Bill Bennett, Freakonomics, and Eugenics

Bill Bennett, that beacon of virtue who hits the slot machines and blackjack tables with the best of them, raised quite the brouhaha this week with his remark on his radio show, “if we wanted to reduce the crime rate in America, we could just go and abort all of the black babies.” He quickly added that he would never recommend this action, and that it would be abominable. The pundits quickly jumped on his comments, demonizing him as some delusional right-wing nut way outside the mainstream. But, really, taking a look at our culture, were Bill Bennett’s comments outside of the mainstream of accepted behavior? And, what does it say about us?

I am no fan of Bill Bennett. It is rather incongruous for someone with a gambling addiction to preach on virtues. Yet, I don’t understand why his comments have caused such an uproar in the liberal community. All he has done is make basically the same argument as Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner in Freakonomics, who justify Roe V. Wade on the grounds that it is a major factor in the precipitation of a national drop in crime over the past quarter century. The thesis: most of those who have been killed in-utero since abortion was legalized would have been born into poverty, the major factor in future likelihood of criminal activity. So, Roe V. Wade helps us kill off those who are useless to society anyways. Yet, when Bennett says the same thing, he is ostracized. And, Bennett, unlike Levitt and Dubner, is actually against abortion.

See, the thing is about liberals; they are uncomfortable about the idea of abortion being used for bad purposes, such as when it is done to get rid of black babies, or when it is done because the couple does not want a female child. This is not to be confused with the “good” and “holy” reasons to have an abortion, such as when your child will be born with a handicap a la down syndrome (God forbid) or when you want to be able to fuck whoever you want, whenever you want, without consequences. Because, lets not kid ourselves: The reason why abortion is legal is because there is a collective idea among the intellectual “elite” in Western Culture that people ought to be able to do whatever they want with their bodies, and fuck whoever they want, without any consequences. I am not naïve about the reasons women actually have abortions. Most of them do it because they feel lost and helpless, and as if they have no choice at all (the irony of the pro-“choice” position). But, the reason why it is legal is because we believe that nothing, not even the most innocent and helpless of humans who cannot speak up for themselves, should get in the way of the pursuit of all consuming pleasure.

Ultimately, what legal abortion ends up being is eugenics. We eliminate those we deem unwanted, whether they be an inconvenience or a handicap (80 % of unborn babies diagnosed with Down Syndrome don’t make it out of the womb alive). It is appalling for the intelligentsia to get all worked up about Bennett’s comments and implications when, in reality, they are the ones who support a social system that encourages the destruction of these poor minorities, handicapped, and females, they claim to represent.