When Aldous Huxley wrote his prophetic 1932 novel Brave New World, he envisioned a dystopian future in which mankind would become, in the words of bioethicist Leon Kass, "so dehumanized that he doesn't even realize what has been lost."

Huxley believed we would evolve into a society steeped in radical hedonism—where drugs would be used to erase every negative emotion and promiscuity would be not just the norm, but the expected. He also saw our future as becoming profoundly utilitarian and eugenic, depicted in his novel by genetically engineered babies being decanted through a cloning-type process rather than being born, a society without families, without the old and sick—who are done away with rather than being cared for—and without real purpose other than experiencing transitory pleasure. It is a world in which human life has been objectified and thereby made less than human.

Looking around, can there be any doubt of Huxley's prescience across the board? Look at what is happening in the field of biotechnology as just one example. Despite breakthroughs in ethical stem cell research—such as the induced pluripotent stem cell that is made from normal skin or other cells—scientists continue to insist that they need to clone human beings for use in experiments and to develop medical treatments. Political pressure is growing to have the taxpayers foot the bill for cloning research, with editorials in the New York Times and the science journal Nature promoting public funding. A bill will soon be introduced in Congress to do that very thing.

Meanwhile, some bioethicists promote creating fetuses through cloning and gestating them in artificial wombs from which to harvest body parts— a proposal that would be explicitly legal under New Jersey law. Fertility doctors have already announced that they are striving to bring cloned babies to birth (although at this time it is almost certainly not technically feasible).

The brave new world agenda marks a Rubicon in human morality. Not only does it—as in the bad old days of slavery—redefine some human beings as mere natural resources, but for the first time in history human beings are being created with the explicit purpose of destroying and harvesting them like a corn crop.

Ironically, as we objectify and depersonalize vulnerable humans, powerful social forces strive to personalize and raise the moral status of animals—and even nature itself.

• Peter Singer's Great Ape Project that seeks to create a "moral community of equals" between human beings and chimpanzees, gorillas, and other primates, is now the public policy of Spain.
• Pregnant pigs have been given the constitutional right not to be kept in crates by the voters of Florida. (That may be proper animal welfare policy, but pigs should not be granted "constitutional rights").
• The European Court of Human Rights has accepted an appeal from Austria's Supreme Court's refusal to grant formal personhood to a chimpanzee.
• Switzerland has declared the "intrinsic dignity" of plants.
• Ecuador has given "rights" to "nature" in its new constitution that are co-equal with that of human beings.
• A-list Hollywood movies have adopted the anti-humanism of the Deep Ecology. (a radical ideology that, among other agenda items, seeks to reduce human population to 500 million). The remake of old science fiction The Day the Earth Stood Still exemplifies these disturbing changes. In the original, the alien came to earth to save humankind from itself. In the new version, the alien—played by mega star Keanu Reeves—comes to earth to obliterate the human race, literally, to "save the Earth."

All of this—and more—are parts of the ongoing coup de culture that is mounting an unprecedented assault on Judeo/Christian moral philosophy and "human exceptionalism," the belief that moral value comes simply and merely from the status of being human, an essential foundation for the intellectual defense of universal human rights.

But human exceptionalism isn't just about our rights. Equally important, the principle also promotes human duties—to each other, to our posterity, and to the natural world. Indeed, in the known universe we are the only species that can be held morally accountable if we fail to do the right thing.

Which brings us to a seemingly unconnected event: American Humane's annual "Be Kind to Animals Week," sponsored by the group every year since 1915 to "commemorate the role animals play in our lives, promote ways to treat them humanely, and encourage others, especially children, to do the same."

Be Kind to Animals Week promotes pet adoption, gives information on shelters, teaches proper pet care, and promotes proper and humane care of all animals, with special emphasis to instructing children in this important human duty.

How does "Be Kind to Animals Week" differ from the Great Ape Project and other animal rights advocacy? It supports human exceptionalism by encouraging us to fulfill our human duties to animals, without undermining our unique moral status by according "rights" to animals. And that is a distinction with a huge difference. After all, if being human—in and of itself—is not what gives us the sacred obligation to treat animals properly, what does?

Alan Duncan, gay Conservative party frontbencher, jokes about murdering Miss California for her "homophobic" comments on British television

Mr. Duncan recently made headlines for comments made on a British comedy show by the name "Have I Got News for You". Duncan shocked viewers when he joked about murdering Miss America contestant, Carrie Prejean, after she was asked by a pageant judge to give her opinion on gay marriage.

"He said, 'I don’t agree with her [Prejean] at all… If you read that Miss California has been murdered, you will know it was me won’t you?'

A number of viewers complained to Ofcom about his comments and to the police.

Duncan said that his comments were not meant to be taken seriously, 'Of course it was in jest … It is a comedy show after all. I’m sure Miss Prejean’s very beautiful and that if we were to meet we would love each other. I have no plans to kill her. I’ll send her a box of chocolates - unpoisoned,' reports the Daily Mail.

George Hargreaves, leader of the Christian Party made an official complaint to the police. He said, 'Mr Duncan has crossed the line. A senior politician suggesting, even as a joke, that it is ok that Miss Prejean should be murdered for her evangelical Christian views is totally unacceptable.'

'How can we stop gun and knife crime when the man who thinks he will be the next Home Secretary makes death threats?'"

Christian Today

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/mp.under.invest igation.for.threats.to.homophobic.miss.california/23191.htm

How does “Be Kind to Animals Week” differ from the Great Ape Project and other animal rights advocacy? It supports human exceptionalism by encouraging us to fulfill our human duties to animals, without undermining our unique moral status by according “rights” to animals. And that is a distinction with a huge difference. After all, if being human—in and of itself—is not what gives us the sacred obligation to treat animals properly, what does?

Wesley J. Smith

The remake of old science fiction The Day the Earth Stood Still exemplifies disturbing changes. In the original, the alien came to earth to save humankind from itself. In the new version, the alien—played by mega star Keanu Reeves—comes to earth to obliterate the human race, literally, to “save the Earth.”

"With mankind’s first uncertain steps into the atomic age comes a warning from beyond the stars: cease your fighting and your wars or you will be destroyed. 'The decision rests with you,' Klaatu says by way of farewell at the end of 'The Day the Earth Stood Still,' a classic of Cold War science-fiction from 1951.

Fifty years later and Klaatu has a new message for humanity, but one with equally dire consequences should we choose to ignore it, Keanu Reeves, who is playing the alien in Scott Derrickson’s upcoming remake, told MTV News.

'The first one was borne out of the cold war and nuclear détente. Klaatu came and was saying cease and desist with your violence. If you can’t do it yourselves we’re going to do it. That was the film of that day,” Reeves explained. “The version I was just working on, instead of being man against man, it’s more about man against nature. My Klaatu says that if the Earth dies, you die. If you die, the earth survives. I’m a friend to the earth.'

While humanity still engages in a staggering number of international conflicts, the environmental message is one that, not only encompasses wars, and fights, and terrorism, but one that goes beyond constrictions to become a millennial message of 'what we are doing and who we are as a species,' Reeves insisted. 'We’re trying to reach beyond the idea of [just] environmentalism.'"

MTV Movie Blog

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2008/03/21/keanu-reeves-brings-different-message-with-him-in-day-the-earth-stood-still/

The Great Ape Project's aim to "extend equality beyond humanity" blurs moral boundaries

"Professor Colin Blakemore, head of the Medical Research Council in Great Britain from 2003-2007, is also opposed to granting rights to non-human apes, stating 'I can see no current necessity for the use of great apes, and I'm pleased that they're not being used and that every effort is being made to reduce the use of other primates. But I worry about the principle of where the moral boundaries lie. There is only one very secure definition that can be made, and that is between our species and others.' Blakemore suggests that it would be necessary to perform research on great apes if humans were threatened by a pandemic virus that afflicted only humans and other great apes."

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Ape_Project

American Humane Also Works to Stop Child Abuse

We applaud the Children's Division of American Humane for their efforts to protect children from abuse and neglect. We also urge them to consider expanding their efforts to the protection of the unborn particularly with the emerging threats posed by expanding embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic cloning research.

http://www.americanhumane.org/protecting-children/

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