Hi Paul, rosebud, others.
Wow, so this will be my first post on this board. and with all these fireworks going off!
I picture each of you with a roman candle in your hands..
Here is my opinion.
I bred bearded dragons way back in the 90s stopping near 2000. My first female was from germany, a big round girl I raised from a baby. My other adults I purchased from the most unrelated dragons I could find in several different States. For me, in breeding was to be avoided. The colors and patterns that came out of the pairings were striking, reds, oranges, yellows, different hues and patterns. I let the male choose the female in a huge enclosure, I never put two, "I thought" would make a nice baby, together in a small cage. I let the dragon choose it's will and whatever happened, happened. This was the least invasive breeding I thought. This was before the internet so I couldn't name the colors/patterns after myself but I was not concerned with that. I bred these dragons and sold them as I found they were a remarkable lizard very suitable for a captive pet. The most attractive part about these lizards to me is their skin and associated natural scale formations.
Obviously, times have changed since I and other old school breeders were doing this. Today, the "hot" thing to do is to "create" designer morphs.
Just yesterday, I got a PM from a breeder who told me they wanted one of their morphs to become a household name. What is that movie with Al Pacino and Kianu Reeves?....
Well that is what sells and commands a higher price, a pretty uniquely colored dragon cooked up by crossing inbred dragons.
Well I suppose it is no different than what humans did and do with (wolves) dogs and cats. Who likes pushed in dog faces? ugghhhh! Well some people do...
So we humans cater to what other humans like and produce more of them as "mad scientists" manipulating genes to our liking.
As soon as the animal leaves the Wild, it's life is forever changed, you cannot argue against that so any breeding that occurs is human manipulated, hence the term, captive born.
The question is how we conduct ourselves with our breeding projects. If you are seriously ok with mating with your sister or brother or Aunt or Uncle then knock yourself out and inbreed your dragons, just be up front with it and inform people that, that is what you did to create your "special" morph. I understand when there are only a few of a species left in the Wild, we have no choice there but since we caused the destruction, somehow, we must fix it.
The reality of all this is really a moot point. We shouldn't be focusing on this stuff. We have a greater problem with natural occuring species perishing in their native habitats due to human impact on the native environments. Some species, we have lost forever. If you want to breed something, breed something to reduce the strain on wild popluations and to create a better captive adapted animal for others to enjoy, Research husbandry to inform others so they can prolong and better their animals life and help out with conservation as much as possible.
Lastly, I'd recommend reading some books on lizard ecology. You would remarkedly improve your understanding of your pet lizards and associated the traits it has....
~Cheers