From: Reason (reason@exratio.com)
Date: Thu Nov 14 2002 - 00:20:17 MST
Well, I seem to recall threatening to do this
(http://www.bioethicssucks.org) a few months back, while I was so poverty
stricken, I couldn't even register a domain name. Heh. So now I'm recovered
and in a sufficiently belligerent mood, I thought I'd put something up
there.
The current frontpage is really just a format and belligerency test (in my
infamously minimalist style). None of the links go anywhere (except the news
article) -- but I'd like to be able to back up each piece of belligerency
with a crystal-clear reference. Once done, I plan this to be an infrequently
updated (but more frequently publicized) small site that a) offers some
resources for people to make themselves heard, and b) registers a vote
against the Kass' and Fukuyamas of the world just by existing.
For the record, my stance on it all -- which should come through fairly
clearly once I'm done tinkering with text -- is that bioethics is:
a) Irrelevant.
Everything that people are worried about when they think of medical
research is already covered by common laws on violence, theft and fraud. If
every bioethicist went on a permanent vacation tomorrow, there would be no
sudden outbreak of Nazi-style medical experimentation (as some people seem
to think). Everything that is informed and non-coercive is a simple private
contract between consenting adults and should be treated as such.
b) A slow, stealthy assault against our lives
To my mind, there is little difference between shooting a healthy person,
and actively keeping the medicine away from a sick person who would
otherwise be able to obtain it. Most bioethicists advocate murder in my
eyes. On a vast, staggering scale in some cases. If Kass and Fukuyama were
Rulers of The World, the death tolls directly attributable to their reign
would beggar the imagination.
Of course, I'm very libertarian. I don't think that the State has any
business telling anyone what they can do or not do with their own body if it
hurts no-one else. I think that what makes me the most angry is that most of
these bioethicists are clearly just justifying their own comfort level. They
are the worst form of human political beast; lying to slightly improve their
own comfort at huge cost to others, quite prepared to dictate death to
millions without blinking an eye, believing it is right to be able to tell
others what to do at gunpoint.
So what can you lot do to help me? Well, constructive criticism always
helps. So do any useful references you have or have seen. It's always much
easier to do the research with some starting points in hand.
Reason
http://www.exratio.com/
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