16-11-2003, 01:08
Fellow United Nations members,
By the agreement of the government of Gurthark, our Minister for Social Justice, Billy Bob Qi-Duk, has examined the proposal "Equality for All" to decide how we, as Gurtharkians, can live with it if an when it is passed. I present below an executive summary of the position paper he presented:
"Many, both within Gurthark and internationally, have worried that this proposal would ban antibiotics, meat-eating, and even the eating of those vegetables which must be injured to be harvested. Moreover, the proposal seems to prohibit even the natural activities of the immune systems of humans and animals, which kill billions of living things every day. Indeed, it seems almost impossible to live oneself without taking life.
"Fortunately, this apparent impossibility of the proposal forms the loophole which makes obeying it actually quite easy. The proposal requires us to agree that living beings '...may live as they see fit as long as they do not cause harm to another.'
"However, *no* living beings always avoid causing harm to one another. Not only have we each violated this requirement, every other living organism has done so as well, and is therefore outside the scope of this law.
"This deals with the first three paragraphs of the resolution. The fourth bans the use of 'sexual preference' categories by governments. Gurthark already satisfies this requirement. We are not convinced it is a *good* requirement for all nations--for example, it might be necessary for some nations to have special protections for sexual minorities--and so we should still oppose this resolution. However, it is one we can live with should the resolution pass, since sexual bigotry is not a problem in Gurthark.
"That leaves the fifth paragraph, which requires us to 'respect...preserve, and protect' 'the essence of life.' We in Gurthark have no idea what 'the essence of life' is, but should we figure it out, we'll be happy to respect, preserve, and protect it. We do not believe that this requires us to preserve and protect life in every form, only its essence."
Sincerely,
Miranda Googleplex
United Nations Ambassador
Community of Gurthark
By the agreement of the government of Gurthark, our Minister for Social Justice, Billy Bob Qi-Duk, has examined the proposal "Equality for All" to decide how we, as Gurtharkians, can live with it if an when it is passed. I present below an executive summary of the position paper he presented:
"Many, both within Gurthark and internationally, have worried that this proposal would ban antibiotics, meat-eating, and even the eating of those vegetables which must be injured to be harvested. Moreover, the proposal seems to prohibit even the natural activities of the immune systems of humans and animals, which kill billions of living things every day. Indeed, it seems almost impossible to live oneself without taking life.
"Fortunately, this apparent impossibility of the proposal forms the loophole which makes obeying it actually quite easy. The proposal requires us to agree that living beings '...may live as they see fit as long as they do not cause harm to another.'
"However, *no* living beings always avoid causing harm to one another. Not only have we each violated this requirement, every other living organism has done so as well, and is therefore outside the scope of this law.
"This deals with the first three paragraphs of the resolution. The fourth bans the use of 'sexual preference' categories by governments. Gurthark already satisfies this requirement. We are not convinced it is a *good* requirement for all nations--for example, it might be necessary for some nations to have special protections for sexual minorities--and so we should still oppose this resolution. However, it is one we can live with should the resolution pass, since sexual bigotry is not a problem in Gurthark.
"That leaves the fifth paragraph, which requires us to 'respect...preserve, and protect' 'the essence of life.' We in Gurthark have no idea what 'the essence of life' is, but should we figure it out, we'll be happy to respect, preserve, and protect it. We do not believe that this requires us to preserve and protect life in every form, only its essence."
Sincerely,
Miranda Googleplex
United Nations Ambassador
Community of Gurthark