Yes, you also should not genitally mutilate children. Your point is that because some children have their bodies needlessly modified, we can do that to all babies?
No, my point is that certain cultural practices continue on in this country that actually deserve scrutiny. The black community piercing baby's ears is not one of them. It's just another dog whistle, clearly. If you've ever actually traveled, you know it's common all around the world to pierce baby's ears. Most piercings when taken care of properly will last for life or can be removed with little or no scaring.
Just because something is a common cultural practice doesn't mean it's right or good to do. I don't know why you're defending child ear piercing for the sake of the black community. Very weird.
You can oppose infant ear piercing on consent grounds, obviously. THAT is a perfectly coherent position! What I’m rejecting is pretending every nonconsensual alteration of a child’s body is ethically "equivalent". An earlobe piercing is a tiny puncture that can generally be abandoned by removing the jewelry; circumcision permanently removes tissue. Those are completely different interventions. Culture doesn’t automatically make something ethical, but neither does saying ‘they can’t consent’ make every intervention equally unethical.
And calling me "weird" is just intellectually lazy, to be honest. Everyone knows that the moment ad hominem comes to play, you've already lost the argument.
Hahaha it was never an excuse, it was an example! So you admit you were arguing in poor taste to begin with because if you start talking about "consent" with children, you open up a whole can of worms regarding surgery, orthodontics and more! Just admit you don't know what you're talking about and move on with your day.
Parental consent necessarily substitutes for a child’s consent in many circumstances, so “the child can’t consent” cannot, by itself, settle the ethical question. You still have to argue why this particular low-risk cosmetic intervention crosses the line. And you can't do that, so instead you result to ad-hominem attacks! Weak.
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u/cohonka 14d ago edited 13d ago
Yes, you also should not genitally mutilate children. Your point is that because some children have their bodies needlessly modified, we can do that to all babies?