Via Paul Cella:
What a truly awful crime this was. A real flesh and blood sacrifice at the altar of the twin gods Liberation and Rationalism. John Money will answer for his transgression.
I don't share Paul's assessment of the causes for this atrocity, but I share his belief that John Money should pay dearly for what he's done. Like some modern-day Dr. Frankenstein, this s.o.b. should be locked up.
I read about this on my friendsfriends list a while ago. John Money deserves to be locked up for child abuse.
Posted by: Jesurgislac | June 08, 2004 at 11:43 AM
But he won't.
Posted by: Sebastian Holsclaw | June 08, 2004 at 12:23 PM
But he won't.
Why not?
Posted by: Edward | June 08, 2004 at 12:35 PM
With all due respect to Mr. Cella and his impassioned writing, this had nothing to do with "Rationalism," however he wants to define it. It has to do with a politically-left misreading of evolutionary psychology and behavioral genetics, popular over the last 40-60 years, which insists that humans have no innate traits and that all human behaviors and psychological characteristics are a result of culture, and therefore plastic. A rationalist view of human nature tends to argue againts what Money did here.
Pinker's The Blank Slate is the recommended reading for plowing through this kind of misreading of human innateness.
Posted by: Phil | June 08, 2004 at 12:44 PM
Nice Post Edward but Sebastian is right Money will not be punished, except for the court of public opinion.
Posted by: Timmy the Wonder Dog | June 08, 2004 at 12:56 PM
He won't be punished because he convinced the parents to consent. He won't be punished because he was pushing a theory which even today is taken seriously in many social circles. He wouldn't be punished even under Ashcroft, much less in Canada.
Posted by: Sebastian Holsclaw | June 08, 2004 at 02:40 PM
Tough, isn't it? Children are basically legal chattel, so it's the will of the parents that decides. So you want to punish the parents, except they were just doing what they thought was best (didn't I just write another comment about the line between forced compassion and cruelty?), suckered in by a bankrupt pseudoscience. The best we as a society can get is an Abject Lesson(tm). Also, please don't circumcise unless you're required to by your community. I mean honestly.
Also, I echo Phil. Paul's too quick to bring up his usual bugbears. The belief that gender is societally created is distinctly unRational, built around the usual paranoia, power-madness, and self righteousness.
I also second the Blank Slate recommendation. And How the Mind Works, also by Pinker.
Posted by: sidereal | June 08, 2004 at 03:02 PM