Thanks to Kevin Drum for the reference. Bush has replaced two members of his Council on Bioethics yesterday – Elizabeth Blackburn from UC San Francisco, and moral philosopher William May of SMU – who were both advocates for stem cell research. White House spokesperson Erin Healy said that “we’ve decided to go ahead and appoint other individuals with different expertise and experience.”
Riiiiight.
In fact, she was correct. The new folks do have different expertise and experience. The kind that should scare the living crap out of anybody who does biological or medical research. Or anybody who eventually wants a cure for cancer.
The first new appointee is Benjamin Carson, director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins. Carson is also a motivational speaker who talks about how “we live in a nation where we can’t talk about God in public.” The second appointee is Diana Schaub, chairman of Pol Sci at Loyola College. In a 2002 public forum on cloning, she discussed research in which embryos are used as “the evil of the willful destruction of innocent human life.” The third appointee is Peter Lawler, chairman of Government at Berry College in Georgia. For those of us who don’t know Berry College, it’s an undergraduate college which “emphasizes a comprehensive, educational program committed to high academic standards, Christian values, and practical work experience…”
Lawler is a piece of work, which is why I saved him for last. In a more coherent moment, Lawler wrote in the conservative Weekly Standard in 2002 that if the US doesn’t “become clear as a nation that abortion is wrong,” then women would eventually be compelled to abort babies with genetic defects. In his less coherent moments, Lawler is known for his hilarious classroom comments. Among the gems in his “top 50”:
“Reading the introduction to books will make you dumber.”
“If a country is bad enough to embargo, it is bad enough to conquer.”
“I don’t want to point fingers, but women stay alive a lot longer than they need to.”
“Darwin is kinda corny.”
“Machiavelli is a Sinatra kind of guy.”
We just turned over our country’s bioethics policy to these people? I’m speechless. I had to rewrite this sentence a couple of times to remove all of the swear words, in fact.
If you’re not scared yet, you’re not paying attention.
Washington Post link
Comments
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First of all, Berry College is a respected institution and consistently appears in the U.S. News and World Report.
Secondly, Dr. Lawler is a lauded intellectual whose books have received plenty of praise. Those quotes which you mention were said in class for fun. Stop twisting information to fit your petty argument.
http://programmar.com/wwwboard/messages/17795.html condemedlockingprotect
http://www.equipments.de/wwwboard/messages/726.html dayemeraldinadvertently
http://magickalmind.com/wwwboard/messages/1976.htm iwasshoespilling
http://horrigangang.com/wwwboard/messages/7820.htm condemedlockingprotect
And as for “blindly toying with nature,” I’d like to say that it cuts both ways. When we decide that we don’t understand the science behind ecosystems well enough to predict the impact on species, so we don’t “know” that damage will be done and proceed to clearcut, aren’t we “blindly toying with nature”?
When we say we don’t understand the science behind climate change well enough to warrant taking even minor steps towards curbing CO2 emissions, despite evidence which shows that *at least* we understand that emission levels aren’t helping, aren’t we blindly toying with nature?
The simple fact is that we’re toying with nature every day, and to say that we aren’t interested in having the best science involved when we do the toying is foolhardy. Science isn’t perfect — far from it — but centuries of uninformed action have also demonstrated what happens when you *don’t* listen to scientific results and plunge ahead anyway.
Yeah, you’re right, it’s ultimately useless to point out these quotes. They’re fun, but they’re not really the point. If Lawler is really going to bring balance to the bioethics committee, that’s great.
I have to say that I’m not wildly optimistic about the panel’s chances, however — the pattern within the Administration concerning listening to experts (of any kind, whether scientists, philosophers, or economists) isn’t good. That’s really the point, and to a large extent focusing on Lawler’s outrageous quotes does obscure that fact.
Wow, i said this: “that is what seems to be what is happening.” sorry about that.
-david
Mark,
It is obvious that you do not know Dr. Lawler personally, and I am sad for you because of it. You really cannot take anything on that quote page seriously. 99.9998% of those quotes are Lawler’s rephrasing of some philosopher’s inane ideas, something he does very well. The point is that you should read up on Lawler, and by that I mean read Lawler’s writings, not the ill-informed musings of some pundit who it too cowardly to even reveal his/her name on the internet. (no one in particular, it just seems to be the trendy thing to do) If you were to read Lawler’s writings, you might find that he is deeply concerned with the serious issues that face the bioethics council and that his appointment was in fact a good thing. The fact is that we (humans, even scientists) do not know the extent to which we will be able to alter our very natures through biotechnological advances, and what consequences such alterations might have in the long run. I know this sounds paranoid but it really is true. Given this realization, we need voices of moderation able to speak out against blindly toying with out nature when that is what seems to be what is happening. The idea is not manifested in a Luddite opposition to biotechnology, but in placing value on restraint and patience so that we can have a chance to discover what our nature is and how we are able to affect it, negatively or positively. Anyway, back to the original point… it really is useless to point out these quotes and attribute them to Dr. Lawler’s ideology. They are good fun though aren’t they?
best wishes,
-david
Are you thinking about prefaces?
Introductions are usually, if not always, written by the author of the book. Prefaces are sometimes written by outsides, sometimes by the author.
Introductions are just that — an entry point into the subject matter of the book.
But don’t they? The introductions, I mean. They provide you with in a dumbed down version of the important themes in the book you are about to read. They’re like the cheat sheet for what you should come away with on your own. Better to skip the introduction, read the Machiavelli, and discover the subtleties and ironies on your own, without someone who clearly has done his research telling you what you should come away with.
I’m sure the council could use a good joke now and then, but at the moment what the council seems to really need is a bit more balance on both sides of the hard issues.
Of course, it’s often said that the left has lost its sense of humor, and I may be guilty of that, but do we really need the President getting advice about far-reaching scientific and ethical issues from a guy who tells his students that reading the introductions to books will make you dumber? We’d better hope he doesn’t tell the President that….Bush doesn’t seem to read enough as it is.
You do realize that those quotes are recorded by students as passing comments in a philosophy class, correct? It seems to me, after reading the entire list of “Top 50,” that these are not meant to be biographical philosophic critiques, but witty banter to help a university class be entertaining to students.
He makes criticizes Jesus for his sex life, makes reference to MC Hammer, and tells students they “have to sit there in silence while I spew out this bologna.” Sounds like self-deprecating humor of the best kind. The council could probably use some of his humor.
Your post make several good points. This latest purge is only the latest in a sytematic attempt to completely subvert the appropriate use of science in politics. In this case, they (the Administration) are not only subverting science, but science ethics. What is more, these dismissals are contrary to traditional conservative values. The most recent work by the Bioethics Council was a complete waste of taxpayer dollars.
You are correct that we should be scared of this. After all, misusing ethics is even more scandalous than misusing science.
(more at http://corpus-callosum.blogspot.com/2004_02_01_corpus-callosum_archive.html#107800423184669560)