Funmurphys: the Blog

Michael J Fox, Missouri, and Amendment 2

I didn't have a lot of reaction to Michael J Fox's ad for embryonic stem cell research and Claire McCaskill when I first saw it. Surprise, surprise, surprise, a political ad that doesn't tell the whole truth. Personally, I found it much more interesting that he pronounced Missouri as Missoura - the pronunciation used in the rural part of the state which means the ad was aimed more at conservative democratic voters and not the urban and suburban voters.

I don't get a lot of the complaints - Mr. Fox is entitled to his opinion, he's entitled to express it, and he's entitled to endorse politicians as he sees fit. If a politician or political group thought putting my mug on a TV ad would help persuade people to their position, you'd be seeing my mug on TV ads.

As far as playing up his disease, Parkinson's is a terrible disease. And for those of us (yes, me included) who are opposed to embryonic stem cell research, I think we owe it to sufferers to hear them out, to see how it affects them, and then to tell them the honest truth of our thoughts and they should hear us out. If you want my sympathy Michael, you already have it. But that doesn't mean that your suffering, or my suffering, outweighs all else.

Nobody is against adult stem cell research. Lot's of people are against embryonic stem cell research because they think as I do that you are destroying human life in the process, or something close enough that it's protection outweighs possible cures - especially when adult stem cells show much greater promise for real life cures. Why is it that supporters of embryonic stem cells won't come out and make that distinction? Given that is the reason that most of us who oppose ESCR actually oppose it, why make an emotional play that has nothing to do with our opposition? Is it because fundamentally you don't understand the opposition?

Last night I saw the other ad, this time with a mix of local and national celebrities, this time with a couple of St. Louis celebrities, Kurt Warner and Jeff Suppan. Was it wrong for them to speak out? While I think the Fox ad did a better job of presenting it's case, the rebuttal ad did a better job of addressing the actual Amendment 2.