Wesley J. Smith

I am quoted in this story about the continuing threat among the most radical animal rights/liberationists to engage in violence in the name of saving the animals. From the story: Radical animal rights activists will likely use “any means necessary” to stop what they consider the torture . . . . Continue Reading »

The brutes—meaning the people—involved in the dog fighting scandal should be punished to the fullest extent of the law and they should be shunned socially. Not only is the “sport” beyond cruel, but it involves training dogs to fight for purposes and in ways never seen in . . . . Continue Reading »

In postmodernism, facts don’t matter as much as desired narratives, and now this view is being proposed as a way to define death itself—which would permit people to choose ahead of time when they were to be considered to have, as the Bard had it, shuffled off this mortal coil.This is not . . . . Continue Reading »

In this edition, I address some of the threats to human exceptionalism and a recent New York Times article that opened an unexpected new front in this ongoing conflict: Animal “ensoulment.” Check it out . . . . Continue Reading »

I have been asked to add a subscription capability to the site, and so I have—I think. I am pretty techno-maladroit, so I would appreciate hearing whether I properly installed the function. Thanks to all who support Secondhand . . . . Continue Reading »

Here we go again. Newsweek reports—in surprisingly positive terms—on the movement to rid the earth of the vermin species—us:Environmentalists have their own eschatology—a vision of a world not consumed by holy fire but returned to ecological balance by the removal of the most . . . . Continue Reading »

There was a good column in the July 16 Boston Globe by Vivek Ramashwamya, a biology student, urging restraint by scientists in the creation of human/animal chimeras. He writes:If the creation of these new organisms bothers us as a society, we must ask ourselves why. We cannot merely dismiss . . . . Continue Reading »

So much for “donating” organs. Britain’s most senior doctor will recommend that when a person dies, that his organs be taken—unless he or she previously opted out—barring concerted objections from family.Known as “soft presumed consent,” such a plan could be . . . . Continue Reading »

I am a big fan of Slate’s Will Saletan. He is a wonderful writer, he has a way of looking evenly at all sides of biotech issues, and even if I don’t always (usually) agree with him, he is always well worth reading and pondering. Saletan scores in his newest column, about attending a . . . . Continue Reading »

This exchange between Leon Kass and Stephen Pinker in Commentary is superb, and I must say, Kass wins the exchange hands down. (Full disclosure: I am an enthusiastic Kassophile. I consider him to be, perhaps, our most wise and profound public intellectual.)The exchange was sparked by an article Kass . . . . Continue Reading »