Skip to main content
Post a Comment

Unspeakable Conversations

In 2003, the NY Times Magazine ran an article, Unspeakable Conversation, an examination of an argument focusing on two people, one Princeton philosophy professor Peter Seeger, and one disability advocate, Harriet Johnson, who recently passed away. Seeger is a proponent of the idea that society needs to allow euthanisa of the disabled and/or severaly handicapped. Below, are some of my comments - I was unable to recover the full text of my posts - I made in the NY times forum linked to the article:

'Unspeakable Conversations' #313 - igoeja 8:56 PM ET February 16, 2003

One Overwhelming Sentiment:

Brava!

Unlike many, maybe most, threads hosted by the NY Times, the overwhelming response in this forum has been profound agreement and support.

It brings tears to my eyes.

'Unspeakable Conversations' #243 - igoeja 12:07 PM ET February 16, 2003

A Reflection on our Reflection

Are we a humane society, or one that rids itself of its weak?

The odius political and social agenda which threatens the weak and poor, while supporting and furthering abuses by the powerful, isn't one that I wish to be part of. When we think about the country we are, do we want to envision one in which all have opportunity and comfort, or one in which groups can be singled out and discarded...


'Unspeakable Conversations' #242 - igoeja 11:53 AM ET February 16, 2003


The idea of killing disabled infants in our developed society is akin to killing infant girls in the developing world. The practical value of women in those societies is unappreciated, and the disregard for women in those worlds leads to the lesser value placed on women's lives, and actions we consider abhorrent. Kill the disabled since their value is less?..


'Unspeakable Conversations' #196 - igoeja 10:11 PM ET February 15, 2003

Empowerment and a Humane Society

For me, the most important idea to come from Ms. McBryde's article is the need for a more humane, caretaking and empowering attitude toward the disabled. A basic aspect of our humanity is our willingness to maximize the capabilites of those with the least, or those hampered...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. Sapolsky My rating: 5 of 5 stars I finished reading this crying. It is a work of neurobiology, social science, anthropology, and history, but ultimately it is a work of great humanity, suggesting ways that humans, our groups, our systems, and our societies can be made better. View all my reviews
Post a Comment
Read more

The Meanings of Ender's Game

In response to an Ender's Game discussion (Goodreads), with a link from Reddit, I posted the following: Much of the Reddit stream seems to focus on military tactics, or the lack thereof, used by the Ender, but who reads Ender and thinks it about military tactics, except the 20-year old grunt that started the thread? For a book written in the 80's, then edited in the early 90's, it seems more prophetic, with its use of game immersion, remote military operations and portable computing. Then when you think about the use of children in military games, one can think somewhat more deeply about sociopolitical indoctrination.  The series itself becomes a broader exploration of empathy and foreign culture.  The criticism seems more like the problem of a man with a hammer, who thinks every problem is solved by hammering, but even worse, every problem is about hammering. An additional post, regarding suspension of disbelief: Some people commented on the suspension of disbelie...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Right to Write - NYTimes.com

In an article,  The Right to Write - NYTimes.com , I commented on the right to write, since writers are sometimes questioned on the validity of their writing, e.g., Harriet Beecher Stowe with Uncle Tom's Cabin: One, people always have the right to write, but readers concurrently have the right to reject said writing. Much personal criticism of depictions from writers is whether the depiction seems valid or plausible, but even that is an exercise in empathy, since it requires one to experience that depiction ideationally.  Two, there is a streak in Americans, and maybe anyone, that states that you cannot understand 'my pain', usually the death of a child or some horrific personal lose. Over a longer term I have sensed that people most easily accept empathy if it is expressed by someone with similar experiences, an aspect I believe is part of human nature. I find both irksome, since they deny empathy.
Post a Comment
Read more