One is to lumber the whole of society with a raft of euphemisms, guilt, division, soft-totalitarianism, political correctness, laws, regulations, bureaucracies, identity politics, and general busybodiness in the name of "fairness".
The other is to find ways to help the crippled to walk again.
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This is also exactly how two sexual minorities differ from each other.
Homosexuals choose the former way. They lumber the whole of society with a raft of euphemisms, guilt, division, soft-totalitarianism, political correctness, laws, regulations, bureaucracies, identity politics, and general busybodiness in the name of "fairness".
Transsexuals think that they have a birth defect, wish to have it fixed, blend in the society and once they have had their body jobs, they quietly disappear in the real life and nobody ever hears of them anymore.
That is also why "goddamn faggot" is a swear word, but "goddamn tranny" isn't.
Hm, not sure I follow. If you've got the technology to repair CNS injuries and grow new arms and legs in a vat, good for you. If you can invent good prostheses, not as good, but still better than nothing. Otherwise, well, crippled people are still people.
I guess the matter was kind of brought home to me when an old friend fell off his roof clearing ice from his TV antenna (Cartoon Network is important). Spinal cord. Wheelchair. Guy's also a computer nerd, and is looking forward to getting a pair of these to hobble around on as soon as it becomes possible, but man! one bad fall can do a number on one's lifestyle! I can imagine having to find fording places for the wheelchair when crossing the street. An extra ramp to get up to the sidewalk isn't a bad thing.
Sergej, a fair point, but that assumes that the "fairness" lobby has any intention of being fair. I once did some work for a museum that has an American Second World War submarine on exhibit. Because of accusations that they weren't fair, they seriously tried to figure out how to burn four-foot wide holes through the deck and all the bulkheads so wheelchairs could go traverse the boat. Thank God someone made them understand the concept of compromising structural integrity.
And this is one of the saner examples.
The deficiency, I'd say, is not one of presence or absence, but one of degree. Lack of healthy moderation. As the Russian saying goes, send a fool to pray to God and he'll break his head (referring to the Russian Orthodox custom of bowing until one's forehead touches the ground). There's a bit of good intentions gone foolish in this, along with joy in imposing one's will on other people.
Note how, when we hear of a Neanderthal skeleton whose original owner was crippled fighting some ancient shaggy beastie, and was nursed back to health by his tribe, our reaction is, "how human they were!"
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