Ideology

http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/10/opinion/edstem.php

Yeah, God forbid we should worry about morals!  Who fucking cares about morals anymore? 

Nevermind, of course--OF COURSE--that this decision is not value-free.  In the background is an implicit moral decision, to wit that life can be created and destroyed in the cause of possible medical and scientific advancement.  That is a moral decision, albeit one that many people find immoral.  Of course, PETA and the vegetarians would find it immoral if, instead of human embryos, this discussion was about rats and chimps.  Christ--now I've made myself think of Peter Singer, unwittingly, and my blood is aboil.  He, of course, has become so desensitized to the notion that human life has any worth at all that he thinks the right to abortion should extend to some time after birth, essentially to infanticide.  But, hey, what's the difference, right? 

But something is being lost here.  We, as a people, are losing the ability to talk about morality and make moral decisions.  Those crazy ideologues in the Christian conservative movement are right that we're losing our sensitivity to subtle moral distinctions.  That's why any criticism of abortion seems to automatically mean that you're not pro-choice, which is just fucking ridiculous.  How did Americans get so bloody Manichean?  The left criticized GWBush for that all the time, but they're just as bad.  The left feels it necessary to talk about embryos and fetuses as if they aren't alive.  So, I guess a beating heart and spontaneous movement aren't enough to make something "alive." 

Look, I don't mean that it's necessarily wrong to do this research.  My point is that this decision does imply a moral choice, and I don't know why we should pretend otherwise.  To do so just takes us further and further away from a point where we're able to publicly discuss morality at all.  Maybe most Americans are content to be a society without morals, but for me, it's disgusting beyond words. 

Obama, you're one arrogant son of a bitch, man.  In that, you are no different from your immediate predecessor.  I suppose that's what it takes to want to be president.  Jesus effin Christ.  I just want to rip my hair out.