Ethics news:
archived: 9 May 2007
Ethics News is regularly updated with links and introductions to ethics-related news stories gathered from all over the web. We regularly archive the stories collected.
Hate in the name of free speech
Talk about unfortunate timing. Last Sunday the Jewish community in Australia held its annual Holocaust Remembrance Day in memory of the 6 million Jews who were murdered by Nazi Germany and its followers during World War II. In Sydney the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies marked the occasion with a candle-lighting ceremony involving five Holocaust survivors ... more.
The Sydney Morning Herald - 17 April 2007
New name, but the shame is still the same
Violence and the murder of citizens in dozens of countries throughout the world should be of the greatest concern to the UN Human Rights Council, the phoenix that rose from the ashes of the disgraced UN Human Rights Commission. But the council is apparently more concerned with polite conversation ... more.
The Australian - 17 April 2007
Let's be concerned about all human life
Tomorrow the Victorian Parliament resumes its debate on legislation to remove the state ban on therapeutic cloning. The proposed changes are a response to those made in legislation passed late last year by the Federal Parliament. The changes will, if passed, allow scientists to clone human life ... more.
The Age - 17 April 2007
The flaw in the American dream
Six weeks ago, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton went down to Selma, Alabama, and made a meal of their connections with black suffering. Both Obama and Clinton claimed that without the civil rights movement of the '60s, without the work of Martin Luther King, neither of them would be running ... more.
The Age - 16 April 2007
The law fails when it ignores our very best behaviour
The best film in town is The Lives of Others, a German drama about the Stasi, the secret police, in East Germany. ... It is a deeply moving and theatrically accomplished film that goes to the heart of the great questions of accountability in government and moral integrity in citizens. It's a great stimulus right now to clear thinking about issues we face in our own society � issues to do with leaks, ethics and the public interest ... more.
The Age - 16 April 2007
US evangelicals aim to influence European law
For the past two months, the Busekros family has been fighting a court battle to regain custody of their 15-year-old daughter, Melissa. German police took her from her home here, and placed her in a psychiatric ward. The reason: She was being home-schooled ... more.
Christian Science Monitor - 17 April 2007
Internet filters block porn, but not savvy kids
'Nannyware' can help, but the best parental control is still a parent, experts say. Like any mother, Mary Kate Dillon had concerns about her preteen son using the Internet. Still, she didn't go beyond looking over his shoulder every now and then. "He's a really good kid," says Mrs Dillon ... more.
Christian Science Monitor - 11 April 2007
Stand up for your rights
The past few years have been busy ones for human-rights organisations. In prosecuting the so-called war on terror, many governments in Western countries where freedoms seemed secure have been tempted to nibble away at them ... more.
The Economist - 22 March 2007
Sadly there is no human right to be happy
The case of the British woman denied the right to use her frozen embryos is a cautionary tale of our times. It is coming to something when judges in Strasbourg have the power to rule on whether or not a woman from Wiltshire can have a baby ... more.
Spiked Online - 11 April 2007
Is it ethical to buy exotic plants?
A friend of my mine has brought me a lovely plant from Thailand. Obviously, I scolded her about flying so far for a trip in the first place�but the plant is beautiful and I�d like to keep it. What should I do? ... more.
Spiked Online - 13 April 2007
Sachs sucks
Celebrity economist Jeffrey Sachs is worshipped by Bono and Co, but his first Reith lecture showed up his painfully low horizons for the world�s poor. Jeffrey Sachs has probably done more to shape contemporary low horizons on global poverty than any other individual ... more.
Spiked Online - 12 April 2007
'We're creating a hierachy of victimhood'
Neil Addison, author of a new book on religious hatred laws, says the laws are dividing communities and inflaming a �grievance culture�. On 30 March 2007, Aishah Azmi, the Muslim teaching assistant sacked over her refusal to stop wearing the veil in the classroom, lost her controversial appeal ... more.
Spiked Online - 5 April 2007
Power of the headscarf
The headscarf Faye Turney was made to wear in Iran made us look at her as a woman, not as a seaman, says historian Lisa Jardine. When I was a child - I think it began when I was about 10 - I had a recurrent dream, from which I would awake in a state of panic ... more.
BBC News - 13 April 2007
Under the skin
The skinhead movement is about to be reconsidered in a new film and a photographic exhibition. The menace and violence linger in the memory, but is it time to reassess the culture and its appeal in a more complex way? It provided some of the most powerful youth imagery the UK has ever known ... more.
BBC News - 12 April 2007