You have not fully addressed this point at all! I can select the race of my spouse and therefore the race of my children without having to give up the chance to marry someone I love (given that I am not presently in love with anyone) simply by limiting my dating pool.
I think I have, if you read that quote of mine again. I said “Parents have valid interests in marrying the person they love,” not “Parents have valid interests in marrying a person they love.” I do not consider potential spouses to be completely interchangeable. Consequently, parents can have a valid interest in marrying the particular person they are in love in with, even if that person is of a demographic that would lead their child to have a harder time with teasing.
Kindly say whether or not you think, given that I eventually want children that are biologically mine and a future spouse’s, and given that I will select the spouse from a dating pool I can restrict as I see fit based on any criteria I choose, that I should restrict said dating pool on the basis of race so my children will not be minorities.
No, because you have a valid interest in dating from an unrestricted pool, and not having your dating slowed down by excluding partners based on qualities that are arbitrary to your compatibility. Same principle with having kids with your ex-girlfriend: if she really is your optimal partner choice in your view, then you have a valid interest in having kids with her, even though kids with other partners would have safer childhoods.
Do you really think that a parent’s choice of names for their child carries the same importance as the parent’s unrestricted partner choice? I don’t, and I would be surprised if you do. In my view, a parent’s choice of a particular partner they consider optimal enough to have kids with, and a child’s interest in not being put at extra risk of bullying, are both on a higher level of importance than a parent’s choice of a creative name for the child.
By the same token, if “GayWussyPoopooBaby” meant something complimentary in a foreign language and that was genuinely the reasoning behind the name, I’d probably advise the parents to transliterate it differently (“Geiwusipoupoubebbi”?), and make sure they were informed of its significance in English nonetheless, but after that point I think it would be their choice.
I think it would be their choice, too. My question for you is whether there are names that you would have a moral problem with, or that you would think are inadvisable. If parents from a foreign country named their boy Geiwusipoupoubebbi (love your transliteration, btw!), fully knowing how it sounds in English, would you really have no problem with that, considering that the name alone is enough to make the kid’s life hell at school from bullying, possibly causing social trauma and depression? Would you have advised against giving that name to the kid if the parents asked your opinion when considering names?
This isn’t because some kid named GayWussyPoopooBaby would be teased so much as because it indicates a flagrantly disrespectful attitude on the part of the parents towards their own child.
But you wouldn’t consider the resulting teasing to lead to moral problems in giving that name? Why not?
I’m still trying to make sense of your justification of subjecting children to unnecessary abuse to satisfy the whims of the parents because the direct agents of the abuse are acting immorally (though predictably). If I’m mischaracterizing your justification, then please clarify what it is.
As far as I can tell, either you think that predictably subjecting a child to abuse at the hands of an immorally-acting agent is:
Not wrong, because all the injustice is due to the bullying agent.
Wrong, but outweighed by the parent’s interests in choosing a name they like for their children, flouting convention, etc...
Or you have some other position that is either unarticulated or non-obvious to me. Which is it?
I think I have, if you read that quote of mine again. I said “Parents have valid interests in marrying the person they love,” not “Parents have valid interests in marrying a person they love.” I do not consider potential spouses to be completely interchangeable. Consequently, parents can have a valid interest in marrying the particular person they are in love in with, even if that person is of a demographic that would lead their child to have a harder time with teasing.
No, because you have a valid interest in dating from an unrestricted pool, and not having your dating slowed down by excluding partners based on qualities that are arbitrary to your compatibility. Same principle with having kids with your ex-girlfriend: if she really is your optimal partner choice in your view, then you have a valid interest in having kids with her, even though kids with other partners would have safer childhoods.
Do you really think that a parent’s choice of names for their child carries the same importance as the parent’s unrestricted partner choice? I don’t, and I would be surprised if you do. In my view, a parent’s choice of a particular partner they consider optimal enough to have kids with, and a child’s interest in not being put at extra risk of bullying, are both on a higher level of importance than a parent’s choice of a creative name for the child.
I think it would be their choice, too. My question for you is whether there are names that you would have a moral problem with, or that you would think are inadvisable. If parents from a foreign country named their boy Geiwusipoupoubebbi (love your transliteration, btw!), fully knowing how it sounds in English, would you really have no problem with that, considering that the name alone is enough to make the kid’s life hell at school from bullying, possibly causing social trauma and depression? Would you have advised against giving that name to the kid if the parents asked your opinion when considering names?
But you wouldn’t consider the resulting teasing to lead to moral problems in giving that name? Why not?
I’m still trying to make sense of your justification of subjecting children to unnecessary abuse to satisfy the whims of the parents because the direct agents of the abuse are acting immorally (though predictably). If I’m mischaracterizing your justification, then please clarify what it is.
As far as I can tell, either you think that predictably subjecting a child to abuse at the hands of an immorally-acting agent is:
Not wrong, because all the injustice is due to the bullying agent.
Wrong, but outweighed by the parent’s interests in choosing a name they like for their children, flouting convention, etc...
Or you have some other position that is either unarticulated or non-obvious to me. Which is it?