Shirley’s Big Mistake

James Shirley, the MIT stem cell professor who opposes human cloning and ESCR because it destroys nascent human life, a “controversial theory according to this Fox News report,” (but basic biology, says I), is on a hunger strike to protest being denied tenure. He is claiming racism. I doubt it. It is more likely to be his “controversial theory.” The life science elites allow no heterodox views to be expressed openly about the impropriety of human cloning without career consequences.

But this hunger strike makes him look ridiculous, indeed, like something of a nut. He would be much better off wearing the martyr’s shroud and exposing the increasing infringement of true academic freedom that has become part of the atmosphere of our elite universities. Hunger strikes can work—but only if you have a media favorably disposed to promoting your cause. And that sure isn’t the case of someone who opposes all human cloning and believes that ESCR is unethical.