this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2023
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[–] CrankyCarrot 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I feel like forcefully mutilating people's genitalia is the wrong solution to poor healthcare provisions.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I agree the correct solution is socialized medicine. Unfortunately, we aren't likely to get that in the US anytime soon. Getting slapped with a 6k medical bill could be the difference between a roof over someone's head or living on the street. It comes off as a potential debt trap, where it is again somehow more expensive to be poor.

I'm not completely convinced it's the right solution, but we have perhaps collectively helped some people by doing this as a society. It seems like a choice between a better of quality of life for most people, but financial hardship for some or lower of quality of life for everyone, but helping some unlucky people who wouldn't be able to the handle potential financial burden. No one plans to be poor, so no one knows if they are going to be one of the people who ends up having to pay later in life. I would like to see more numbers honestly, to really be able to weigh the costs and benefits. edit: typos

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is all nonsense post hoc justification. Circumcision in the US isn't for disease prevention, it's because a bunch of religious freaks a century ago thought it'd stop masturbation.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Disease prevention is the only thing circumcision actually does, and how beneficial that is is debatable, so it's really the only thing worth discussing in relation to the topic.

The fact that the guy who was pushing for circumcision thought it would stop masturbation really has nothing to do with what the benefits potentially were/are. I don't see why the reason someone did something would matter in respect to whether or not the thing was/is beneficial.

I don't really consider myself pro-circumcision, but it seemed like to me whether or not circumcision is worth doing would solely come down to how many people benefited in reduced medical costs versus the cost in quality of life caused by mass circumcision. If not many people, who couldn't afford treatment, actually had reduced medical bills then circumcision isn't worth doing.

I had thoughts on this topic, but not really strong opinions. I didn't realize this was such a hot button issue for people. I thought it was a niche, weird thing we could talk about.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If circumcision wasn't a thing, and somebody proposed cutting bits off baby dicks to maybe possibly save them from some obscure disease nobody ever heard of, everyone would rightly call them a creep. But since it's a tradition, people like you will come up with all kinds of dumbass justifications to continue it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean, that's probably true of anything people have never heard of, but regardless, I couldn't care less about tradition. I legit thought it would be an interesting topic of discussion. I'm not interested in defending circumcision. Is there someone who does I should know about? Is this like a right-wing talking point?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you're not interested in defending circumcision, why have you been doing it all day?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I explained my thoughts on the topic. I made attempts to clarify what I was saying, so people understood. I wanted to know what other people thought, so I replied to other people's comments in order to get their thoughts about it. I wouldn't call that defending circumcision. This is the first time I've ever seen people display strong feelings about this topic at all.