Ethics news:
23 March 2005
Ethics News is regularly updated with links and introductions to ethics-related news stories gathered from all over the web. Discuss the ethical issues raised by these stories in our Ethics Forum by clicking on the 'discuss' links.
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What makes a hero?
Johnson Beharry was last week awarded the Victoria Cross for his acts of bravery during the Iraq war. Peter Beaumont and Jason Burke ask what factors - physical, psychological and moral - create a heroic act. 'Heroism', wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson, 'is an obedience to a secret impulse of an individual's character.' It is a mystery, war's great enigma - what is it that makes one man run, another stand his ground, and an exceptional few display unusual courage. That conundrum - of what makes a hero - was posed again last week ...
The Observer - 20 March 2005
The fine line on humane life-support
The debate in the US about end-of-life care would be no clearer here. For well over a year, Terri Schiavo's personal tragedy has been deepened by arguments between her parents and her husband, and by battles between politicians and the judiciary in her home state of Florida. Schiavo has been in what doctors describe as a "persistent vegetative state" for 15 years, and on Friday a Florida judge ordered her feeding tube be removed. Her parents objected to this, and yesterday Congress voted to have a federal court review her case. Had this happened in NSW, would she have been better served? I fear not ...
The Sydney Morning Herald - 22 March 2005
A choice that is no choice at all
Every week, dozens make the same decision Terri Schiavo's family is fighting over. At any one time, as many as 35,000 people in the United States - up to 10,000 of them children - are in a persistent vegetative state similar to that of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman at the centre of a right-to-die debate. Every week, say medical experts, tens to hundreds of families must make the same wrenching decision that Schiavo's husband and parents have been fighting over for more than 10 years, but the decisions are typically made in a much less public forum ...
The Sydney Morning Herald - 22 March 2005
Assisted dying should be legalised
Death is inevitable for us all. For some it is sudden and unexpected but for others the dying process - the irreversible loss of one or more vital functions - can extend over days, weeks or months and can involve suffering. Mercifully, modern methods of palliative care often suffice to alleviate distress and in so doing also help to prolong life by promoting better sleep, better nutrition and tranquillity of mind. But as strength and life ebb away, side-effects created by the very methods used to relieve distress become more prominent and are themselves a threat to life, most commonly because breathing is impaired as a consequence of pain-relieving medication ...
Spiked-Online - 16 March 2005
Hard pill to swallow
A group of euthanasia supporters is working on the development of a suicide pill, writes Philip Nitschke. The Dutch Supreme Court Judge Huib Drion was the first person in the world to call openly for the introduction of a pill that would provide a peaceful, pain-free death at a time of a person's individual choosing - a pill that is taken orally and available to "most" people. Drion wrote to a Dutch newspaper about his own frustration at being hamstrung and dependent upon the medical profession for assistance should he wish to die ...
The Sydney Morning Herald - 19 March 2005
A boy like Dan
Danny Mardell's world was turned upside down when his first son was born with Down's syndrome. But the shock and the shame of those first few months gradually gave way to acceptance - and love. Danny Mardell is an unlikely voice for the disadvantaged in our society. A self-made millionaire from a tough East End background, he likes flash cars, designer clothes and glamorous women. He's a wheeler-dealer; a hard man who thrives on the dirty cut and thrust of big business. He's cut a few corners in his time and you certainly wouldn't want to cross him; he's a big man who, at 42, knows what he likes and gets what he wants ...
The Guardian - 16 March 2005
Late abortion and the 'fetal pain' phallacy
The USA's ban on 'partial-birth abortion' rests on flawed arguments about fetal development. With George W Bush in the White House for another four years, many pro-choice activists fear that legislative interference into a woman's ability to obtain an abortion is set to increase. Planned Parenthood Federation of America declared the Bush victory 'disastrous for reproductive rights and health' and Planned Parenthood president Gloria Feldt has described an 'all-out assault on women and our reproductive freedoms' by Congress, the courts and the Bush administration ...
Spiked-Online - 15 March 2005
Christian suicide shooter kills innocent Americans
What if the media applies the same rules it applies to report incidents of violence in the Muslim world? What if the reporter happened to have biases against Christianity? What if he is totally ignorant of the Milwaukee religious profile and the American religious landscape? The result will not be different than what you may read in the following story. A Christian Terrorist kills seven innocent Americans including children and women. The terrorist act happened on Saturday at a church service held regularly at the Sheraton Hotel in Brookfield, Wisconsin. After killing the seven innocent people the Christian terrorist killed himself ...
Iviews - 15 March 2005
War ethics in Islam
History does present a few examples when, in the days of peace, a powerful nation treated its weak neighbors in a graceful manner. The real test of character for such a nation, however, lies in its attitude towards a vanquished nation. Islam has left indelible imprints of its magnanimity both in conditions of war and peace. Swayed by the electrifying effects of the conquest, conquerors usually go berserk in their behavior with the conquered. Possessed with brute authority, they unleash all sorts of atrocities in the occupied territories. Emanating much before Halaku and continuing after Hitler, this is what the war literature of the world teaches and preaches ...
Iviews - 21 March 2005
Wasting away: a gluttonous nation
Australians go shopping for the thrill of the purchase rather than the pleasure of using the goods. Homes are stacked with CDs that have never been played, novels that have never been read, clothes that are rarely worn, and food that is thrown out at the end of the week. While many feel guilty about the waste, according to a study by the Australia Institute, 40 per cent are not particularly worried, or have even thought about it. Wasteful consumption - spending on goods and services not used - costs society at least $10.5 billion a year and contributes to a mounting crisis in waste management, the study says ...
The Sydney Morning Herald - 19 March 2005
Danger of excess in our throwaway culture
A bulwark of the economy - consumer spending - and the needs of the environment are on a collision course and Australians will have to cut back on what they consume or face a growing mountain of rubbish, a new study warns. Governments have been unwilling to link environmental degradation and consumer expenditure, an Australia Institute study says. But strategies such as recycling to limit the growth of waste have reached their capacity, the institute's executive director and report co-author, Clive Hamilton, said. This has forced authorities to confront the fundamental cause of environmental decline - over-consumption ...
The Sydney Morning Herald - 19 March 2005
I gave up the plasma TV for you, baby
Bucking the cult of consumerism to have a child was a natural decision. Five months ago I announced to my workmates that I was pregnant. Amid hugs and congratulations one of my workmates said, "They must be paying you a lot if you can afford to have a baby." Taken aback, I wasn't sure how to respond. Should I laugh? Should I explain my financial situation, or how my partner and I came to decide to have children despite not being wealthy? Why would someone be shocked that we thought we could afford to support a child? ...
The Sydney Morning Herald - 18 March 2005
Greenery is shrouding debate
Green propaganda is now so pervasive in the media and public debate it has become part of the cultural background. Extraordinary errors and misrepresentations, on subjects such as global warming and native vegetation clearing, are regularly published without comment. Here's a story about just how hard it is to defend the truth against the Green spirit of our times. On February 16, 2004 ABC TV's Four Corners aired a program about the Tasmanian timber industry. It is possibly the most biased Australian television program ever put to air ...
The Sydney Morning Herald - 19 March 2005
The upside of being upsized
Obesity is shedding its stigma as the glitterati join the "fat pride" movement. Fatness has been the new smoking for a while now. The medical establishment has declared obesity the No. 1 health problem in the developed world, and government officials and private law firms are scrambling to respond with get-fit campaigns, bans on fast-food advertising and lawsuits aimed at outlets that upsize. The fight against fat has certainly enjoyed blanket coverage, from Fat Land, Greg Critser's scornful book about American obesity, to the BBC's television campaign Fat Nation - The Big Challenge, to the glossy magazines' breathless advocacy of fat-melting diets ...
The Sydney Morning Herald - 19 March 2005
Court rule offensive to families
No-fault divorce has not yet led to no-fault weddings. Marriage services are now very varied, but in one form or another the couple make a commitment to each other. So far there are no services where the couples declare: "I promise you nothing" or "I will leave when I like". These would be the words if services followed the principles of the Family Law Act. Marrying is a moral act. Couples have views of right and wrong behaviour in marriage, as does society at large, where "cheating" on your partner is still commonly regarded as a betrayals ...
The Australian - 21 March 2005
Leading the World Bank
Paul Wolfowitz is not the man to lead the global fight against poverty. George Bush has nominated US Deputy Secretary of Defence Paul Wolfowitz to be next president of the World Bank. Wolfowitz has been a chief architect of the Administration's policy of using pre-emptive military action to promote democracy in the Muslim world. Put plainly, Wolfowitz believes in promoting liberty and freedom by war. The tradition has been that the Americans appoint the head of the World Bank and the Europeans appoint the head of the International Monetary Fund. These traditions are indefensible ...
The Age - 21 March 2005
McCartneys: how the personal became political
As they arrive in Washington for a special audience with the most powerful man on Earth, receiving what one commentator called a 'heroines' welcome', the McCartney sisters have been hailed as a paragon of people power. Six weeks ago, their brother Robert was murdered outside a bar in the republican Short Strand in east Belfast, allegedly by members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Since then the five McCartney sisters and Robert's partner Bridgeen Hagans have kicked up a stink, calling on Sinn Fein and the IRA to help bring to justice those involved in the attack ...
Spiked-Online - 16 March 2005
School bans girl with hair braids
A 13-year-old girl has been suspended from school because the head teacher disapproves of her hairstyle. Olivia Acton returned from a holiday with braids, which Middleton Technology School in Rochdale deemed "extreme". She has been excluded until the braids are removed, but is resisting the school's demands which she regards as being discriminatory. The school has offered to teach her apart from other pupils. The local authority says it cannot intervene. Olivia regards the school's policy as discriminatory because black pupils are allowed to wear braids ...
BBC News - 9 March 2005
Sexual healing
The guardians of our children's morals would seem to prefer ignorance about sex to honesty. Yesterday morning, in the early sunshine, there was an extra decoration on Heath Street. Lying on the pavement, six inches from the road, was a crumpled pair of woman's knickers - mauve lace with chocolate-brown borders. From the position, I would imagine that they had been thrown there from a passing car sometime the previous night. You can decide for yourself what to make of this inappropriate disposal of lingerie. My first reaction was negative. I imagined some incontinent couple, first meeting that evening in a nightclub, engaging in some ambulant, semi-public sex. Is this just a prejudice? ...
The Observer - 20 March 2005
Farm animals need emotional TLC
Farm animals have feelings which should be respected and catered for, academics at a London, UK, meeting have said. They believe animals should not be dismissed as simple automatons - cows take pleasure in solving problems and sheep can form deep friendships. Delegates from around the globe were speaking at the Compassion in World Farming Trust (CIWF Trust) conference. They shared ways of exploring the minds of animals, as well as monitoring their suffering and alleviating their pain. "The study of animal sentience is one of the most exciting and important in the whole of biology," said Professor Marian Dawkins, of Oxford University ...
BBC News - 18 March 2005