What would David Konstan Say?
Looks like I'm going to have my work cut out for me over there in Spain. Ay Caramba.
In seriousness, as ridiculous as it might be to give animals human rights, it does make the U.S. treatment of humans seem a little... err... animalistic.
In seriousness, as ridiculous as it might be to give animals human rights, it does make the U.S. treatment of humans seem a little... err... animalistic.
posted by Robot at 8:14 PM
1 Comments:
Socialism: making the world better, one less monkey spanked at a time.
But seriously, it's not all that ridiculous. Why not make life better for great apes? The only real opposition to such protection laws would come from pharmaceutical and other testing companies. Personally, I'm not outright opposed to animal testing, but that doesn't mean this debate shouldn't take place. In my mind it has much more room for argument than first trimester abortion laws (sorry Archbishop).
As for the Gitmo...who is this Harris fucker they have trotted out to answer questions? What a scummo. He says all the inmates are "dangerous," even though there are at least six who have been declared not enemy combatants and countless others who were arrested nowhere near a battlefield in Afghanistan. It is common knowledge that we don't even know why we're holding a large number of the Gitmo inmates. And if they're so dangerous, how does that explain the fact that there have been 41 suicide attempts and countless hunger strikes, and only one assault on guards, as far as I know?
Harris also says it was a "planned event," not spontaneous, an act of "asymmetrical warfare," and that the suicides subscribed to a "mystical belief" about closing down the detention center, in order that we might disassociate ourselves with them. "I'm a sensible person, I'd never act like these strange irrational suicidal types." The way Harris describes it, you'd think they were waging another September 11 in there.
The truth is, I think many people, faced with the sort of future these inmates can look forward to, would opt for the same. I do not doubt that many of them are indeed dangerous, that their trial and possible conviction will be the right course of action. But it should not surprise us one iota that they are trying to kill themselves, nor should we think that this form of protest using their bodies, the only form of expression they have available, is illegitimate.
Post a Comment
<< Home