X-Message-Number: 19500
From: "Mark Plus" <>
Subject: Devaluing Ted's life
Date: Sat, 13 Jul 2002 15:31:29 -0700

I'm bothered by the message, usually implicit, in the the snide commentary 
in the media about Ted Williams's cryotransport that Ted would only be worth 
resuscitating if he could resume the sort of baseball career he had 60 years 
ago, which is clearly unlikely now.

Funny, but I thought it's unethical to view human lives as means for the 
selfish convenience of others, rather than as ends in themselves provided 
that they behave towards others in socially acceptable ways.  As Mike Perry 
likes to point out, a life rightly lived cannot be rightly terminated.  Ted 
Williams deserves cryotransport regardless of whatever sort of productive 
career he had in life, because he demonstrated that his life has value in 
itself.  Although I don't follow baseball, apparently his abilities provided 
a lot of baseball fans an experience of pleasure they voluntarily paid to 
see.  He also served to defend the U.S. during the Second World War, but 
somehow his participation in "the greatest generation" isn't getting the 
sort of appreciation it deserves, either, even though he sacrificed a 
considerable amount of income during his military service.  It's an open 
question whether a revived, resuscitated and presumably enhanced  Ted 
Williams could identify and pursue productive new goals in life, but I am 
more than willing to give him the benefit of a doubt.

Perhaps there is some kind of class snobbery at work here.  Baseball isn't 
that important in the scheme of things, and it's a blue-collar pastime any 
way, so there's really nothing about Ted Williams worth saving apart from 
his signed sports memorabilia -- which can be exchanged for money.

Mark Plus

_________________________________________________________________
Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=19500