This is by far my favorite reading so far from this book. It may have been a little long but Johnson's story was empowering and bold, leaving extremely impressed with her attitude towards life. From the start I indentified her arguement and was astonished that people like Singer still existed in the world. Since I am not disabled I think I was just oblivious and uneducated to the problems people like that have to deal with.
Harriet Johnson is an incredible person and I like how she has her own beliefs but is open to hearing other peoples feelings. Not many people would be able to face Singer, especially since he has been portrayed as an Evil Man. Johnson's encounter with him seemes life changing for them both. I was just as suprised as her that he was so willing to hear her thoughts and opposing view points.
At the end of the story when she returns home and is on the phone with her sister Beth, I think it clearly shows her open mind. She almost defends Singer...
Harriet: He's not exactly a monster. He just has some strange ways of looking at things.
Beth: He's advocating genocide
Hearriet: Thats the thing. In his mind, he isn't. He's only giving parents a choice. He thinks the humans he is talking about aren't people, aren't "persons"
Beth: But thats the way it always works, isn't it? They were always anaimals or vermin or chattel goods. Objects, not persons. He's repackaging some old ideas. Making them acceptable
Harriet: I think his ideas are new, in a way. It's not old-fashioned hate. It's a twisted, misinformed, warped kind of beneficence. His motive is to do good."
Harriet is a great person and everything she is doing to support people like her is great.
I was equally moved by Harriet’s work. To do what she does must be incredibly challenging, but very rewarding as well. I also found it hard to understand how Harriet and Singer got along as well as they did. Their beliefs are totally on different sides of the spectrum, but they still able to understand where each other was coming from. The quote you included was an excellent example of this.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading Harriet's essay also, I think she was an incredible person. She didn't allow her disablity to hold her back. Singer, on the other hand really annoyed me with his beliefs toward people with disablities. Killing an unborn child due to their physical condition shouldn't be an option.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Gabi, that one of the most interesting elements of the essay and the draw for me was Harriet's amazing ability to see teh humanity in Peter Singer when in many ways he was not acknowledging the humanity of disabled people (or at least, disabled babies). Your example from the conversation with her sister really illustrates Harriet's incredible capacity to have an open mind and see other, difficult points of view.
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