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the Stem Cell Page time and ignorance are the enemies |
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Enlightenment and charity |
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When the right is wrong, it’s our fault
April 7, 2006
“The trouble ain’t that people are ignorant; it’s that they know so much that ain’t so.” - Humorist Josh Billings (1818 - 1885)
When talk of “unborn babies” and “dismemberment” enter the stem cell political debate, you can rest assured the ignorant have the floor. As the motto of this web site proclaims, ignorance is one of the enemies. Worse, entire groups, organizations and political action committees, are dependent upon ignorance for their causes to flourish. Some politicians shouldn’t be excluded either. Educate the populace and many would tumble, their constituents seeking their heads.
Missouri Right to Life is dependent upon our ignorance of human reproduction to maintain their position on stem cell research. They’re quick to assert that a cluster of cells in a Petri dish with no chance of ever becoming a human being must be granted rights that supersede yours and mine, and those of millions of patients in these United States. Those cells, they’ll tell us, are really just human beings going through the same early stage that you and I and everyone else went through on our journey to birth.
Really?
Personally, I was never in a cryogenic state, frozen in a Petri dish at more than 300 degrees below zero with no chance of ever becoming a baby. The fact is that you and I and everyone else grew into babies because our cells implanted in our mothers’ nurturing wombs. And we have documented legal proof called ‘birth certificates.’ Feel free to confirm this with the obstetrician of your choice, but babies are never born in Petri dishes. Moreover, I challenge Missouri Right to Life to produce a single birth certificate identifying the mother as “Petri dish.” No implantation in a womb? Then there can be no human being. It just doesn’t work any other way.
Politicians like Susan Phillips, Missouri State Representative from Kansas City will tell you that these cells are “living human beings” because they contain a complete genetic code and self metabolize.
Sounds pretty convincing, doesn’t it?
But based upon Ms. Phillips uninformed criteria, legislatures would be debating bills to protect the rights of cancer cells. No kidding. Most of the more than 200 cell varieties in the human body contain a complete genetic code and self metabolize - even the truly evil ones like cancer.
Sillier still were remarks on the House floor by Congressman Tom DeLay. He purported that embryonic stem cell research was “the dismemberment of living, distinct human beings.”
Oh my God! “Dismemberment!?” (We cringe at the word.)
Webster’s Dictionary defines “dismember” as “to tear limb from limb.” Perhaps Mr. DeLay was reading the wrong speech. Or maybe he was in the wrong chamber. After all, the discussion was about clusters of about a hundred undifferentiated cells, not the torture chambers of the Saddam Hussein regime. Frozen embryos in Petri dishes have no arms, no legs, no limbs whatsoever. In fact, they’re only blank cells that haven’t yet even decided what they might become. And “distinct human beings?” I’m still waiting to see that birth certificate referenced earlier, Congressman. I’ll repeat my challenge, Mr. DeLay, and I’ll sweeten the pot: Produce a legitimate U.S. birth certificate which identifies the mother of a baby as “a Petri dish” and I’ll switch sides. Fair enough?
Listening and learning are key elements to finding truth. Listening carefully and recognizing when you’re being set up is even more important these days. I recently heard a religious extremist radio host ask a guest, “Would you say that anyone who believes that these embryos are human beings in their earliest stages of life should vote against the Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative?” The question was as loaded as if prepared by a Philadelphia lawyer.
But there is a suitable answer: “Let’s ask the entire question, shall we? The entire question is, ‘Is it really pro-life for these cells, frozen in Petri dishes without any chance of ever becoming a baby, to be thrown away when instead they might be transformed to save the lives of living babies? Or young children? Or senior citizens?’ When people answer that question they’ll know where they stand.”
Meanwhile, so long as Missouri Right to Life and politicians pandering to religious extremists continue to spew cleverly disguised but errant rhetoric, they’ll continue to depend upon the existence of an ignorant audience. Absent cadres of such willing dupes and ditto-heads, they’d be relegated deservedly and wonderfully irrelevant.
It’s time we faced a hard fact: If we truly desire to eradicate ignorance from our politics, we must begin with ourselves. Enlightenment, like charity, begins at home.
- Jeff Eisen
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