:: Running from the Thought Police ::

:: Monday, October 31, 2005 ::

Yet Another Reason Why I Avoid The DI Opinions Page

(Cross-Referenced as Pet Peeve LXX)

Stupid people are as capable of writing letters to the editor as smart people are, and, as there are more stupid people, they write in more often. Case in point: in today's DI a woman - who isn't even a student or alumna - writes in about Blago's bill to fund stem cell research. She claims that

He was not "above board" in the language used in his executive order, using the phrases "pluripotent stem cells" and "totipotent stem cells"...

If this woman actually knew what she was talking about, she'd know that totipotent and pluripotent stem cells are both types of embryologically-derived stem cells. The former refers to those taken when the embryo consists of eight cells or less; a totipotent stem cell can differentiate into any cell type in the body and can actually create a full human being. The latter refers to those stem cells harvested after that point which, while not being able to differentiate into every tissue, can make a fair share of them.

She then goes on to make a half-assed comparison to adult (multipotent) stem cells, jumps to an unfounded claim that scientists are abandoning embryonic stem cell research because it has no promise (if you ask, I can pick apart in further detail how that's stupid), and then says that taxpayers demand an honest accounting of where their money goes when she's just proven that they couldn't understand it if small words were used.

I personally find embryonic stem cell research to be ethically dubious at best, and that's only because the stem cells are harvested from "surplus" embryos from fertility clinics that are slated to be destroyed anyway. Even so, the true pro-life position isn't served by such uneducated raving as exhibited in this particular letter.

:: The Squire 3:03 AM :: email this post :: ::
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