The statement of support by Senator Frist for stem cell research is a good thing. It's probably just motivated by a desire to recoup his political fortunes, which were scrambled by the general derision cast his way by his pronoucements regarding the Terry Schiavo case, but in the conservative atmosphere pushed by the Bush White House, I'll take what I can get.
I sometimes read a number of medically oriented blogs, and when they talk about stem cell research, their comments generally fall into the category of a) we're doctors, so of course our opinion counts for more than yours, and b) stem cells aren't proven, so anything but the most minor research efforts is unwarranted. They don't go so far as to say that since stem cells are of dubious value, they should not be researched, nor do they say that regardless of the value of stem cells, they should not be researched because it's against conservative ideology to do so. But the thoughts do appear to be there.
I don't agree with either one. The opinion of trained personnel is important in determining the effectiveness of a course of research, but not its value. And doing or not doing something simply because of its worth to either the conservative or liberal viewpoint is just silly.
2 comments:
Nice blog map.
Medical research being good or bad according to what the current political party says it is....hmmmm. How marvelously fascist!
I guess it is part of the human condition....let a kid get lost and the whole community turns out to find her, let the same kid get hooked on heroin a couple of years later (lost on the street, so to speak), and she won't even be able to get a clean needle because "needle exchange programmes are a liberal concept".
I don't think it's according to what the current political part says it is. I think it just is -- the interpretations come when the politicians show up. And, to be fair, when everyone else shows up, too.
You're absolutely right about the kid thing. Reminds me (as does so much, the older I get) of a Doonesbury where a characer is enraged about some current event and is startled to find that another is not. The other calmly replies that he has only so much anger, and has to save it for newer, fresher outrages. We worry about the sharp current pains....not the ongoing blunt agonies.
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