[Sca-cooks] J. Swift's proposal (OOP, Off topic, longish, ranting)

[Gorgeous Muiredach]

Someone made reference to Jonathan Swift's proposal.  I was going to let it
lay, but I can hold myself no further.  Feel free not to read any further. <g>

I know the reference was made in jest, yet it scares me tremendously to
read such a jest.  The majority of you probably don't know this, but in
this day and age, in this country, similar precepts are still being preached.

A man named Peter Singer, who was pretty big in animal rights activism in
Australia is now the Chair of the Bio-Ethics department at Princeton
University, despite huge outcry from the disability community.

Why did we protest, and get arrested, over his appointment?

Because he says that it is ok to kill disabled infants up to 28 days old
(or so).  Children with disability, in his view, are non-persons, and it is
therefore ok to kill them.  After all, "they would have no way to enjoy
life, and wouldn't even have the capacity of happiness that even a dog
would have".

It is interesting to note that the classes Mr. Singer teaches are held in a
non-accessible part of the university.

I know much less about this topic than a couple of my co-workers and would
invite you to email Steve Drake directly at mailto:sndrake at aol.com if you
have questions, concerns or want to help fight this total idiocy.  Tell him
that I, Nic (don't use my SCA name!) sent you :-)  Mr. Drake is a Research
Analyst with Not Dead Yet, a grassroot organization that opposes the
legalization of assisted suicide.  I know this is a controversial topic,
and I while I don't mind discussing this issue, I *really* don't mean to
drag the list into such a debate, feel free to write to me directly about it.

Gorgeous Muiredach
Rokkehealden Shire
Middle Kingdom
aka
Nicolas Steenhout
"You must deal with me as I think of myself" J. Hockenberry