^TagWesley J. Smith

Aerial photo of mix color of stream in to river

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post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
April 17, 2024

Categorized
Environment

Tagged
Human exceptionalism, image of God, Nature Rights, personhood, Rivers, slippery slope, utah, Wesley J. Smith}

Utah Goes Up Against “Nature Rights”

_{Utah is the fourth state — the others are Ohio, Florida, and Idaho — restricting rights to the human realm where they belong.} _{Wesley J. Smith

April 17, 2024

3

Environment}

A bit ago, I warned that environmental radicals were pushing to grant rights to the Great Salt Lake. Thankfully, legislators noticed and passed a bill prohibiting granting rights to any non-human aspects of nature. From H.B. 0249: 63G-31-102. Legal personhood restricted.Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a governmental entity may not grant legal personhood to, nor recognize legal personhood in:(1) artificial intelligence;(2) an inanimate object;(3) a body of water;(4) land;(5) real property;(6) atmospheric gases;(7) an astronomical object;(8) weather;(9) a plant;(10) a nonhuman animal; or(11) any other member of a taxonomic domain that is not a human being. There has been advocacy among environmentalists to grant rights to nature broadly understood and to each of these identified categories, hence the need for a detailed Read More ›

lost time memory, retro clock time at 7 o'clock with fade dissolve missing life history concept.

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post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
March 19, 2024

Categorized
Media

Tagged
alzheimers, Assisted Suicide, Death, Dystopian, Mainstream Media, politico, Wesley J. Smith}

Mainstream Publication Endorses Suicide

_{The Politico story violates media guidelines and does a profound disservice to our society.} _{Wesley J. Smith

March 19, 2024

6

Media}

Such reporting tells people with dementia that their lives are not worth living. This is very wrong. Politico’s editors should be ashamed. Read More ›

Discarded face mask lying in a city street

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post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
January 4, 2024

Categorized
Science

Tagged
Covid, francis collings, Francis Collins on lockdowns, Technocracy, Wesley J. Smith}

Being a Good Scientist Doesn’t Mean Being an Effective Leader

_{Francis Collins admits that they botched the COVID-19 response.} _{Wesley J. Smith

January 4, 2024

5

Science}

Collins’s recent admissions and overarching career illustrate why we should resist the current push to impose a regime of rule by experts. Read More ›

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post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
December 12, 2023

Categorized
Ethics, Human exceptionalism

Tagged
Chimphuman, David P. Barash, Human-chimp hybrids, Humanzee, Rob Sheldon, Wesley J. Smith}

Why Does the Proposal for Chimp–Human Hybrids Keep Coming Back?

_{From David Barash’s perspective, the humanzee’s suffering is rendered worthwhile precisely because it enables the denigration of other human beings} _{Denyse O'Leary

December 12, 2023

5

Ethics, Human exceptionalism}

Physicist Rob Sheldon warns, when ridiculous inhumane ideas are routinely aired, we become more willing to accept inhumane ideas that are in fact quite viable. Read More ›

Senior woman sitting on the wheelchair alone

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post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
November 14, 2023

Categorized
Ethics

Tagged
choose life, Culture of Death, Death, Dutch, Euthanasia, medical, Morality, Wesley J. Smith}

Euthanasia’s Slippery Slope

_{Once a society embraces death as the answer to suffering, what counts as suffering never stops expanding.} _{Wesley J. Smith

November 14, 2023

3

Ethics}

Note well that the concept of the “completed life” need not involve any physical illness, disabling condition, or psychiatric malady at all. Read More ›

Modern day slavery, illegal trade of human organs on the black market and forced organ harvesting of death row inmates concept theme with a liver, heart and kidney with price tags and a barcode

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
November 14, 2023

Categorized
Crime, Ethics, Global Technology

Tagged
Andrew Wasike, Eurotransplant, Euthanasia and organ donation, Exodus Road, Judith Nakintu, Kenya and organ trafficking, Michael Cook, Susan Maginn, Trillium organ donor network, Uganda and organ trafficking, Wesley J. Smith}

Organ Transplants: How the Internet Enables the Dark Side

_{Euthanasia activists offer to "ease" the donor organ shortage, and so do cartels that exploit the world’s most vulnerable poor} _{Denyse O'Leary

November 14, 2023

5

Crime, Ethics, Global Technology}

Africans are lured abroad in hopes of a job, maybe in high tech even, and it sometimes turns out that the job is — organ donor. Read More ›

Little funny rabbit sitting in leaves in autumn

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post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
October 25, 2023

Categorized
Human exceptionalism

Tagged
Animal rights, animal welfare act, endangered species act, Human rights, Oxford University Press, Voting, Wesley J. Smith}

Should Animals Be Able to Vote? Some Animal Rights Activists Think So

_{Here's a taste of just how absurd and extreme "animal rights" has become.} _{Wesley J. Smith

October 25, 2023

5

Human exceptionalism}

As I always say, if you want to see what is going so badly wrong in society, read the professional and intellectual journals. Read More ›

Top view on blue ocean waves. Nature background.

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post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
October 15, 2023

Categorized
Environment

Tagged
Earth, Human exceptionalism, Human rights, ideology, Nature, Nature Rights, ocean, ocean rights, United Nations, Wesley J. Smith}

The United Nations is Considering Granting “Ocean Rights”

_{Why is granting “rights” to oceans becoming a thing?} _{Wesley J. Smith

October 15, 2023

5

Environment}

Common-sense environmentalism is no longer in style. The Ocean and Nature rights movements are symptoms of a viral anti-humanism. Read More ›

Flat lay composition with medical objects on color background

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post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
October 6, 2023

Categorized
Medicine and Health

Tagged
Affirmative action, bioethics, Health, Health Care, Medicine, Wesley J. Smith, Wokeness}

Affirmative Action and Health Care

_{It is high time that our medical journals stick to medicine.} _{Wesley J. Smith

October 6, 2023

3

Medicine and Health}

The hyper-woke New England Journal of Medicine claims that affirmative action is a necessary health measure. Read More ›

Group of people with posters protesting against climate change outdoors, closeup

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post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
October 5, 2023

Categorized
Science

Tagged
Climate change, ideology, lab, National Review, science, Wesley J. Smith}

More Ideological Alarmism in Yet Another Top Journal

_{Ideology continues to harm the scientific endeavor.} _{Wesley J. Smith

October 5, 2023

4

Science}

I can’t think of anything more harmful to people’s respect for “science” than hysterical scientists in (say) lab coats. Read More ›

Stained glass collage of stores from the Bible

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post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
September 17, 2023

Categorized
Transhumanism

Tagged
AI, Catholicism, Christianity, First Things, Medievalism, science, transhumanism, Vox, Wesley J. Smith}

AI as Refashioned Religion

_{How AI fits into the transhumanist utopian dream, and where that dream might have come from} _{Peter Biles

September 17, 2023

3

Transhumanism}

AI's greatest threat may not be its sophistication, but our own over-reliance on it. As a technology, it has its uses and benefits. As a religion, it fails. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
September 7, 2023

Categorized
Technocracy

Tagged
Assisted Suicide, bioethics, Doctors, Freedom, healthcare, Medicine, Technocracy, Wesley J. Smith}

The Technocracy Continues to Grow

_{We live in a time where individual freedom is under material threat from an emerging technocracy} _{Wesley J. Smith

September 7, 2023

6

Technocracy}

We live in a time where the most important policy and personal decisions are going to be made not by us but for us by “the experts.” Read More ›

injecting injection vaccine vaccination medicine flu woman docto

^{Type
post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
September 3, 2023

Categorized
Medicine and Health

Tagged
COVID 19 censorship, Heterodoxy, Medicine, National Review, science, transgenderism, Wesley J. Smith}

We Need to Keep Medicine “Evidence-Based”

_{A new approach seems to be arriving — so-called science-based medicine. What is the difference?} _{Wesley J. Smith

September 3, 2023

7

Medicine and Health}

Trust must be earned, not imposed. Information gatekeepers can be wrong. The danger of censorship in the name of “science” is growing. Read More ›

Tourists at Prague Old Town Square, large group of people gathered at the street looking up towards the camera.

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post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
September 2, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Amazon, Andy Crouch, Down Syndrome, Google, Meta, Netflix, The Lord of the Rings, The Social Dilemma, Trisomy 21, Wesley J. Smith}

The Life We’re Looking For: A Book Review

_{Andy Crouch's book on technology and human flourishing calls us to resist the urge to control and open ourselves up to deep relationships} _{Peter Biles

September 2, 2023

5

Arts & Culture}

Every so often a book comes along that puts a finger on the cultural moment in a way that directs, elucidates, convicts, and encourages. Read More ›

Laboratory technician checking CDC specimen submitting form, laboratory testing for SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 Coronavirus disease infection,global pandemic crisis,swab collection patient specimen procedure

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post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
August 21, 2023

Categorized
Medicine and Health

Tagged
Assisted Suicide, CDC, Euthanasia, Health, Statistics, suicide, The National Review, Wesley J. Smith}

CDC Neglects to Include Assisted Deaths in Official Suicide Report

_{Assisted dying is a form of suicide, regardless of the ways our culture has euphemized the term} _{Wesley J. Smith

August 21, 2023

2

Medicine and Health}

The term suicide defines what is done, not why. In other words, assisted suicides are as much suicides as jumping off a bridge. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
July 12, 2023

Categorized
Ethics, Medicine and Health

Tagged
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Assisted Suicide, Canada, CBC, Euthanasia, Medicine, Ontario, Wesley J. Smith}

Patients Opting for Euthanasia in the Face of Painful Circumstances

_{Receiving assistance takes a long time. But to be made dead? Not so much.} _{Wesley J. Smith

July 12, 2023

3

Ethics, Medicine and Health}

So much compassion! A disabled woman with quadriplegia named Rose Finlay in Canada has asked to be euthanized because she is destitute, and the disability benefits she applied for would not arrive in time for her to be properly housed and cared for. From the CBC story: A quadriplegic woman in Bowmanville, Ont., has applied for medical assistance in dying (MAID), saying it’s easier to access than the support services she needs to live her life comfortably. Receiving assistance takes a long time. But to be made dead? Not so much: The single mother of three boys previously supported her family with earnings from disability advocacy work through her company, Inclusive Solutions. That’s also how she could afford to hire her own support Read More ›

equipment and medical devices in modern operating room

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post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
June 22, 2023

Categorized
Ethics

Tagged
bioethics, Canada and Euthanasia, Daily Mail, Euthanasia, Hippocratic Oath, Medical Ethics, National Review, Quebec, Wesley J. Smith}

Medical Association is “Neutral” on Assisted Suicide

_{This is a matter of the gravest ethical concern} _{Wesley J. Smith

June 22, 2023

3

Ethics}

How in the world can a medical association be neutral on granting doctors a license to kill or assist the suicide of their patients? This is a matter of the gravest medical ethical concern, an action, remember, that was strictly proscribed 2,500 years ago in the Hippocratic Oath. Utter Cowardice But yield to the pressures of the activists is what the UK’s Royal College of Surgeons has done, in an act of utter cowardice based on a survey answered by only 19 percent of its members. From the Daily Mail story: The Royal College of Surgeons is no longer opposed to assisted dying and is now ‘neutral’, it has been announced. The organisation’s council members voted after discussing survey results, which showed an appetite for change, a Read More ›

Beauty injection concept. Syringe with violet liquid for hypodermic injection.

^{Type
post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
June 12, 2023

Categorized
Medicine and Health

Tagged
Assisted Suicide, bioethics, Culture War, Depression, Euthanasia, Legislation, mental health, Politics, Portugal, suicide, Wesley J. Smith, Western Culture}

This Country Just Legalized Euthanasia

_{The law isn't even limited to those who are terminally ill} _{Wesley J. Smith

June 12, 2023

2

Medicine and Health}

Alas. The president of Portugal just signed into law a bill legalizing euthanasia by lethal injection. It is not limited to the terminally ill — which is at least honest, since that is not what euthanasia/assisted suicide is really all about. From the Reuters story: The law specifies that people would be allowed to request assistance in dying in cases when they are “in a situation of intense suffering, with definitive injury of extreme gravity or serious and incurable disease.” It establishes a two-month gap between accepting a request and the actual procedure and makes psychological support mandatory. Strict guidelines and all that jazz. Not only are they unlikely to be strictly enforced but will soon be redefined from protections to barriers, Read More ›

Reflection of mountain range in lake, Grand Teton National Park

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post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
May 31, 2023

Categorized
Panpsychism, Science

Tagged
Environmentalism, Human exceptionalism, Law, Nature, Nature Rights, Panpsychism, Politics, science, Wesley J. Smith}

Should We Give Nature “Rights”?

_{The nature rights movement is more ideological than rational} _{Wesley J. Smith

May 31, 2023

5

Panpsychism, Science}

The major science journals are growing increasingly hard left politically. The prestigious journal Science, in particular, has swallowed progressive ideology–including supporting the “nature rights” movement. The rights of nature–which include geological features–are generally defined as the right to “exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.” Nature is, of course, not sentient. So, this campaign is really about granting environmental extremists legal standing to enforce their policy desires through litigation as legal guardians serving nature’s best interests. But the movement has a problem. It is clearly ideological rather than rational. So now, three law professors and a biologist writing in Science urge scientists to promote the agenda by giving courts a scientific pretext to enforce nature rights laws, or even, impose the Read More ›

Doctor hand holding a stethoscope listening to heartbeat

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post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
May 21, 2023

Categorized
Ethics

Tagged
bioethics, Canada, Euthanasia, Health Care, Medical Ethics, The Corner, Wesley J. Smith}

“Harm Reduction” is Euthanasia’s New Euphemism

_{Bioethics is growing increasingly monstrous. And that matters.} _{Wesley J. Smith

May 21, 2023

5

Ethics}

Once killing the sufferer becomes a societally acceptable means for ending suffering, there is no end to the “suffering” that justifies human termination. We can see this phenomenon most vividly in Canada, because it is happening there more quickly than in most cultures. For example, a recent poll found that 27 percent of Canadians polled strongly or moderately agree that euthanasia is acceptable for suffering caused by “poverty” and 28 percent strongly or moderately agree that killing by doctors is acceptable for suffering caused by homelessness. I can’t imagine that being true ten years ago before euthanasia became legal. Euthanasia mutates a society’s soul. Killing as “Harm Reduction” This kind of abandonment thinking finds enthusiastic, albeit not unanimous, expression among secular bioethicists. In fact, two Canadian bioethicists just Read More ›