Letter to the Editorial Staff,
After reading Sarah Netter’s article titled Bush’s stem cell decisionwrong, in the September 13, 2001 issue of The Chronicle, I felt compelled to write in response. There were some glaring factual inaccuracies and some obvious contradictions written by the author.
Ms. Netter says that President Bush “`has put many of his citizens lives at risk'” (emphasis added). Last time I checked, President Bush was not king and we were not his citizens. On the contrary, he is our president. Ms. Netter should not be so quick to give up her liberties.
I will not attempt to debate Ms. Netter on her views because by reducing this sensitive and complex debate to calling the embryos “a petri dish of goo,” she demonstrates her reliance on such intellectually lazy and sophomoric reasoning that it would be futile to enter into rational dialogue. On one hand, she states that the embryos are “the very beginning of human life.” Later, she questions whether they are human life and refers to them as “a pile of chemicals.” If the fertilized eggs are not human, then why is it so important to do medical studies on them? If they are human, then how can Ms. Netter expect for anyone to take her seriously by reducing human life to such glib and emotionally reactive statements.
This is a serious topic, which deserves thoughtful and wise decisions. I hope that before Ms. Netter writes on another topic of such importance and complexity, she takes more time and care in researching and analyzing the issues and checks her facts. Or in the alternative, forgo attempting to take on such issues and keep to more trivial topics such as pop culture. I expect more from an Editor-in-Chief.
Michael Menapace
2L Quinnipiac University