewildered and devastated by irrational abuse from the man she adored. Besides, in this interpretation, the senator was no powerhouse, but had a loving heartlike his daughter. I thought Miranda was wonderful!
Sally Walker
Chapel Hill
Re: Eugenics series, Part 2; Desdemona
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Re: Eugenics series, Part 2
While I find the idea of eugenics utterly abhorrent, I am not entirely following Kevin Begos’ argument. He makes excellent points about pushes for population control (which is a major driving factor in the birth control industry even today) and the push for the sterilization of minorities; however, he does not flesh out his connection between poverty and minorities. Mr. Begos may assume that the reader could easily draw a link between the need to sterilize minorities and his references to poverty, but I find his argument to not follow this.
He began this week’s article (“From bad to worse,” May 25) with a discussion of illegitimate children and the need to reduce the tax burden by caring for fewer poor through sterilization, and then he immediately jumps to minorities. This simply does not follow without some explanation of how he sees the two are connected. There were plenty of poor Caucasians, and in fact in our country I would say that connecting poverty to minorities certainly requires more explanation (as the majority of Americans are not and have not historically been upper or upper-middle class).
Mr. Begos makes valid points, but I would push him to be a bit more scholarly about his arguments and to make sure he’s not making assumptions without offering explanations.
T. Elyse Hopple
Raleigh
Editor’s note: Part 3 of this series, in this week’s paper, focuses on the sterilization of minorities.
Re: Desdemona
I think that Byron Woods missed the point in his assessment of Miranda Kahn’s Desdemona (“Larger than life,” review of Deep Dish Theater’s Othello, May 11). I’ve seen plenty of willful, nervy, haughty senator’s-daughter Desdemonas. What I loved was seeing one who was young, sheltered, naive, vulnerable, head-over-heels in lovebewildered and devastated by irrational abuse from the man she adored. Besides, in this interpretation, the senator was no powerhouse, but had a loving heartlike his daughter. I thought Miranda was wonderful!
Sally Walker
Chapel Hill