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Neuroscientist Halts Research to Stop Extremists
FleaPlus writes "UCLA neuroscience professor Dario Ringach, known for his contributions to our understanding of how the visual system processes information, has been forced to give up his experiments by the actions of animal-rights extremists. Although he and his family had endured harassment and vandalization by animal-rights activists for years, Ringach reconsidered after extremists tried to firebomb a colleague's home and accidentally left their Molotov cocktail on an elderly neighbor's doorstep. Ringach sent an email to animal activist groups saying, 'You win... please don't bother my family anymore.'"
. . . nutcases interested in firebombing executives in the copyright cartel, they might be able to accomplish some good.
I too have felt the cold finger of injustice.
So, uh...yeah. With all of the talk about the War on Terror these days, what is being done about this kind of crap. Isn't the instillment of fear with threats of violence to obtain political victories terrorism? I don't see GW talking about terrorism that happens in our own country (you know, by Americans) in the news....
Science may not dictate morals, but I don't think Peta should dictate morals either. Such things should be left up to God.
This quote serves a 2 part purpose it's speaking on terms of not being afraid of man, and man being superior to animals.
Matthew 10:26-31 So do not be afraid of people. Whatever is now covered up will be uncovered, and every secret will be made known What I am telling you in the dark you must repeat in broad daylight, and what you have heard in private you must announce from the housetops. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather be afraid of God, who can destroy both body and soul in hell. For only a penny you can buy two sparrows, yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father's consent. As for you, even the hairs of your head have all been counted. So do not be fraid; you are worth much more than many sprarrows!
God spoke to me.
a swift baseball bat to one of their kneecaps would quickly end it.
Remember, it isnt attempted murder if you shoot below the waist
there are soo many far more horrible examples of animal cruelty and they pick something that has a purpse besides fitting well.
what a bunch of jackasses
The phrase "more better" is acceptable English. suck it grammar Nazis
I don't supposed it matters that these animal-rights extremists probably were Kerry voters.
"Sufferin' succotash."
It's not a political end to aid another SENTIENT life form who is being tortured. It's a moral end.
I'm not missing any point. IF you were locked in a cage and were being experimented on would you not want someone to aid you?
"What a fascinating analogy. When macaque monkeys start firebombing houses, please notify me."
So it's immoral for one SENTIENT being to aid another SENTIENT being? Aiding those weaker than us when they are under attack is the basis of our entire legal and moral system. Could you please tell the police that when they stop someone from being attacked by another human that they are doing something wrong?
Face it, YOU are not against violence. If you or anyone around you was being attacked you would use violence in a heart beat to stop it. You just don't care about these macaques because it doesn't affect you. In short, you lack empathy. Empathy, it's what makes humans great. However, we are not so great that it is okay for us to sacrifice other primates for our petty scientific goals.
Ringach DL, Hawken MJ, Shapley R (2003) Dynamics of orientation tuning in macaque V1: the role of global and tuned suppression. J Neurophysiol 90(1): 342-52.
I'm sure that the macaque is just fine with his "orientation tuning" and doesn't give a shit how or why it works. If you care so much about the "dynamics of orientation tuning" then by all means go find a scientist and have them cut YOUR brain open. Don't force other primates to do something you are unwilling to do.
GW Bush doesn't care about American terrorists. Why aren't they in jail? Oh yea, he's too busy doing illegal wiretaps and spending crazy stupid sums of money on shiny new technology which won't work nearly as well as advertized, and forgetting that they way you catch terrorists is with smart people doing old-fashioned police work.
Nope, these people are as much terrorists as any Arab or Muslim out there, and that is according to the Bush administration. Unfortunately, the Bush admin can not persue them because of people like you that are constantly accusing Bush of personally doing illegal wiretaps and spending crazy stupid sums of money on shiny new technology and then having the ACLU sue over it, preventing any administration from ever being able to any type of survelence...ever, even if it means stopping a terrorist attack like this one or one from overseas. Keep in mind, once the terrorist reaches these shores, they have free reign to call their masters over seas, as long as they use a phone that is not warranted to tap, like a "pay-as-you-go" phone. And if we can't tap the phone of someone calling Osama himself, what makes you think we can tap some nutjob in California calling someone else in California? Of course, we can't, but I guess we have people like you to thank for that... Thanks a fuckin lot!
forgetting that they way you catch terrorists is with smart people doing old-fashioned police work.
See, that's the difference between people like me and you. I don't see terrorism as a legal issue that can be solved by using good old fashioned police work. I see it as a threat to national security that needs to be handled using good old fashioned military action. You don't arrest terrorists, you kill them before they have a chance to kill themselves on your neighborhood playground surrouned by kids.
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
"When animals agree to a set of minimum behavioral norms that define a civil society, then they'll have rights. Until then, it's the law of the jungle that defines the lives and fortunes of animals."
Most children(heck, most adults) have no clue what a "civil society" is, yet they still have rights. Are you expecting a delegation from the united macaque congress to sign a treaty with humans?
But really whether they have rights or not isn't the issue... it's just a basic issue about whether it's okay to inflict unnecessary pain on something else just because they are too weak to defend themselves. primates don't speak english... but I, you, and everyone else KNOWS that that screaming and wailing means that another sentient life form, one quite similiar to us, is in pain and wants whatever someone is doing to it to stop. And that's the point of all this "civil society" crap, to reduce suffering.
You win the prize for the most well thought out, yet still blatantly idiotic comment I have ever read on here. You've accomplished an amazing balancing act there. congrats!
The parent post wasn't off topic. It was a discussion of the Bush's administration's selective enforcement of the war on Terror, and its obvious effects upon one of our citizens, culminating in this news story.
I'm sorry if you can't follow the relevant points past the nose on your face, but now you have three more mod points to use up against me. And then I'll be back. Over and over and over again.
Or you could waste that time writing your President or your local Republican congressman and asking them to enforce the war on terror even when the victims are the scientists your leader hates so much.
Oh wait, I can see it now. "-5, connect the logical points error."
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
It's a terrible shame, but terrorists are often Moslem. Go figure.
It's the truth.
If George Bush was truly serious about stopping terrorism and if his end goal were not a POLICE STATE, these animal rights terrorist turd burglars - who are by definition liberal and by definition an enemy of the Conservative (and in the case of this group, any sane) cause - would be locked up in Guantanamo by now.
That's not in any way anything close to spin. It's the solid truth and it's about time our leaders start making an account of these horrendous missteps instead of ignoring their citizens' pleas to take real measures to stop terrorism while these violent, stalking nutballs are left free to pick us off one by one.
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!