A web page posted by the Alabama Department of Homeland Security recently warned against certain groups that the organization believed may be spawning grounds for terrorism. Surprisingly, the list included an array of groups not usually included among the "usual suspects" ...including gay rights and environmental groups, and groups opposed to the use of geneitcally modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture and food production.
First let me say that, after much hoo-ha, the offending web page has since been removed. Oddly, it did not shock me that the site targeted gay rights and environmental groups as potential terrorists. Slander and fear-mongering are, afterall, the salt and pepper of the War on Terror. And what fun is it to cook up a war if you can't throw a few traditionally Liberal groups into the caldron for seasoning? I'm actually surprised (and a bit disappointed) that the site failed to single out poets as well. I miss being an outlaw.
But I digress...
The thing that REALLY surprised me was that, in the traditionally Bible-bound South, the idea of genetic modification would be considered a good thing...and that those opposed to it would be labeled as terrorists. I'm not a spiritual person, but if I were, I'd be pretty sure tat God didn't want me tinkering with the machinery. Or claiming that man could make a better cow than God could. After all, the same folks who are opposed to abortion, in vitro fertilization, and stem cell research are in favor of using fish genes to grow more cold-resistant strawberries.
Huh?
I've done some reading on the subject of spirituality vs. GMOs, but the findings leave me as confused as ever.
Someone help me out here. I'm not trying to pick a fight, and I've been known to hold some wildly inconsistent views myself. But I truly don't see the bridge across this paradox. Is it really as simple as the fact that Christian farmers are willing to forgive a major trespass on God's territory, simply because they make a few more dollars selling tomatoes infused with genes from a brontosaurus? Or could sharing the same political bed as environmentalists (in opposing GMOs) be so abhorrant that Christian farmers would rather take their chances siding against God?
Sorting the whole thing out has given me a headache. Someone else care to take a crack at it?
_________________
PS - For the record, my personal opinion is that genetic engineering and cloning are going to have far-reaching and tragic consequences not only for the human food supply, but for immunity against disease. Or more simply, that genetically engineered pig is gonna bite us onthe ass one day.
For further reading, go to This American Life, Episode 6 and scroll down to the crew's visit to an Iowa pig farm.
