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September 17, 2005

Just say what you mean

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In an editorial today, entitled "My Little Chickadee," the New York Times  reveals that:
 
"We take the range of personalities among individuals in our species for granted, yet it seems surprising to think of similar diversity in other species. Many people find the implications of that genuinely shocking."
 
After providing this incredibly "shocking" news to anyone who has ever had dogs, cats, horses, or other domestic animals as pets, the Times continues to explain:
 
"Humans do not like to think of themselves as animals. Nor do they like to think that their behavior may have genetic or evolutionary roots. But the richer perspective — morally and intellectually — lies in examining and coming to terms with the kinship of all life. There's a certain tragic isolation in believing that humans stand apart in every way from the creatures that surround them, that the rest of creation was shaped exclusively for our use. The real fruit of that perspective is, in fact, tragic isolation on an earth that has been eroded by our moral assumptions. Science has something much wiser to tell us about who we are. So do the birds around us."
 
Now, if the Times wants to maintain that major basic tenets of the Christian and Jewish faiths are all just unpleasant myths; that the Bible is essentially a crock; and that only "science" has the wisdom to provide our morality, why in hell don't they say so in plain English instead of this florid prose about the chickens and the chickadees?
 
Then perhaps somebody could engage their propositions in a sensible debate.
 
Richard N. Weltz   03 03 05