|
the Stem Cell Page time and ignorance are the enemies |
|
The Wizard of Odd |
|
April 9, 2006
Every now and then real life offers up an anecdote. Some are comical, some are tragic or ironic, but all are revealing, providing insight to the human condition. It is scarce, however, when comedy, tragedy and irony all converge to form the esteemed and elusive ‘Anecdotal Triad.’ This is truly a rarity deserving of special recognition, as in the case of the Elliot Institute and its director, David Reardon.
For those of you who may have missed the news, the Elliot Institute is an organization that opposes the Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative. They are also the same organization that stole the complete design and html codes of the web site of Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures (MCLC). Now since you’re reading this on the Internet you’re obviously a web surfer, so I’ll be more specific. The Elliot Institute didn’t just lift a photo or two. (Frankly, that would have been a yawn and nobody would have cared sufficiently to pay it any attention at all.) No, the Elliot Institute stole MCLC’s entire web site. All of it - the entire design, layout, photos, every fragment of HTML code.
So, the MCLC filed suit against the Elliot Institute for copyright infringement. Reardon explained to the Christian Wire Service that duplicating the Missouri Coalition’s web site was satire and constitutionally protected as free speech. On the Elliot Institute’s web site Reardon explains, “The decision to have a similar look reflects an effort to mock…” Reardon believes that stealing someone else’s complete, copyrighted HTML code is perfectly legal - so long as you use it to mock them.
Kudos to you readers who spotted this as the first of the Anecdotal Triad’s three components: comedy.
Of course, using Reardon’s logic, my wife would be free to steal our neighbor’s heirloom jewelry without fear of prosecution so long as she wore it to that neighbor’s next dinner party. The perceived crime would be negated by simply “mocking” our neighbor, from whom she’d have heisted the gems.
And how did the court respond to this novel notion? The judge disagreed, ruling that theft is theft and presumed satire is no defense. Not an illustrious start for the Elliot Institute, which claims to be under the direction of ethicist David Reardon, PhD.
Good eye, readers! That’s the Anecdotal Triad’s second component: irony.
Perhaps such behavior explains Reardon’s numbers, or vice versa. You see, the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures now has membership of over 46,000 individuals and hundreds of endorsing organizations. Reardon created the Elliot Institute’s “anti-Coalition” Coalition in the hope of countering that success. It’s worth a moment and certainly enlightening to review the Elliot Institute’s endorsement list to date. Posted on their web site of this writing there are two. That’s right, two. But, uh, one is the Elliot Institute itself, which leaves, well, one. How pathetic.
Quick – check your thesaurus. Yep, pathos equates to tragedy, which completes the venerated Anecdotal Triad!
And what’s the moral of this story of the “Wizard of Odd?”
“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.”
- Jeff Eisen
—— To be notified by email of new editorials, CLICK HERE —— |
|
To contact us: Click Here |