Where is the line between euthanasia and eugenics?
In a lively debate in last week's Q&A, disability rights activist Kath Duncan challenged philosopher Peter Singer on his utilitarian views regarding disabled infants. Espousing selective euthanasia for disabled people, aren't your views dog-whistling to people who commit violence against us?" Duncan asked, linking Singers support for euthanising severely disabled newborns to the recent murder of 19 disabled people in a Tokyo care home.
That said, do Singers philosophies really serve to rally disability hate crime perpetrators? Was the association unfair? Some denizens of twitter seemed to think it hyperbole, as did Singer, insisting he was not at all sympathetic with Satoshi Uematsu - the 26 year-old mass murderer. It is the parents and doctors making a decision in consultation, Singer said, in regard to his idea that infanticide is justifiable in certain circumstances. It is not some crazy guy going into a unit and killing people."
