Embryonic Stem-cell Research - A True Faustian Bargain
In the debate over whether the federal government should fund embryonic stem-cell research (ESCR), our country is being offered a true Faustian bargain. In return for a hoped-for potential - it is no more than that - of deriving desperately desired medical breakthroughs in the treatment of such afflictions as Parkinson's disease, paraplegia, and diabetes, we are being asked to give the nation's imprimatur to reducing human life into a mere natural resource to be exploited and commodified.
Given the stakes, our lawmakers owe it to their country to take the time to thoroughly understand the issue before speaking in public and taking sides. Unfortunately, some senator's statements in favor of embryonic research exhibited stunning ignorance regarding the subject about which they opined. Making matters worse, the press quickly leaped upon the statements of these pro-life senators as proof that embryonic research is moral, ethical, and scientifically justified, when the reverse is actually true.
Senator Hatch's attempt to explain his pro ESCR funding position to Chris Matthews on Hardball on June 20, demonstrated that he doesn't know an embryo from a stem cell. Take the following statements:
* "After a long period of study and prayer, I found that pluripotent cells are not full human beings but can be very, very beneficial as used by science to help with all kinds of maladies...."
* "It is appropriate to use pluripotent cells but inappropriate to use totipotent cells because a pluripotent cell cannot be made into a full human being. A totipotent cell can actually be replicated into a human being through even cloning." (Totipotent cells are the first to appear after fertilization and can actually develop into a completely new embryo - as occurs during identical twinning. Pluripotent [stem] cells appear a bit later. They are "undifferentiated cells" that can develop into any body part - which is why researchers wish to study them.)
* "Life begins in the mother's womb, not in a refrigerator."(Embryonic)
In stating that the feds should fund the study of pluripotent cells but not totipotent cells, Senator Hatch confused several essential points. First, pluripotent cells and totipotent cells are not the same thing as the embryo itself. Rather, these cells are constituent parts of the embryonic whole just as vital organs are parts of born persons.
The editorial, ?Stem Cells and the Logic of the Nazis,? appeared in the September 3, 2000 issue of the Los Angeles Times. Even though the Los Angeles Times, a widely distributed newspaper, has a slightly liberal slant, this editorial displays a strongly conservative view on stem cell research. Thus, the author of the editorial has to be very cautious in the tone that he uses in order not to offend liberal readers. George Weigel, the author of this editorial, picks apart what he sees as the fallacious argument of Michael Kinsley, a well-known libe...
rights convention in Akron, Ohio, in 1851. Truth gave her speech against the wishes of the convention's participants, and as a result captivated her audience with a powerful narrative that would flourish in African American history. After gaining her freedom, she changed her name from Isabella, to Sojourner Truth as representation of the new person she had become. She vowed to preach the "Truth" as God revealed it. Her powerful oration drew people into her speeches, and she challenged her listeners to live up to the ideals they claimed to embrace.
...onjointly, Dante’s strategically used imagery shows the horrors are merely the hidden sins committed on Earth and that caused them to be punished in Hell to their sins’ equal severity. The crowning jewel of Dante’s illustrative text was the pilgrim’s development from a pure human being to one filled with evil and hatred after seeing Hell’s truths and how he changed negatively from his exposure. These clues left by Dante display show the reader the precise reason why the Church is debauched and how it affected its misguided people.
Late one night a woman is driving home on the freeway, she’s hit head on by a drunk driver and killed. The man is charged with two accounts of murder; the woman, and her four-week-old embryo inside her. By law, everyone human being is guaranteed rights of life; born or unborn they are equal. The same law should be enforced concerning human embryonic stem cell research. Dr. James A. Thomson discovered stem cells in 1998 and they’ve intrigued scientist ever since. The stem cells themselves are derived from a three to four day old cluster of cells called a blastocyst and they are so coveted because they are pluripotent, meaning they can differentiate into any type of cell in the human body. Although embryonic stem cells show amazing potential to cure various disease such as cancer, congestive heart failure, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, muscular dystrophies, and more. The methods by which they are obtained is controversial. Research on embryonic stem cells is unethical, unnecessary, and purely homicide.
In the jury system of the United States, crimes are punished in different ways. A thief might be sentenced to a year of prison for stealing, while a murderer could be sentenced to life in prison. The reason the murderer is sentenced to more time in jail is because the crime he committed is more severe than the crime that the thief committed. The same applies in Dante’s Inferno, he separated sins into nine different circles. The higher the circle level is, the more severe the crime and punishment are. These nine circles help reveal the themes justification. When comparing the punishments between sinners, there is a clear distinction on which discipline is worse. This juxtaposition unveils that crimes are punished based on their severity because one punishment is worse than the other. In the seventh circle of Hell, Dante and his guide, Virgil, encounter two types of sinners: the wrathful and the sullen. As Dante passes by he is able to “make out muddied people in that slime, all naked and their faces furious.” Dante continues to study the wrathful sinners noting that they “struck each other not with hands alone, but with their teeth” (Alighieri 7). The way the author describes the scene shows why these sinners’ punishment is worse than the previous seven circles of Hell. The wrathful wanted to be angry and provocative on earth, so now they are fighting for the rest of eternity. The sullen were gloomy and hostile on earth, so they are now trapped below the surface of a river of slime with no happiness surrounding them. Justification will always exist because there are several forms of sin and they are continually punished in many
Torments among the sinners are established by Dante Poet who is hungry for fame and ruthless to the inhabitants of Hell. Dante Pilgrim is a caring, yet a reasonable man who craves knowledge from the sinners. Dante Poet’s ability to inflict any punishment he sees fit on any sinner allows him to evoke specific responses out of Dante Pilgrim. Therefore, Dante Pilgrim perceives the lessons he learns to be valuable; but Dante Poet is over exaggerating both the wrath of God and validity of punishments taking place in Hell. Although Dante Pilgrim is learning, he is learning at the will of Dante Poet and not God.
In his poem The Divine Comedy. The Inferno, Dante Alighieri gives his audience a clear vivid presentation of what he as a follower of the Christian religion perceives to be hell. Dante shows that human sin is punishable in various degrees of severity and that this is dependent on the nature of one's sinful actions. He sets forth what could very well be the most fully developed Christian understanding of justice on earth, and
Rpt. from “Stem Cells, Life, and the Law. ”National Review (25 Aug. 2010). Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web.
Stem cell research has been a heated and highly controversial debate for over a decade, which explains why there have been so many articles on the issue. Like all debates, the issue is based on two different arguments: the scientific evolution and the political war against that evolution. The debate proves itself to be so controversial that is both supported and opposed by many different people, organizations, and religions. There are many “emotional images [that] have been wielded” in an attempt to persuade one side to convert to the other (Hirsen). The stem cell research debate, accompanied by different rhetoric used to argue dissimilar points, comes to life in two articles and a speech: “Should Human Cloning Be Allowed? Yes, Don’t Impede Medical Progress” by Virginia Postrel; “Should Human Cloning Be Allowed? No, It’s a Moral Monstrosity” by Eric Cohen and William Kristol; and “Remarks by Ron Reagan, Jr., to the 2004 Democratic National Convention” by Ron Reagan, Jr. Ethos, pathos, and logos are the main categories differentiating the two arguments.
When asked who you can relate to from history, most people say Abraham Lincoln, Walt Disney or some other household name. I cannot; yet I am able to relate to a little-known person by the name of Douglas Bader. Bader was a paraplegic; he lost his legs in a biplane crash in 1931. He later went on to become one of the most praised pilots in the Royal Air Force. Although I have both my legs, I have a deformed aortic valve; aortic stenosis. Ever since childhood, I have always dreamed of flying. Even though my condition has limited me from playing sports or doing anything that was considered physically dangerous, I managed to find other activities like reading in the school Book Club, building model planes and tinkering with various electronic devices to pass the time. I continued to read; concentrating on books with historical themes in particular those that contained material about various planes of the past. As a result, my reading sparked my interest in aircraft. I often listened to my uncle’s stories of WWII and how crucial the airplanes’ roles were in order to win the war effort during that
"Whether it is nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing, end them." No other craftsman has so eloquently put it as Shakespeare. The timeless question has yet to be answered. It is a question explored by more writers and philosophers than any other next to love, which many pose to be the solution. Glengary Glen Ross offers no solution. The problem is life. The struggle is individual. The lack of relationships is troubling. There is no love and in fact there are no female characters. The emotions are greed and animosity, jealousy and disgust. There is no life in this play. The play is unnatural. The characters act in unnatural ways. The lives displayed show no resemblance to nature. There are no natural settings and the movement skips all natural institutions. There are no bathroom breaks or rests, all is work and the life outside the tiny office is not narrated. The men's personalities are not natural. That is why Shakespeare's question, which is extremely unnatural in its composition, is applicable to this play.
As Dante descends further down into the circles of Hell, he sees the justice in the punishment the sinners receive. Upon seeing the sinners in
Every society uses mind control methods to achieve a certain goal. The societies mentioned used different severities of mind control to get the same thing, power. This power is produced from the conformity or uniformity that is being forced on people. When people conform, they need to spend money. In 1984, they had to give their money right back to the government by buying necessary items. In today's society, people pay money to get material possessions to fit in. This conformity makes money which is given to the rich. The rich get richer and the lower classes still strive to stay alive or stay hip. This is the cycle that is almost near impossible to change.
Dante’s Inferno explores a Hell made by God in his quest for justice toward unrepentant sinners on Earth. It can be assumed the punishment in Hell is a direct result of unrepentance before death on Earth, or in the words of Dante, “Do not be afraid; our fate cannot be taken from us; it is a gift” (Alighieri). Dante shows this concept in a few different ways. An example would be the lovers, Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta who are condemned to the second circle of Hell due to an adulterous love affair that occurred after reading the story of Lancelot and Guinevere. They felt they were not responsible for their lustful adulterous actions; it is obvious to c...
Dante travels through all nine circles of Hell and all the levels of Purgatory, finally he travels through Heaven and meets God. In the beginning Dante sympathized and felt pity for the suffering sinners. He “wept so piteously” for the sinners. Half way through Hell he begins to understand that the people belong there. He slowly accepts that the sinners in Hell belong there. Some sinners make Dante go back and sympathize for them while others make him cruel and wrathful.