[identity profile] tealterror0.livejournal.com 2012-04-09 08:02 pm (UTC)(link)
When I beta'd this chapter, one of my comments was "Holy crap. Wizards are assholes." ;)

But seriously: Wizards really are huge assholes. :O

[identity profile] shinygobonkers.livejournal.com 2012-04-09 08:10 pm (UTC)(link)
methinks mr. hucksteen in particular be a winner of a rather large asshole prize. i get the feeling that this was less about claudia being a squib in itself than somehow related to trying to attack/get back at/put in his place a rival through his kid which is...:/

several US states had sterilization programs as part of the whole eugenics pseudoscience movement so in any case its not wizards only on the asshole thing...
Edited 2012-04-09 20:11 (UTC)

[identity profile] tealterror0.livejournal.com 2012-04-09 08:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh yes, he was undoubtedly trying to get at Abraham. The natural question, then, is why?

Yeah, I knew about eugenics. It was...well, not a very good time in our history to say the least. But at least we Muggles managed to get rid of those laws before the 80s...

[identity profile] shinygobonkers.livejournal.com 2012-04-09 08:32 pm (UTC)(link)
according to wikipedia, the last legal forced sterilization in the US occured in 1981...

[identity profile] tealterror0.livejournal.com 2012-04-09 08:44 pm (UTC)(link)
I didn't know that. I can't find any details about it though, so there may be extenuating factors.

On the other hand, while researching I did find this out:

1) In the 1970s Richard Nixon had Medicaid give "voluntary" sterilizations to poor people, mainly minorities.

2) Today, 17 countries in the European Union sterilize people who want to legally change their sex.

So, um...yeah. Maybe in this area we are as asshole-ish as wizards are. :(

[identity profile] shinygobonkers.livejournal.com 2012-04-09 08:55 pm (UTC)(link)
yeah, also in the 50s-70s population control was a big thing in international development in the sense of belief that controlling population expansion in developing countries was key to economic development, which led to international institutions supporting some...unfortunate things. indhira ghandi in India specifically took the whole forced sterililization to ridiculous lengths...i took a women in the world economy class once and we watched this horrifying video...one part had this doctor who was like 'I can sterilize 100 women a day no problem! if it wasnt for those pesky restrictions i could do even more!' :/

[identity profile] tealterror0.livejournal.com 2012-04-09 09:13 pm (UTC)(link)
...Holy crap. Every time I think I can't get more cynical...

Compared to that, I suppose China's one child policy can be considered the lesser of two evils.

[identity profile] kerneyhead.livejournal.com 2012-04-09 09:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Thing is, considering that China's one policy is relatively even handed (one for everyone) and has some justification given the circumstances it is an improvement over eugenics programs that bluntly target people who others decide just shouldn't breed.