** FATHER FRANK’S RANTS Rant Number 785 12 September 18 ‘WHO DO YOU LEAVE BEHIND?’ RACE-BASED ETHICS

END OF THE WORLD SCENARIO. HOW DO CHOOSE THE PEOPLE WHO WILL ESCAPE? ARE RACE, SEX AND RELIGION RELEVANT?
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A mega-meteor will crash on the Earth, terminating all humanity. Flight on a spaceship to another planet is the only chance of survival but room is limited. Twelve people get selected, then it is discovered a mistake was made – only eight can go. Who do you save? How do you choose them? For what reasons?

A harmless philosophical exercise? Nope. An American school in Ohio set this assignment to students by naming the race, religion and sexuality of the candidates. Who most deserved to survive? All hell broke loose, the teacher apologised and the exercise was annulled. Father Frank is fearless – he’ll have a go!

The school’s list of individuals included: 1) a young Muslim woman, an international student; 2) a gay man, professional athlete; 3) a Latino clergyman, opposed to homosexuality; 4) a militant Afro-American, medical student; 5) a famous novelist with a physical disability; 6) a female actress, victim of a sexual attack; 7) an orphan Asian child; 8) a drug-addicted accountant;  9) also his pregnant wife; 10) a youngish Red Indian female, speaking no English; 11) a 60 year old Jewish college administrator; 12) a racist, violence-prone cop.

The aim is the survival of the human race. Hence the choice must be ruled by that final goal. (No point in sending people into space if they are not going to perpetuate humanity.) Not just politically correct fanatics but also Kantian philosophers will object to racial and sexual identifiers. All that should matter is rational, universal ethical principles. Sexuality, inclinations, feelings and desires don’t count. Sorry, they do in this case. For example, survival needs require there should be an even balance of males to females. Four each. Thus Darwin trumps Kant.

Sexuality. Again, procreation – be fruitful and multiply – is the object. The pregnant woman gets to go – it’s like catching a bird with two stones. The gay man? His orientation might suggest he will shun females and so useless for producing offspring but that’s a fallacy. Homosexuals are quite capable of heterosexual intercourse, e.g. Oscar Wilde was married and had two children. Further, the man’s athletic prowess suggests positive genes. If he can exercise self-control he goes, I think. As to the actress – hopefully she can get over her sex trauma, copulate and procreate. To make four females, she is needed.

Religion. A Christian, a Jew and a Muslim are in the group. Does that have any relevance? Kant would say no but practically it might. If experience is a guide, on the spaceship they might fall to quarrelling, proselytising and disrupting the group dynamics. Additionally, the clergyman is homophobic. Will he fight with the gay man? That would be undesirable. But would the Muslim woman also be like that? And struggle with the Christian? The Jew probably is safer. Besides, his job must have familiarised him with deviancy – unlikely to object to gays. So the Jew, providing he is fertile, goes. (Of course, the three religionists might be devotees of religious dialogue and peaceful coexistence. That would affect the calculations.)

Race. From a Kantian point of view, supremely irrelevant. A National-Socialist would disagree. Race is key. All human history revolves on that. Presumably the racist cop’s mind is similar but the reality of present-day Western society is of increasing miscegenation. Why shouldn’t the new planet mirror that? Further, the policeman would probably attack the black man. (The latter’s medical skills are precious, note.) Not a pleasant scenario. Unless you postulate a Nietzschean will to power – or, more crudely, brute force – by which the physically strongest triumphs…you get my drift.

The young redskin female? Her lack of English is unimportant. She can learn it. Her race? See above. (My former mentor, racial theorist Julius Evola, claimed Red Indians were actually a superior, ‘solar’ race.) Can she conceive and bear children? That’s the question. If yes she will be chosen. The 12 year old Asian boy? Soon, puberty will arrive and he can procreate. Another suitable individual.

The famous, disabled novelist? Life in the new world will be tough. How serious is his disability? If excessive it will hamper the project. Besides, novelistic skills are no use to pioneers. He won’t go. Ditto for the opium-addicted accountant. Space colonies don’t needs dope heads. That excludes him. Too bad.

Should these considerations seem a bit too harsh or even unethical, you could draw lots and leave it to chance. That is the method adopted in that fun 1951 doomsday movie, ‘When Worlds Collide’. The star Bellus will burn up the Earth but a few people can escape on nearby planet Zyra. And the story is spiced up with the customary romantic nonsense. (Even a child’s dog gets on the ship but whose mate will it be in the new Noah’s Ark? They forgot that minor detail.) Everybody is horribly white, of course. There are no gays, Muslims, Red Indians or physically handicapped people to complicate matters. Life was so innocent and simple in America back then…Ho! Ho! However, drawing lots would undermine the efficiency of the space settlement, so it should be rejected. Dura lex, sed lex.

It is a pity the Ohio school assignment worried right-thinking people and was cancelled. But the point of such academic exercises is not to give a right or wrong answer but to get the students to think. To give reasons for choices, not to spout irrational feelings or prejudices. Still, the curious episode shows how tricky and explosive are issues like race and sexuality in the Western world. That's the way we live now.

Revd Frank Julian Gelli

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