On Wednesday, our most powerful and magnanimous potentate King George vetoed a bill passed by the United States Congress entitled “Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act”. I’m hoping none of you missed this issue in the midst of the brink on the cusp of a possible world WAR!!! If nothing else we have a shining example of the perspective of our president.
These are Fundamentalist beliefs bearing down on us all. What else can an “extreme” conservative point of view be but rigidly religious? I want us not to forget this initial point, for I will return to it after I speak my mind about the topic itself.
To suggest this bill “would support the taking of human life” draws from the audience a knee jerk reaction. Most of us are peaceful, so that such a phrase brings to mind butchery and murder. Really, most of us lack a full conception of our own lives, let alone Life in its almost infinite forms. Life comes in so many shapes and varieties you LITERALLY cannot walk very far without squashing it. As far as I know, it can be as vast as the ocean, or as small as the crud growing in the cracks of my bathtub. It can be comprised of a single cell, or of many systems and organs, all living, many containing living things of their own, working in tandem to create the illusion of a single being.
But we are not talking about any ol’ life forms now are we? The research is directly related to fertilized embryos, which are the beginnings of human beings. And we’re all human beings, and we wouldn’t want our lives taken from us now would we? We the voters and the votees alike associate such feelings to the issue, completely mucking the whole thing. Supporting any government funding that would “take human life” is all of a sudden extremely personal and threatening. I’m sorry, I can see no possible justification to suppress scientific research while at the same time supporting the death penalty and war. Each has it’s own value in certain situations. There is no moral boundary being crossed.
Like other complex organisms, humans go through stages of development. This is why we have different words involved with pregnancy, words like sperm and egg, embryo, and fetus. A zygote is produced at conception and can spend up to two weeks traveling down the tubes toward the uterus. Once it plants itself it does nothing but divide in cells, some of which form the placenta and a larger portion producing an embryo. For the next six weeks, an embryo works overtime dividing its cells until it somewhat resembles a baby. We’ve all seen pictures of them, looking alien with no eyelids, the faintest hint of fingers or toes. There isn’t much brain there, more a mass of cells that have been chosen to be the brain very soon.
At month three, it is no longer considered an embryo; it has made it to the fetus stage. The difference becomes greater each passing week for that particular life. Cells chosen for various organs or anatomical pieces have begun to knit themselves together. Entire systems not only exist but begin their function. Fingernails and sexual organs and nipples and movement are noticeable. The nervous system begins to weave itself around bone and tissue, giving us the information highway we use to experience the world outside of us.
This distinction between embryo and fetus is NO ACCIDENT. They are stages of development with their own purpose and goals. An embryo is replicating stem cells as generic building blocks, and then distributing these in various places for its genetic code to shape. It is true that toward the end of the two month embryonic cycle some humanity can be seen (a beating heart for example). But most embryos that have been frozen for use in scientific study are NOT that far along in their development, nor would they be of any use if those stem cells were already transformed into heart or brain tissue. The open ended “stem” would be gone from those cells.
So exactly how should we define life? Many scholarly opinions differ as to when we are fully ourselves, an individual being. Some suggest the fetal stage is when we are ourselves, because during this time we start to use our nervous systems and can feel things like pain or discomfort. Nearly all agree that third trimester is absolutely human, and you will find no doctor that will perform an abortion on these. I have even read opinions that suggest newborn babies are not yet fully human, since they lack the capacity to even comprehend spatial reality, move on their own, or protect their sensitive head region as it solidifies. This doesn’t devalue newborns; it heightens a need to protect them until they mature into a tougher version of childhood.
And then there’s the religious opinion (see, I knew we’d get back to it). Life begins at conception to these people, and in certain ways they are right. A newly developed embryo is alive, but so is a plant, a virus, and a patch of mildew. I don’t think the opinion is based on what the embryo actually is, rather it is rooted in the will of their God. Pregnancy doesn’t just happen. God is the architect of our existence on this earth, so naturally we should honor his creation. I’ll reiterate … their opinion is not based on how a thing is, rather on how they believe a thing is.
You think I’m kidding? I saw an excerpt of a congressman in support of a veto present a chart of an egg and an eagle. He proceeded to tell his audience how his five year old brat knew that without the egg, you can’t have the eagle. What sort of person likens the birth of a bird to a human being? We do not exist outside of our mothers, protected by a shell. We exist inside because we are so vulnerable and underdeveloped. Humanity takes a lot longer before it resembles itself. I wonder what this guy tells his kid about the scrambled eggs he feeds him every morning. There’s a baby bird in every one according to the fundamentalist view of life.
Knee jerking … it all boils down to people with antiquated views on reality dictating life for the rest of us. It’s the same story with abortion rights and allowing patients on life support to be released from their pain. Though in this instance the veto was on federal funding of stem cell research, which is not the same as a restriction of the research. Bush promised in 2001 to limit federal funding of this research. We can see who he chooses to keep his promises with.
Now, down to brass tacks … the Chinese and Japanese industries are leap years ahead of the United States on this potentially life saving technology. They understand that there IS a humane way to utilize embryonic stem cells for research. And let’s be honest here, America will lose its super power if other nations learn a cure for illness and disease. No amount of prescription medication will keep us afloat in the face of such science. Personally, I like Asian culture so … I’m set.
These are Fundamentalist beliefs bearing down on us all. What else can an “extreme” conservative point of view be but rigidly religious? I want us not to forget this initial point, for I will return to it after I speak my mind about the topic itself.
To suggest this bill “would support the taking of human life” draws from the audience a knee jerk reaction. Most of us are peaceful, so that such a phrase brings to mind butchery and murder. Really, most of us lack a full conception of our own lives, let alone Life in its almost infinite forms. Life comes in so many shapes and varieties you LITERALLY cannot walk very far without squashing it. As far as I know, it can be as vast as the ocean, or as small as the crud growing in the cracks of my bathtub. It can be comprised of a single cell, or of many systems and organs, all living, many containing living things of their own, working in tandem to create the illusion of a single being.
But we are not talking about any ol’ life forms now are we? The research is directly related to fertilized embryos, which are the beginnings of human beings. And we’re all human beings, and we wouldn’t want our lives taken from us now would we? We the voters and the votees alike associate such feelings to the issue, completely mucking the whole thing. Supporting any government funding that would “take human life” is all of a sudden extremely personal and threatening. I’m sorry, I can see no possible justification to suppress scientific research while at the same time supporting the death penalty and war. Each has it’s own value in certain situations. There is no moral boundary being crossed.
Like other complex organisms, humans go through stages of development. This is why we have different words involved with pregnancy, words like sperm and egg, embryo, and fetus. A zygote is produced at conception and can spend up to two weeks traveling down the tubes toward the uterus. Once it plants itself it does nothing but divide in cells, some of which form the placenta and a larger portion producing an embryo. For the next six weeks, an embryo works overtime dividing its cells until it somewhat resembles a baby. We’ve all seen pictures of them, looking alien with no eyelids, the faintest hint of fingers or toes. There isn’t much brain there, more a mass of cells that have been chosen to be the brain very soon.
At month three, it is no longer considered an embryo; it has made it to the fetus stage. The difference becomes greater each passing week for that particular life. Cells chosen for various organs or anatomical pieces have begun to knit themselves together. Entire systems not only exist but begin their function. Fingernails and sexual organs and nipples and movement are noticeable. The nervous system begins to weave itself around bone and tissue, giving us the information highway we use to experience the world outside of us.
This distinction between embryo and fetus is NO ACCIDENT. They are stages of development with their own purpose and goals. An embryo is replicating stem cells as generic building blocks, and then distributing these in various places for its genetic code to shape. It is true that toward the end of the two month embryonic cycle some humanity can be seen (a beating heart for example). But most embryos that have been frozen for use in scientific study are NOT that far along in their development, nor would they be of any use if those stem cells were already transformed into heart or brain tissue. The open ended “stem” would be gone from those cells.
So exactly how should we define life? Many scholarly opinions differ as to when we are fully ourselves, an individual being. Some suggest the fetal stage is when we are ourselves, because during this time we start to use our nervous systems and can feel things like pain or discomfort. Nearly all agree that third trimester is absolutely human, and you will find no doctor that will perform an abortion on these. I have even read opinions that suggest newborn babies are not yet fully human, since they lack the capacity to even comprehend spatial reality, move on their own, or protect their sensitive head region as it solidifies. This doesn’t devalue newborns; it heightens a need to protect them until they mature into a tougher version of childhood.
And then there’s the religious opinion (see, I knew we’d get back to it). Life begins at conception to these people, and in certain ways they are right. A newly developed embryo is alive, but so is a plant, a virus, and a patch of mildew. I don’t think the opinion is based on what the embryo actually is, rather it is rooted in the will of their God. Pregnancy doesn’t just happen. God is the architect of our existence on this earth, so naturally we should honor his creation. I’ll reiterate … their opinion is not based on how a thing is, rather on how they believe a thing is.
You think I’m kidding? I saw an excerpt of a congressman in support of a veto present a chart of an egg and an eagle. He proceeded to tell his audience how his five year old brat knew that without the egg, you can’t have the eagle. What sort of person likens the birth of a bird to a human being? We do not exist outside of our mothers, protected by a shell. We exist inside because we are so vulnerable and underdeveloped. Humanity takes a lot longer before it resembles itself. I wonder what this guy tells his kid about the scrambled eggs he feeds him every morning. There’s a baby bird in every one according to the fundamentalist view of life.
Knee jerking … it all boils down to people with antiquated views on reality dictating life for the rest of us. It’s the same story with abortion rights and allowing patients on life support to be released from their pain. Though in this instance the veto was on federal funding of stem cell research, which is not the same as a restriction of the research. Bush promised in 2001 to limit federal funding of this research. We can see who he chooses to keep his promises with.
Now, down to brass tacks … the Chinese and Japanese industries are leap years ahead of the United States on this potentially life saving technology. They understand that there IS a humane way to utilize embryonic stem cells for research. And let’s be honest here, America will lose its super power if other nations learn a cure for illness and disease. No amount of prescription medication will keep us afloat in the face of such science. Personally, I like Asian culture so … I’m set.
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