The Day of the Triffids

The most dangerous people in the world are not those who knowingly commit evil, but those who convince themselves that their actions are noble despite evidence to the contrary. I’m amazed at the number of people I’ve encountered over the years who are capable of rationalizing the most ridiculous, the most hypocritical, and even the most illogical actions. Maybe its narcissism. Maybe it’s ignorance. I don’t know. But one thing I do know is that it’s frightening.

Case in point: We live in a world where with each passing year human life is further cheapened. Western society not only refuses to reject abortion, but seeks to spread its availability to developing nations. Assisted-suicide and euthanasia exist in Europe and are making inroads in the United States. Civil wars across Africa have killed millions, and now tens of thousands of Christians have been murdered by Hindus in India.

Yet, what is on the minds of the Swiss: plants rights.

According to the Wall Street Journal (“Switzerland's Green Power Revolution: Ethicists Ponder Plants' Rights”) Swiss scientists who genetically modify plants must now ensure that they are not “trampling on a plant's dignity”. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122359549477921201.html?mod=todays_us_page_one

Stop laughing.

Believe it or not the Swiss Parliament created a panel of various “experts” from a collection of disciplines—including philosophers, lawyers, geneticists and theologians—to “establish the meaning of flora's dignity”. Among the examples given by the panel of immoral behavior towards plants is “decapitation of wildflowers at the roadside without rational reason”.

Would that be a mortal sin or a venial sin?

After all if a young man is going to risk eternal torment for pulling a flower out of the ground to give to the woman he loves, he should at least be warned ahead of time.

Think the Swiss’ nuttiness ends here? Not quite. Here are a few other gems:

“Last month, Switzerland granted new rights to all ‘social animals.’ Prospective dog owners must take a four-hour course on pet care before they can buy a canine companion, while anglers must learn to catch fish humanely. Fish can't be kept in aquariums that are transparent on all sides. The fish need some shelter. Nor can goldfish be flushed down a toilet to an inglorious end; they must first be anesthetized with special chemicals, and then killed.”

Too bad the Swiss don’t have the same regard for the dignity of humans, as witnessed by their sanctioning of abortion and assisted suicide.

Perhaps the pro-life movement in Switzerland should change its approach: instead of arguing that a fetus is a human life, they should argue that it is a form of plant life. They’d receive more sympathy.

Donald Tremblay