Blinded Me With Science
Mmm - but it's poetry in motion
And when she turned her eyes to me
As deep as any ocean
As sweet as any harmony
Mmm - but she blinded me with science
And failed me in geometryWhen she's dancing next to me
"Blinding me with science - science!"
"Science!"
I can hear machinery
"Blinding me with science - science!"
"Science!"
(Thomas Dolby, She Blinded Me With Science)
Jeff Jacoby takes a look at the veto by President Bush of the recent legislation that would have expanded funding for embryonic stem cell research. It is important to read - because while Jacoby personally does not agree with Bush's veto, he also sees the dangers that such legislation poses. It is not all about the science.
I don't share Bush's position. By my lights, a microscopic "test-tube" embryo left over from in vitro fertilization is not a human person with an inalienable right to life. But neither is it of no significance whatsoever. I wouldn't draw the "moral and ethical line" where Bush has drawn it, but surely there is such a line and surely it belongs somewhere. A human embryo is not just another raw material, to be manipulated or destroyed at will. Even in nascent form, human life must be treated with dignity and care. How and under what circumstances embryos can be harvested for their stem cells are not just scientific questions. First they are questions of ethics and morality, and of the values we wish to live by.
Or are they? To judge from the criticism of Bush's stem cell veto last week, nothing outranks the claims of science, and only a zealot could think otherwise.
"With one pen stroke," charged Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, "President Bush has ignored hard science, embraced misplaced ideology, and turned his back on the millions who stand to benefit from . . . stem cell research."
Similarly, Senate majority leader Harry Reid blasted Bush for "putting the politics of his narrow ideology ahead of saving lives."
So did Senator Hillary Clinton: "This is just one example of how the president puts ideology before science."
And Senator Barack Obama: "The promise that stem cells hold does not come from any particular ideology; it is the judgment of science, and we deserve a president who will put that judgment first."
What these statements have in common is their use of "ideology" as a pejorative for the principles and ethical values that have guided Bush's thinking on the stem cell issue. They treat "science" as an unqualified good, and reproach the White House for letting ethical qualms impede scientific progress. Yet not all science is progress. Not all ethical qualms are impediments.
It is important to note the fact that Jacoby does not agree with Bush here - but he also doesn't agree with the political spin from the opposite side. The real danger here is putting "science" above human morals. As Jacoby puts it, man must master science, not the other way around. There have been horrible things done in the name of "science" in places where morals took a back seat - or were missing entirely. One only has to look at the human toll of many of the totalitarian regimes who considered their methods "scientific". Keep that in mind when the politicians start genuflecting to science over values - for anything. Despite the spin on all of this, there is no guarantee that stem cells will ever lead to a real cure for anything. But discarding our moral compass would certainly lead somewhere. And it isn't a good place.
By syn, Sunday, 24 June , 2007 @ 9:07 am
It was politicians and scientists which enabled feminists to suck out live human baby’s brains all in the name of curing female’s mental disease so now that they can’t suck out baby’s brains they want go after the the entire human being in the name of curing all disease.
Cultural Marxism is wicked and evil.
By Sam L., Monday, 25 June , 2007 @ 8:44 am
I recall reading of Nazi experiments on Jews to determine the effects of immersion in freezing water. That’s “science”, too.