A Conversation with Lord Sumption
If anyone is hopeful that we are getting out of this mess anytime soon then they had better not watch it.
Peter
Tuesday, July 20, 2021
Jay Bhattacharya in conversation with Lord Sumption
This came to me via Ivor and Facebook. I keep struggling with the worry that the current pandemic might be the beginning of the end of western liberal democracy. The interview is not encouraging and Lord Sumption does encapsulate exactly where this feeling I have might be coming from.
A Conversation with Lord Sumption
A Conversation with Lord Sumption
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11 comments:
Pass, I'll put a post up with that link, I missed it being put up on-line! Getting a bit more focused and less pauses I hope.
Peter
this was great, thanks for sharing
Great interview and I especially like the part about what you feed/would feed your cats/dogs. No mention of your chickens though! Lol! ;)
We are talking about the same guy who told a woman with stage four cancer that her life was less valuable than other people's, right? And who then copped out, saying he was being quoted out of context, the defense of every coward and bully. I watched the video of the moment when he said those words to her face, and how he smirked and smiled, pleased with himself. I too used to respect him until he outed himself in this way. Too many decades of privilege and of being flattered to death kills the soul of a man. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9156849/Lord-Sumption-tells-Stage-4-cancer-sufferer-life-valuable-others.html
Hi M,
Do you feel that all lives are of equal value? I personally find this quite difficult to accept. If I live to median lifespan I have around 17 years left. At around £30,000 per quality adjusted life year does that make my life as valuable as a child needing a ventricular septal defect closure to gain over 80 quality adjusted life years? Are we of the same value? If LS was correct, is it the manner of delivery and the direct devastation caused to the lady with advanced cancer which is the problem? Should he have told a white lie, along with the avalanche of white lies under which we live today, to spare her feelings?
Should the interview team really have put her in the direct path of this almost inevitable value judgement? ie was the devastating damage done deliberately to the lady with cancer considered acceptable to generate a "newsworthy" interview, to boost the kudos of the interview organising team in order to enhance their career and financial prospects?
If you find the messenger distasteful, does it invalidate his arguments? Or are those arguments also distasteful per se? Or incorrect?
These are difficult times. I suspect I wouldn't like De Santis much if I looked at all of his policies in total but I would rather live in Florida than California currently.
Peter
@ Peter, Very well put. Tks
All you need is to analyze the comment via the trolley problem, and you will realize quickly that of course Sumption was right.
Having myself been niggled by many of the concerns he laid out I tend to be easily convinced.
Peter
Peter, your response is articulate and well-reasoned, and pretty much parallels my own thinking.
Thank you cave, nice to hear.
Peter
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