Thank you Susan and Stephen for circulating reports and comments on last
evening's event. Best regards, Shelley
Stephen N. Drake wrote:
>
> >From what little I know from press quotes, it looks like Adrienne did a
> fine job last night and probably had some effect on the thinking of the
> immediate audience - a caveat, though; a friend on another list was able
> to attend the simulcast at the university. Walking home, he overheard 4
> students in front of him talking about how impressive Singer was in his
> arguments. 20 minutes of conversation with them yielded some concessions
> that Adrienne raised some real concerns that needed attention. There's a
> legitimate question as to whether the "average student" hears the same
> debate as listeners coming from a comprehensive background in disability
> issues.
>
> However, most people are going to be getting their information from
> mainstream media coverage - and the samples I have indicate that the
> impact on the popular press (and the campus press) was minimal in regard
> to how important or convincing Adrienne's arguments were - in terms of
> what the press chose to report.
>
> Princeton is likely to think that they have done their bit to provide
> "balance" in regard to having done this one debate and that this should be
> the the end of the matter. It isn't.
>
> This probably goes without saying, but it is going to take a *lot* more to
> have an impact on coverage of the Singer controversy. This coverage in
> turn influences public perception of the issues. We'll need a lot more
> debates like last night's and more grassroots activism.
>
> But this is a pretty good start. Singer and Princeton have both wanted to
> label *any* opposition as coming from "right to life" - Singer was still
> telling this to Australian papers a few weeks ago. For now, they have
> been effectively been prevented from making that claim.
>
> I'll forward some of the coverage to the list shortly.
>
> Stephen Drake
> Not Dead Yet
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