Did not anybody read my first two paragraphs?

I implicitly (but obviously) stated that I believe that it is more civilized to tolerate "freak shows" than to outlaw them. I was saying nothing on violence, poverty, education, disease, food, ecology, industry, racism, or oppression. I was merely speaking to what I consider to be highly discriminatory practices of banning the disfigured from finding relatively meaningful work by performing for the purpose of showing off their disfigurements. My statement to which both of you are objecting is qualified by the phrase in both regards, meaning the two statements given immediately prior: nothing more.

It is my belief that "freak shows" (for lack of a better term; perhaps "Human Zoo" works, for my conception of such a show would feature more than just "freaks [of nature]", but also collections of individuals from other 'exotic' societies as was found a century hence in various World's Fairs) provide an invaluable service to a society: it allows for understanding and reflection which is rendered impossible by the lack of societal awareness that currently exists and it gives a meaningful form of employment to anybody who qualifies (and who, let's face it, doesn't really qualify for much else in this image-conscious brave new world) which the current ban makes impossible, leaving many people out of work. Why should Brad Pitt be able to make a living out of his appearance, but not the modern-day Joseph Merrick?

Then, on top of all that, freak shows literally saved lives. Dr. Martin Couney set up the earliest incubators in America in Coney Island and at World's Fairs, where parents of premature infants would bring their newborns who would otherwise have died, for the hospitals of the time felt that such infants were lost causes. Indeed, parents weren't even charged, for Couney made sure that, by charging 25 cents to see miniature babies, parents would not need to pour all their money into their seemingly impossibly small child.

You really are an idiot, aren't you?

You take a single statement out of my debate totally out of context and then make a big (and, of course, self-laudatory) argument against your erroneous interpretation of my out-of-context statement.

First off, believe you me, I understand the historical changes - as you have witnessed first-hand on your Hitler rocks debate, totally disproving each of your statements by calling on history to back me up, upon which you made sure to remove yourself from your flawed line of thinking by claiming that you don't really believe it - that have brought us to our current state of civilization far better than most. I think the highly religious historical past was a horrendous time (as should be obvious from all the debates and arguments I've made highly critical of the Catholic Church, and of religion in general); there is no sense denying that we don't live longer lives now than then, and the medical and hygienic advances are undeniable.

I wasn't talking about any of that.

I implicitly (but obviously) stated that I believe that it is more civilized to tolerate "freak shows" than to outlaw them. I was merely speaking to what I consider to be the highly discriminatory practices of banning the disfigured from finding relatively meaningful work by performing for the purpose of showing off their disfigurements. My statement to which both of you are objecting is qualified by the phrase in both regards, meaning the two statements given immediately prior: nothing more.

It is my belief that "freak shows" (for lack of a better term; perhaps "Human Zoo" works, for my conception of such a show would feature more than just "freaks [of nature]", but also collections of individuals from other 'exotic' societies as was found a century hence in various World's Fairs) provide an invaluable service to a society: it allows for understanding and reflection which is rendered impossible by the lack of societal awareness that currently exists for people of such afflictions and it gives a meaningful form of employment to anybody who qualifies (and who, let's face it, doesn't really qualify for much else in this image-conscious brave new world) which the current ban makes impossible, leaving many people out of work. Why should Brad Pitt be able to make a living out of his appearance, but not the modern-day Joseph Merrick?

Then, on top of all that, freak shows literally saved lives. Dr. Martin Couney set up the earliest incubators in America in Coney Island and at World's Fairs, where parents of premature infants would bring their newborns who would otherwise have died, for the hospitals of the time felt that such infants were lost causes. Indeed, parents weren't even charged, for Couney made sure that, by charging 25 cents to see miniature babies, parents would not need to pour all their money into their seemingly impossibly small child.