USS Clueless              Voyages of a restless mind

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Stardate 20010817.0906 (On Screen): As part of his decision about stem cell research, Fearless Leader has decided to create a bioethics council to advise him on the issue. (Which is strange because his people also announced that the decision was final and wouldn't revisit it. So what, exactly, is the Council supposed to advise him about?) Virginia Postrel, who is in favor of this research (as am I) is asking an interesting question: who do you think should be on the council? The problem is that the man chosen to lead it is not, shall we say, unbiased. (In fact, he's rabidly opposed to it.)

I believe that there should be one person on the council who is suffering from Parkinson's disease. Of all the diseases that stem cell research may be able to treat, Parkinson's disease is one of the most horrible. Probably the best high-profile victim for this would be Janet Reno, but there's a snowball's chance in Hell of Janet Reno being appointed to do anything whatever for this administration. So my second choice would be Michael J. Fox.

The man is only 40, and he's probably not going to make even my own advanced age unless treaments improve drastically and soon. He's a nearly perfect poster boy for the disease. He's well liked and not tinged by scandal. He's handsome and personable and intelligent and witty, and quite successful. He's white. (Sigh.) He's not a sinner. He has three kids and a fourth on the way, but his career and his family life are being cut short by a terrible disease that isn't his fault that probably can be cured by this research but which cannot be cured any other way. (All current treatments for Parkinson's disease are palliative.)

It's a lot easier to make cruel decisions in the abstract. It's easier to decide that a lot of people should starve "for market reasons" if you don't actually have to watch them do it. And it is easier for the opponents of stem cell research to talk about the immorality of it if they don't have to see and directly experience the cruelty of not doing it. Even though he has no credentials as a bioethicist, he is a walking, breathing, argument for developing these treatments. I'm quite sure that he'd skip his medication before attending meetings (just as he did before testifying in front of Congress). And as the members of the council come to know and like him, they will come to sympathize with the tragedy of his disease -- and know that the research they oppose is the only thing which can help him. That will make it a lot harder to oppose it. They will come to truly know the cost of their opposition, not in the abstract, but in the concrete.

But it won't happen. The purpose of this council is not to actually determine what to do, but rather to rubber stamp what Fearless Leader already decided. This council is political cover, nothing more. (discuss)