JOHN SMEATON, DIRECTOR OF SPUC: Guardian censors comments criticising eugenicist Peter Singer

Wednesday 17 December 2008

Guardian censors comments criticising eugenicist Peter Singer

Peter Singer, the world's most prominent anti-life philosopher, has written an article in today's Guardian on the subject of AIDS in South Africa. Singer's argument is that Thabo Mbeki, the former South African president, is responsible for the deaths of thousands of South Africans because of his policy on the cause of AIDS and on the use of anti-retroviral drugs.

An hour or so ago I was informed that in the online version of Singer's article, one commentator named "ContraSign" left the following comment at 10:25am:

"Whatever the rights and wrongs of Mbeki and AIDS, Peter Singer, who supports infanticide and euthanasia, is no person to lecture anyone about saving human lives. The death toll from Singer's eugen(i)cist ideas would dwarf any death toll attributable to Mbeki."

A few minutes later, ContraSign's comment was replaced with the message:

"This comment has been removed by a moderator. Replies may also be deleted."

ContraSign then posted the following comment at 10:49:

"Why has the moderator deleted my comment questioning Peter Singer's locus standi in a debate about saving human lives, based on his well-documented support for eugenics and the likely consequences of it? If my comment was unacceptable, why is stevehill's comment on the Pope acceptable?"

(ContraSign was referring to another, uncensored comment which claimed that the Pope, like Mbeki, is also responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths, because the Catholic Church prohibits the use of condoms, including within marriage where one spouse is HIV-positive.)

Soon after, ContraSign's complaint was again replaced with the message:

"This comment has been removed by a moderator. Replies may also be deleted."

What a tragedy it is that the Guardian only seems interested in saving lives on politically fashionable issues like AIDS, important though that is - whereas the plight of disabled people threatened by Singer's ideas is hushed up.

Please support ContraSign, and the right of people to challenge Peter Singer's credibility on the subject of saving human lives, by emailing a complaint to userhelp@guardian.co.uk

About Me

I became involved in SPUC after graduating, when I established a branch in south London in 1974. I have worked full-time for SPUC for 42 years. I became chief executive of SPUC in the UK in 1996, having been general secretary since 1978. I was elected vice-president of International Right to Life Federation in 2005. At UN conferences in Cairo, Copenhagen, Beijing, Istanbul and Rome, I helped coordinate more than 150 pro-life/pro-family groups resulting in pro-life victories in Cairo, Istanbul and Rome. I was educated at Salesian College, London, before going to Oxford where I graduated in English Language and Literature. I qualified as a teacher, becoming head of English at a secondary school. I am married to Josephine. We have a grown-up family and we live in north London.