Human Clonning and "The Matter of Whiteness"

The article "The Matter of Whiteness" by Richard Dyer, brings up some very important points about the way we treat the topic of race. It is true that it is always in play with how we think and how we make certain decisions. Do I think it is right? Absolutely not. I do believe that to a certain extent, we can't help it. As humans, we naturally categorize people and make judgements, not to be mean, but to better understand our surroundings. So in essence, everyone is a little bit racist. However, the line is drawn at saying negative comments or letting the aspect of race to be a deterent on decisions. One claim that I absolutely disagree with in this article is that being white means that we are non-raced. I can not count how many times I've been called a "white girl" or a white women. Just because that is not as frequent of an occurence in our society doesn't mean that it doesn't happen. Being a racist is not just a white thing. In my personal experience, I have been judged and spoke badly of for my color than I have ever done to a person of a different race. I do admit that the terms like "black" are used to describe people and I am not innocent of refering to people like that.

Genetic engineering and Human Clonning

Gene Therapy and human cloning some pros and cons….

Before moving on to this however, it is necessary to point out that with respect to enhancements, if our technology developed in such a way as to allow somatic cell interventions that could be contained within the recipient with a high degree of certainty, then there would be little to stop individuals undergoing genetic interventions that would otherwise by considered unacceptable. There is a caveat on this suggestion however, and that is that in most cases interventions that were of a radical nature, say growing extra arms or having skin that changed colour at varying intervals would and should not be paid for out of the public purse. Anyone who wanted an intervention that was of this nature would have to be willing to pay for the procedures themselves. Public funding for genetic interventions should in my view whether or not they are somatic or germ-line is restricted to those interventions that fall within the boundary of treatment and those that are publicly acceptable forms of enhancement. This position will be further discussed later when the issues of social justice and the effects of germ-line interventions are considered.