The Stupid Things We Say

[Anita S. Lane]

Is it possible to be a good, well-meaning individual and say something stupid? Of course it is.

I was recently talking with a relative whose brother in-law was a soldier who had been killed in Iraq. In the course of the conversation I made the remark, “So, does that make it any easier to decide who you’re going to vote for?”

My relative kindly informed me that it’s really not wise to mix the death of a beloved soldier with politics. Point well-taken. I guess that was kind of stupid. But I was uninformed and insensitive.

Yesterday, Senator Joe Biden found himself in a similar position. While out on the campaign trail, he mixed a very delicate real-life situation with a hot-button political issue. . He stated that “If you care about it [issues surrounding children with disabilities] why don’t you support stem-cell research?”

Yes, Senator Biden’s remark was stupid. Or to put it in a more politically correct form—his remark was uninformed and insensitive. The reality is that the type of individual who would knowingly carry to term a baby with a disorder or birth defect is exactly the type of individual who values human life in any form, and may not be inclined to support using human embryos for scientific research.

To date, to my knowledge there has been no scientific breakthrough using embryonic stem cells—not to say that there won’t be in the future. However there have been significant breakthroughs using adult stem cells. Most Americans support stem cell research—it’s only over embryonic stem cell research that we’re having this huge, overblown debate.

So, when Senator Biden stands up and says, “If you care about it [children with disabilities], why don't you support stem cell research?” he is speaking from an insensitive, uninformed position— a position I don’t think Obama himself would have asserted.

As a mother of a developmentally disabled child, I was offended by Biden’s comment and the insensitive tone in which he made it. I love my child. In fact, I love my child just the way he is and would never, ever trade him in for a “normal” child—even if I could. However, if stem cell research is able to correct the chromosomal condition that causes Down syndrome for future children, fine.

But Biden needs to be sensitized and informed—just as I was— to know that it’s just not wise to mix one’s intense and passionate love for their child (who happens to be disabled) with the current hot-button political issue of the day. Not only is his argument flawed, but the two just don’t mix.