Mostrar mensagens com a etiqueta Wesley J. Smith. Mostrar todas as mensagens
Mostrar mensagens com a etiqueta Wesley J. Smith. Mostrar todas as mensagens

segunda-feira, 2 de setembro de 2013

The Atlantic publishes two articles normalizing pedophilia - by Wesley J. Smith

August 27, 2013 (National Review) - I have written about this before. In our growing hedonistic culture, pedophilia is in the process of being normalized, downgraded by some from a severe sexual perversion into a mere ”orientation.”  
 
The Atlanticmainstream media!–has two articles that push us in that direction. First, “I Pedophile,” by David Goldberg–a Canadian journalist convicted for viewing child pornography–argues that his obsession with children is a “sexual orientation:”
The main query that I am convinced will always be without an answer is why I am a pedophile. It is the equivalent of trying to determine why someone is heterosexual or gay. We don’t choose our sexual orientations. If we could, believe me, no one would choose mine.
Then, he says incarceration isn’t the right approach to child porn consumers:
I am not advocating the cross-generational lifestyle. In fact, there is never an instance when an adult should engage in sexual behavior with a child. But until we as a society learn that help for those who view child pornography is a far better alternative to incarceration, we are doomed to see the continued proliferation of this problem. Scientists don’t know for certain if there is a correlation between viewing child pornography and offending against children. Wouldn’t it be nice to get pedophiles help before we find out for certain?
Cross generational lifestyle?” Watching child porn is “offending against children!”
Goldberg says he is “lucky” to have been caught in Canada and given only a 90-day jail sentence. Otherwise he would have had to spend time with “hardened” criminals. But who is a more hardened criminal than someone who victimizes children?

Click "like" if you are PRO-LIFE!
 
It’s one thing for a pedophile to rationalize his perversion. It is another for ”experts” in treating the condition to claim that pedophilia is a sexual orientation. From, “What Can Be Done About Pedophilia?”
“Sexual orientation” means different things in different contexts. When they say “sexual orientation,” most people mean a sexual interest that is inborn and unchangeable. No one chooses to be sexually attracted to children, although people do choose whether they act on their sexual attractions. Therapists have been attempting to turn pedophiles into non-pedophiles for a very long time, but no one has presented any objective evidence of any enduring change in sexual interests.
The expert isn’t suggesting that pedophilia should be treated as the same as homosexuality–yet:
Scientists have more specifically called it an “age orientation.” Caution has to be used, however, so as not to confuse the scientific use of the phrase “sexual orientation” with its use in law. Because the phrase “sexual orientation” has been used as shorthand (or as a euphemism) for homosexuality, there exist laws and policies barring discrimination on the basis of “sexual orientation.” These were not likely intended to refer to pedophilia.
Why “not likely” if we come to see pedophilia as a mere “orientation?” 
The experts say allow pedophiles to seek help before they “offend:”
I believe we can prevent a much greater number of victims if we put greater energies into early detection and provide support before the first offense occurs, rather than relying only on stronger and stronger punishments after the fact.
Fine. But not by reducing our repulsion of pedophilia or by reducing the threat of severe sanction if a child is abused or child porn is consumed. Let sure punishment be the stick that drives the pedophile to seek help before committing a criminal act. Moreover, a decent person will seek help regardless of feared personal consequences to prevent harm to an innocent child.

Sigh. The intellectual thrust of these arguments is meant to soften our views of people who lust after children. Somewhere, the minions of NAMBLA are smiling.

sábado, 25 de agosto de 2012

Euthanasia is a Cultural Addiction - by Wesley J. Smith

In Seconhand Smoke 

The Netherlands opened the doors to euthanasia way back in 1973. Since then, it has fallen off a vertical moral cliff with the killing agenda having spread to the pediatric wards. the mentally ill, and now stalking the elderly “tired of life”–all reported here and in my other writings.

But even that isn’t enough.  The cultural death addiction is now spreading, as I have reported, to the point that people want to be able to do each other.  That process is moving ahead with Hemlock Society type advocacy of assisted suicide proselytizing.  From the Radio Netherlands story:
A special website has been launched in the Netherlands for people who assist family or friends to commit suicide and want to tell their stories anonymously, or simply ask questions. Assisted suicide carried out by lay people is currently punishable by law. In the Netherlands, only doctors can carry out assisted suicides, and they can do so only if they follow strict protocols. [Me: Baloney!]

According to Right-to-Die-Netherlands (NVVE), physicians frequently refuse requests for assisted suicide, leaving patients unable to carry out their wishes in a humane way. One case recently made headlines: a man who helped his 99-year-old mother to die by giving her the lethal medication she requested. The Ministry of Justice is considering bringing charges against the man. The NVVE says people are often unwilling to help their friends and loved ones because they fear prosecution. So they’re left witnessing their loved ones dying or committing suicide and have to live with those memories. The organisation hopes that the anonymous testimonies will provoke discussion in the Netherlands and ultimately to the scrapping of the law against lay people helping in cases of assisted suicide.
If he is prosecuted, don’t expect any meaningful punishment.  And watch, E will spread away from the “medical model,” which is logical when you think about it because killing isn’t really a medical act.

Here’s the moral of the story: Euthanasia is addicting.  Once you allow it for a few circumstances, over time, you will allow it for many.  Ultimate destination: Death on Demand.




sábado, 26 de novembro de 2011

Critic points out media bias against adult stem cells

By Marianne Medlin

.- After researchers in California called off a major U.S. embryonic stem cell study, a legal expert says that most major news outlets have given zero coverage to the far superior benefits of adult stem cells.

“Since embryonic stem cells were first derived, the media has told a materially unbalanced story,” said Wesley J. Smith, a lawyer and senior fellow at the Discovery Institute's Center on Human Exceptionalism.

Smith said in a Nov. 23 interview with CNA that successful adult stem cell clinical trials “have either been ignored totally, or generally underplayed as story after story has claimed adult approaches offer more limited benefits than embryonic.”

His remarks come as the California-based biopharmecuetical company Geron announced on Nov. 18 that it has dropped a widely publicized embryonic stem cell research study.

Geron said that the FDA-approved study, which began in 2009 in attempt to treat spinal chord injuries, would have to end due to “capital scarcity.”

Fr. Tomasz Trafny, a member of the Vatican’s Council for Culture, said the move shows how companies are beginning to see that it's “not worth it to invest money, energy,” and “human potentiality” in embryonic stem cell research.

The decision by Geron to end its study is significant “because they publicly acknowledge that that they don't see any significant improvements in that research,” he told CNA on Nov. 23.

Fr. Trafny said the shut down is also important because “it shows that those who focused on adult stem cells were right not only because of potential clinical applications but also from ethical point of view.”

The priest is a key player in the Vatican's recent and unprecedented contract with NeoStem, a public firm pioneering new medical research with adult stem cells.

He noted that stem cells are the body’s master cells from which all of the body’s 200-plus types of tissue ultimately grow. Their versatility allows for potential in providing replacement tissue to treat countless illnesses and disorders.

However, despite the widespread advances of adult stem cell research as a potential cure, Wesley argued that media coverage on the topic has been scarce if not non-existent.

“No one forced editors and reporters to ignore the press releases and published studies that described the ongoing and very encouraging adult stem cell successes. They simply usually chose to overplay embryonic and underplay adult stem cell research in their reporting.”

Smith believes that a contributing factor to this is that the media generally view issues through a political or religious lens.

He said that “disdain for pro-life views” as well as “anti-Catholic” sentiments can impact a particular news outlet's analysis “of what constitutes an important story.”

“The media are particularly biased on 'cultural' issues and the embryonic stem cell controversy fits right in with that paradigm,” he added.

Smith said that in order to counteract this dynamic, alternative media “has to keep setting the record straight” and stay factually accurate in their reporting.

“In doing so, it is important that they not engage in the same journalistic malpractice from the other side,” he noted. “In other words, stick to the facts and don’t engage in the same kind of hype that the pro-embryonic stem cell research media have.”

Smith also said it's necessary to remind people “that the field is still young and many of the encouraging adult stem cell successes constitute early experimentation.”

“This is important both as a matter of credibility—the double standard that cuts against 'conservative' views may be unfair but it isn’t going away—and as an example of what real journalism looks like.”

sexta-feira, 9 de setembro de 2011

Euthanasia Pushes Belgium Into Abyss

by Wesley J. Smith

In Secondhand Smoke

The Netherlands used to be the heart of euthanasia darkness. It is still dark, but the culture of death crown has passed to Belgium, which not only legalized doctor-injected killing, but has enthusiastically embraced euthanasia’s logical corollaries. And now, we find that the number of euthanasia killings continues to rise exponentially. From the story:

“Growing trend for euthanasia,” headlines the front page of Le Soir. ”Since 2002, and the implementation of a law that partially depenalises the practice, there have never been more cases of euthanasia,” explains the Belgian daily, which reports on the latest figures from the federal monitoring agency. With more than 85 declared cases per month since the start of this year, there will be more than 1,000 deaths by euthanasia in 2011, as opposed to 954 in 2010.

As a comparison, in 2008, there were about 500 cases, meaning a 100% increase in just 3 years.

Not only that, but as I have reported here, Belgium euthanasia as resulted in:

Euthanasia is becoming a way of “life” in Belgium. As a consequence, the country is in a moral free fall. Culture of death, Wesley? What culture of death?