June 4th

Hey guys, it's Allison.

Today, Mr. Lazarow started off the class by telling us about the man in England who was not allowed to board a plane because his t-shirt had a picture of a transformer bearing a gun and the t-shirt was "threatening". Someone suggested that we mail a copy of Hayakawa to the security people..

Then we began our discussion of "Rappaccini's Daughter" and the question of "just because we can, should we?" Paige argued that we shouldn't do something just because we have the power to do it. She mentioned how we have the ability to destroy the planet but we obviously shouldn't do that. Donna said that it's hard to decide what's ethical and what's not. She brought up the fact that during the Holocaust, the Nazis performed horrible tests on the Jews that resulted in advancements that are still used today. Mr. Lazarow then told us about Perncopf. Perncopf was involved in the testing during the Holocaust and used live models to create an anatomy book that is more accurate than one created based on cadavers. This brought up the question of whether or not this book should be used. Some argue that Perncopf's text is more accurate and will therefore save lives, and that this will somehow "make up for" the lives sacrificed to create the text. Others use the "fruit from a poisoned tree is poisoned" argument and say that there is no justification for using the book. Erin argued against the use of the book saying that allowing its use would open the door to similar behavior in the future.

Hopefully that wasn't too depressing for a Wednesday!