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3/9/99, 10:53 amcst
A "NEW" DR. DEATH AT PRINCETON
By : Mary Jane Owen
It would seem the disability community should be in the lead as thoughtful Americans learn more about the appointment of Australia's "most notorious messenger of death," to the DeCamp Professorship of Bioethics at Princeton's Center for Human Values. This so-called bioethicist denies the essential worth of human life, asserting, "Killing a defective infant is not morally equivalent to killing a person." He considers such "nonpersons," (a designation which is also applied to adults) are living lives not worthy of life and thus can best be eliminated as useless "burdens" to society.
His appearances in Europe and Asia to speak about the positive value of eugenics, euthanasia and his denial of the inherent dignity or value of babies, children, the elderly and the disabled, have resulted in dramatic protests by disability advocates and others. There have been cancellations of his speechs in which he planned to spread his theories because people in wheelchairs chained themselves to the doors of the lecture halls where he was scheduled to disperse his dreadfully negative stereotypes. Upon occasion, he has been shouted down. In Germany, the disability community likened his solutions to the "challenges" of disabilities to those of the Nazis. Certainly he approves of the same "final solution."
But in the United States Singer is an unfamiliar figure. Those familiar with his name are involved with the animal rights movement. And the reason for their interest is his repeated assertions that the life of a young pig is more worthy than that of a disabled child, since, within his frame of reference, the pig is capable of more pleasure than is possible for a person with a significant disability.
Princeton alleges in defense of its appointment of Singer that the Australian is no activist, just a scholar dedicated to discussing theoretical solutions. But Singer himself acknowledges he seeks to replace the Judeo-Christian ethic with "new commandments," based upon a utilitarian model. He promotes disdain of traditional spiritual concerns. This newest Dr. Death, in an interview with Frederick Kunkie in the July 20th Star Ledger said, "I'm very excited. I'm looking forward to being at Princeton. . . . To having great, stimulating colleagues to work with and excellent students." He anticipates that Americans will be more receptive and less inclined to find his views offensive than disabled people in Europe and Asia.
British philosophy professor Davis S. Oderberg tried to awakened us to the dangers in a June 30th warning in the Washington Times: "Consider the evidence. Professor Singer has said in print, time and again, that disabled babies and infants have no right to life. Indeed, only human beings with 'lives worth living' are worthy of serious protections, and even they have no right to life as such, since talk of rights is, he says, 'a convenient political shorthand' for "the era of thirty second TV news clips.' As he argues in his notorious book, Should this Baby Live, if a human being has a life not worth living, it can be permissible, and even sometimes a duty, to kill such a one." Oderberg notes, "Newborn babies have, in his own explicit and unbelievable analogy, the same moral value as snails."
In an August 3rd Wall Street Journal editorial, Terry Golway quotes from Singer's book, Practical Ethics: "Although people sometimes talk as if we should never judge a human life as not worth living, there are times when such a judgement is obviously correct." Golway then commented, "Mr Singer does not tell us who, in his ideal world where only the worthy will live, would make such an 'obviously correct' judgement, but presumably we can be grateful he was not the attending physician when Christopher Reeve was brought into the emergency room or the obstetrician who delivered Helen Keller or the doctor who diagnosed Franklin Roosevelt's polio."
Professor George Kateb of Princeton has sought to justify both Singer and his appointment to a chair on human values, accusing those who raise questions about the advisability of this action of not doing "their homework." Golway replied in a September 12 essay for America, "Professor Kateb is right is saying these quotes {Used in earlier article critical of Princeton's choice} do not do justice to these views - - - You have to read the book {Practical Ethics} to get the full effect." After citing and including direct quotes from paragraphs patory. It includes fear and dread of what may happen.
Singer's lack of sensitivity about thecomplexity of human interaction is revealed in his rhetoric. Obviously, he has never shared the joy and wisdom to be gleaned within a population he targets for "justified" extinction: People with mental retardation. Probably he has never celebrated the personal victories of adults as we learn new ways of compensating for lost functions. The American belief that overcoming tough challenges reveals the most noble of human traits has persisted through the years. Obviously such a concept has no place in this Australian's mind-set.
If you find Singer's appointment inappropriate in addressing human values, perhaps you would like to write of your concerns to the Center for Human Values, Princeton University, 304 Louis M.A., Princeton, NJ 08544. They have prepared a form letter response which might make a nice souvenir to share at your next disability rights gathering."
- Mary Jane Owen
Read the statement on the hiring of Peter Singer by the Princeton Students Against Infanticide. The statement on the Hiring of Peter Singer can also be found at: http://www.geocities/Athens/Angora/2900/psai.html
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