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Sunday, May 04, 2008

Don't The Euronuts Have Anything Better To Do?

This is as fruity as it gets, the Swiss are debating plants rights. Yes the kind of plants that grow out of the ground. The Weekly Standard has the latest on the moral equivalence of vegetables. This is what happens when God is removed from society and everything is anthropomorphised.

You just knew it was coming: At the request of the Swiss government, an ethics panel has weighed in on the "dignity" of plants and opined that the arbitrary killing of flora is morally wrong. This is no hoax. The concept of what could be called "plant rights" is being seriously debated.

A few years ago the Swiss added to their national constitution a provision requiring "account to be taken of the dignity of creation when handling animals, plants and other organisms." No one knew exactly what it meant, so they asked the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology to figure it out. The resulting report, "The Dignity of Living Beings with Regard to Plants," is enough to short circuit the brain.

A "clear majority" of the panel adopted what it called a "biocentric" moral view, meaning that "living organisms should be considered morally for their own sake because they are alive." Thus, the panel determined that we cannot claim "absolute ownership" over plants and, moreover, that "individual plants have an inherent worth." This means that "we may not use them just as we please, even if the plant community is not in danger, or if our actions do not endanger the species, or if we are not acting arbitrarily."

Now I understand some protections for rare or endangered species but isn't this going just a little to far?

3 comments:

Tapline said...

Goat, Well, they do make good chocolate. I guess they make it?? It's named after them anyway.....

Gayle said...

We plant vegetables from the seeds of our vegetables that we planted the year before. We grow all sorts and we don't ask them if it's okay to eat them or sell them before we do so. I supose we're in violation of something or other? LOL! I don't give a fig (oopsies! I took a plant's name in vain! My bad!) about the rights of plants.

This is beyond ridiculous; it's downright insane! If we plant them we own them and we will darn well do what we want with them.

The Griper said...

"no walking on the grass" just got a new meaning huh?

has anyone informed the vegetarians that they may be acting immorally since a lot of them don't eat meat because of animal rights?