Judy,
just one point. (although barely scratching the surface don't have the
time for a lengthy answr)
I spent so much time in writing in obscure journals (mostly journals read
by human rights groups particular disabled people )because I feel that the
target group should learn what goes on . For the most part they don't know
because bioethics is for many disabled people an abstract problem whereas
they face daily direct problems (job money access...).
I by the way give papers at the Canadian Bioethic Society meetings. And I
try to have a mixed audience in my lectures (disavbled people women
gay/lesbians indiginous people consumer groups related to botech and the
average interested perrson). Only if it is organized by a disability group
than they don't attract many other groups as the support for disabled
people even within the human rights movement is pretty thin.
So I had to make a choice educate my own people or dialogue with others. I
try to do all and my audience is pretty mixed but I don't have the time
to also write stuff for bioethic journals. I am still a biochemist also
(that pays me the salary).
Cheers
Gregor
On Sat, 10
Jul 1999,
[log in to unmask] wrote:
>
>
> Gregor et al,
>
> About free speech:
>
> > Disabled groups for thew
> > most part have not much money. Obviously people who like Singer's
> ideas
> > and work have no problem in finding money to invite Singer all over
> the
> > world. This is an unevenness as to who hears whom and in that way free
> > speech becomes a tool for the powerful to justify themselves
>
> I'm not sure this argument is correct - Peter Singer made his reputation
> via his ideas on Animal Liberation - not something that the "powerful"
> took kindly to. He then went on to write a number of works on
> philosophical issues, in accessible language, that attracted an
> audience.
>
> I don't want to dismiss your idea that there is discrimination which
> prevents disability activist writers reaching a popular audience - I just
> don't know enough of what goes on - but I do know that a lot of disability
> writers put a hell of a lot of energy into writing for each other, for
> obscure journals, for poorly publicised academic publishers, for limited
> conferences, for ill-attended seminars, and often in incomprehensible
> language, not to mention lurking on lists like this. I'm wondering what
> prevents that energy from getting out and finding a wider audience? (I
> might ask myself the same question, I must admit.)
>
> > What should disabled peple do to confront people like Singer?
> > We can't do it on academic level (we are just not enough academics out
> > there.
>
> Well, he's just one man, isnt he? Have any of the philosopher of the
> disability rights movement attempted to dialogue with him?
>
> > In Germany to that time the disabled people felt they only had one way
> > to block him from speaking.
>
> Yes, I can understand that you do have to be dramatic to get any media
> attention...
>
> > By the way. I find it dqangerous to focuss to much on Singer as thereare
> > many USA bioethicists who write for decades he same as what Singer
> > writes(Joseph Fletcher Tristam Engelhardt to name just two.)
>
> Yes, that was my original question, why was Singer singled out? My partial
> answer, an anti-semitic undercurrent, doesn't seem to have found any
> supporters, even amongst other Jews - so I hope I was wrong. Maybe it was
> simply, that he has the highest profile because he has made the choice to
> write to a wider, non-specialist audience.
>
> Judy
>
>
>
>
Dr. Gregor Wolbring
Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Faculty of Medicine
University of Calgary
3330 Hospital Drive NW
Calgary, T2N 4N1
Alberta, Canada
Phone 1403-220-5448
Fax 1-403-283-4740
eFax 1-603-761-3704
e-mail [log in to unmask]
webpage: http://www.thalidomide.ca/gwolbring
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