Friday, September 01, 2006
Fake Plastic Politicians
Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who will surely be on the Republican Presidential ticket in 2008, made a statement today in which he referred to stem-cell research as "Orwellian."
The quote: "I believe it crosses a very bright moral line to take sperm and eggs in the laboratory and start creating human life. It is Orwellian in its scope. In laboratories you could have trays of new embryos being created."
As anyone who has actually read Orwell can tell you, nowhere in his books including 1984 (which I assume Romney thinks he's referencing), does Orwell talk about cloning or genetically modified people. 1984 strictly deals with a dystopian future based entirely on totalitarian government, and not science gone awry. For now, we can give Romney the benefit of the doubt and assume he meant to make a comparison with Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Otherwise, it would seem that he's warping the meaning of the word 'Orwellian' to his own ends. And that's a truly Orwellian thing to do.
Romney, by the way, looks like the wax museum version of the Manchurian Candidate.
US Governor or paid actor?
In the event that Mitt Romney and John Kerry win their party's primaries in 2008, I propose new criteria for deciding the election. Instead of voting, the guy with the least Botox in his face should be declared the winner.
For now, I'll refrain from commenting on the stem-cell research issue and instead leave that to The Onion, which has the best statement on the matter: "If God wanted to cure or treat diseases affecting 100 million people, he would've put a sane person in the Oval Office."
The quote: "I believe it crosses a very bright moral line to take sperm and eggs in the laboratory and start creating human life. It is Orwellian in its scope. In laboratories you could have trays of new embryos being created."
As anyone who has actually read Orwell can tell you, nowhere in his books including 1984 (which I assume Romney thinks he's referencing), does Orwell talk about cloning or genetically modified people. 1984 strictly deals with a dystopian future based entirely on totalitarian government, and not science gone awry. For now, we can give Romney the benefit of the doubt and assume he meant to make a comparison with Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Otherwise, it would seem that he's warping the meaning of the word 'Orwellian' to his own ends. And that's a truly Orwellian thing to do.
Romney, by the way, looks like the wax museum version of the Manchurian Candidate.
US Governor or paid actor?
In the event that Mitt Romney and John Kerry win their party's primaries in 2008, I propose new criteria for deciding the election. Instead of voting, the guy with the least Botox in his face should be declared the winner.
For now, I'll refrain from commenting on the stem-cell research issue and instead leave that to The Onion, which has the best statement on the matter: "If God wanted to cure or treat diseases affecting 100 million people, he would've put a sane person in the Oval Office."
# posted by workplex @ 12:28 
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]