Upcoming Peter Singer Event – Why I’m Not Interested

culture wars, Our News & Commentary Blog, Peter Singer, religion

Last week, I received a phone call from a very nice person at the Fixed-Point Foundation, a ‘Christian “think-tank” and teaching resource for churches and the broader community.’

She wanted to make sure I knew that Dinesh D’Souza and Peter Singer will be debating at Princeton in December at an event co-hosted by her organization.

I know I disappointed her when I said it wasn’t something that interested me.

Why? The title of the debate is “Can there be morality without God?”

They’ve done this same debate at least once before. And while the subjects of infanticide and euthanasia will certainly be discussed, it will all be within the framework of the newest installment in the “Culture Wars” debate.

The framework for this debate serves both men’s current agendas. D’Souza’s latest book is What’s So Great About Christianity – and we can conclude from this that it’s not just a God that D’Souza believes is necessary for morality, but a Christian one.

Singer, of course, loves nothing better than to put his ethical positions up on a stage where his opposition can be framed solely in religious terms.

There will be no room in this debate for the secular viewpoints of disability advocates and activists who have been prominent in opposing Singer’s public policy advocacy in the areas of infanticide and euthanasia.

Even outside of the disability community, there are voices that could lead to a richer debate. Columnist Nat Hentoff, for example, describes himself as a “Jewish, atheist, civil libertarian, left-wing pro-lifer.” He’s written passionately on infanticide, euthanasia, assisted suicide and the case of Terri Schiavo.

Seeing Hentoff debating either of these two men would be both enlightening and entertaining. Much more so than this tired retread of the “Culture Wars.”

But I don’t see either D’Souza or Singer jumping at the opportunity. They’d have to dump their prepared scripts. And besides, it wouldn’t do anything to further their respective careers. –Stephen Drake

PS – The event isn’t linked anywhere, but it’s scheduled for 8:30 pm, December 3, 2008, at Richardson Auditorium at Princeton University. I am willing to bet that copies of both men’s books will be on sale in the lobby.

PPS – Have a Safe and Happy Holiday!

Real life keeps getting in the way of good intentions

excuses, Our News & Commentary Blog

If it’s still available online, I really do hope to get to transcribing the Radio Netherlands interview.

I’m a slow typist whose working memory is limited when I’m doing something like typing, so transcription is a long and slow process of listening, remembering and typing five words, rewinding, hit “play” and repeat the process ad infinitum.

As anyone reading the description above might gather, it doesn’t take much to distract me from doing transcription. I’ll see if I can do it in short stints over the holiday weekend.

It’s probably good for me. After doing something like that, I really do understand how someone can get tired of the sound of my voice. –Stephen Drake

Radio Netherlands “Living and dying with dignity” includes NDY interview

assisted suicide, euthanasia, media coverage, Netherlands, Our News & Commentary Blog, Washington state

This just dropped into my mailbox and I haven’t had a chance to listen to the whole thing yet, let alone my own part of the interview.

Radio Netherlands has an extended story on developments regarding assisted suicide, with emphasis on the U.K., the Netherlands and the USA. I was contacted by Hermione Gee to represent NDY and our viewpoint for this segment.

Here’s the URL for the text description of the radio show:

Living and dying with dignity

Below is some context and a quote from my interview, which begins about 7 minutes into the show:

Stephen Drake of the disability rights group Not Dead Yet argues that any law that permits assisted dying for one group of people – for example the old, ill and disabled – but not for everyone, is implicitly discriminating against that group and undermining their value as human beings. As he sees it,

“euthanasia and assisted suicide gives society a great way to divest itself of people that they see as a burden while patting themselves on the back as being compassionate and noble”.

There is a button that links you to the audio of the show in the URL linked above. (Looks like it uses Windows mediaplayer, at least on my system)

But you can also reach it directly by clicking here.

I’ll do my best to get a transcript of my part of the interview up by the end of today. If I don’t manage that, it will be up by sometime on Monday. –Stephen Drake

UK: Paralyzed Teacher Says She’s Not Selfish for Wanting to Live

assisted suicide, blog recommendations, bloggers, euthanasia, media coverage, media issues, Our News & Commentary Blog, policy

In the U.K., assisted suicide advocates are pushing their case again. Two publicized cases have brought this issue to the fore. The article linked and discussed here is mostly concerned with press coverage of the death of Daniel James, a young rugby player who had tetraplegia after an accident. James’ parents took him to Switzerland, where he committed suicide with the help of the group Dignitas. For further information and discussion on Daniel James, I recommend the pieces written by William Peace at Bad Cripple. His article on Daniel James can be found here and here.

The press coverage of Daniel James has alarmed one woman, at least.

From the Liverpool Daily Post:

A PARALYSED Merseyside teacher has spoken of her anger that the growing public sympathy for assisted suicide means she is now seen as ‘selfish’ for wanting to carry on living.

Sue Garner-Jones last night criticised the way seriously disabled people who choose to end their lives are commonly described as ‘courageous’ and ‘selfless’.

Dr Garner-Jones has urged her MP, Southport’s John Pugh – himself a vocal opponent of euthanasia – to lead a campaign in support of people with spinal cord injuries who want to battle on with their lives.

What is she complaining about, you might ask? She has an answer for you:

Yesterday, Dr Garner-Jones told the Daily Post: “People make their own decisions about how to live their life. But there’s a lot of talk about bravery and courage for people who were opting out of living their lives. I didn’t like the inverse of that.

“To call this action ‘brave’, ‘courageous’ and ‘selfless’ implies that those of us who battle on are ‘cowardly’ and ‘selfish’, which is unfair and untrue.”

Dr Garner-Jones, 53, was paralysed from the chest down and has limited use of only her left hand after a lorry ploughed into her car 34-years-ago.

As mentioned at the top of this post, Dr. Garner-Jones asked her MP to take up her cause in Parliament. He did.

Echoing Dr Garner-Jones, Dr Pugh warned: “The proposals involve an individual regarding their life as intolerable, worthless, unbearable or lacking in human dignity – and the state endorsing that choice.” (emphasis added)

Thank you, Dr. Garner-Jones. –Stephen Drake

Washington State Voters Pass Assisted Suicide Referendum

advocacy, assisted suicide, Our News & Commentary Blog, Washington state

Most people who check this blog out will already know that Washington State’s referendum (I-1000) to legalize assisted suicide passed. There are lots of reasons that this happened – a popular ex-governor with lots of money adopted passage as a personal cause, out-of-state money from PACs and individual supporters came in staggering amounts.

The key to figuring out how to prevent this playing out in other states, IMO, is to avoid whining about perceived unfairness in press coverage, financial resources, etc.

The real work lies in figuring out what coalitions have done right in other states (e.g. Hawaii, California, Maine, Michigan, etc.) and what went wrong with efforts in this state.

Hopefully, I’ll have some insights from members of the coalition soon. I thought I’d be able to share something today that was posted on another blog, but is appears to have vanished.

More later… –Stephen Drake