From: bjag@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Bharathi Jagadeesh)
Subject: Re: LA Law episode
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 22:50:50 GMT

In article <624@kesher.UUCP> root@kesher.UUCP (Aaron_Schmiedel) writes:
>In article <1992Mar30.214926.27883@casbah.acns.nwu.edu>, bjag@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Bharathi Jagadeesh) writes:
>> >
>> >There is no Nazi science, there is no Jewish science, there is just
>> >science.  There is no need to cause future generations unnecessary
>> >-- 
>> >Herman Rubin
>> 
>> 
>> Before we even get into the discussion of ethics, it's important to decide
>> if the science itself could have been conducted properly in those
>> circumstances. 
>> Bharathi Jagadeesh/bjag@nwu.edu
>
>IN such cases, I always make the question PERSONAL.  If I knew, for instance, that the experiments were done on my tortured children, wife, and parents who 
>were treated so terribly cruelly, would *I* want that "science" presented to
>the public?
>
>Would I want the test results of someone being skinned/burned alive being
>published if those tests were conducted on my children?
>
>So, bring the question HOME and see how you feel about the answer then.
>
>If the heart can't carry the weight, the mind CERTAINLY can't....
>
>and society has no right to infringe on such horrors in the name of    
>SCIENCE.
>
>
>-- 
>| Aaron D. Schmiedel                     |                                    |
>| KESHERnet International                |  When a nebbekh leaves the room    |
>| ..uunet!convex!egsner!sdf!kesher!aaron |    It's as if someone else came in!| 
>| Voice: (214) 239-1941  Data: 239-7607  |                                    |


I agree with you Aaron. That's part of the reason I was amazed that LA law
put on evidence by a Holocaust survivor, and a victim of Nazi "science" who
argued that the results of the experiments should be used. Of course,
without that testimony it's pretty unlikely that a jury would have ruled
for the scientist. I wondered if any such person existed? Are there
Holocaust survivors, particularly victims of the experiments who argue that
the results of the torture should be used?

Of course, even if such a person exists, he can only argue that the results
from the experiment in which he was victimized can be used. The others
should still be able to withdraw _their_ consent.

Destroying the results of these experiments can't undo the pain or bring
back the dead, but presenting the results publicly, citing them in
scientific papers, and encorporating them into the body of scientific
knowledge would inevitably result in some kind of justification for acts
that are not, and should not, be justified under any circumstances. 

  
(As an aside, I just don't know how a scientist could present experiments
like the ones the Nazis did without being physically repulsed. I feel
uncomfortable when doctors present brain sections of patients who died in
spite of their efforts to save them. How, emotionally, could someone listen
to experiments where doctors purposely tortured people?)
-- 
Bharathi Jagadeesh/bjag@nwu.edu
Who is that who mumbles in the dark/ who is it that draws his veil across the
stars/ Langston Hughes
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish