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Hawking's Moral Calculus
Townhall ^ | May 10, 2013 | Mona Charen

Posted on 05/12/2013 8:36:03 PM PDT by EveningStar

Steven Hawking, the world-renowned physicist and celebrity, has cancelled a planned trip to Israel to participate in a conference sponsored by Israeli President Shimon Peres. His explanation: "I have received a number of emails from Palestinian academics. They are unanimous that I should respect the boycott. In view of this, I must withdraw from the conference."

It's an odd world isn't it? By what inverted moral calculus does someone of Hawking's stature find it morally problematic to set foot on the soil of the region's only democracy? One wonders how many other nations has Hawking declined to visit in order to express his disapproval of their policies?

(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Israel; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: israel; palestine; stevenhawking
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1 posted on 05/12/2013 8:36:03 PM PDT by EveningStar
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To: Hildy; SJackson; Yaelle; Borges

ping


2 posted on 05/12/2013 8:37:08 PM PDT by EveningStar ("What color is the sky in your world?" -- Frasier Crane)
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To: EveningStar

To be confused, or questioning, of the decision is to show an unfamiliarity with Hawking.


3 posted on 05/12/2013 8:40:29 PM PDT by TheZMan (Buy more ammo.)
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To: EveningStar

Sorry, but this tells me he is not a man of science at all. He is a rock star of some kind. What has he contributed to quality of life with his metaphysicalesque meanderings, anyway?
A real scientist (as opposed to an agenda-driven poser) would be thrilled to go to Israel, whose citizens lay claim to a disproportionate share of Nobel prizes, and say “suck eggs” to the muslims, whose only Nobels have been to terrorists like Arafat.


4 posted on 05/12/2013 8:41:54 PM PDT by Migraine (Diversity is great -- until it happens to YOU...)
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To: EveningStar

One wonders why the Israelíes invited this ridiculous celebrity in the first place.


5 posted on 05/12/2013 8:42:52 PM PDT by kabumpo (Kabumpo)
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To: EveningStar
Pascal was far smarter in his wager.
6 posted on 05/12/2013 8:43:33 PM PDT by null and void (The motto of all liberals is "With your guilt and your gelt we can get away with anything!")
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To: EveningStar

Bottom line is that he’s sicker than he looks.


7 posted on 05/12/2013 8:46:31 PM PDT by Mr Ramsbotham (Laws against sodomy are honored in the breech.)
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To: EveningStar

The last time we had this many anti-semites running around there ended up being a world war.


8 posted on 05/12/2013 8:50:40 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (If you think ObamaCare is a train wreck, wait until you see the amnesty bill.)
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To: null and void

I had not seen that before, but it goes a long way to explaining how I approach the topic.

Rather than smarter, I would contend “safer”.


9 posted on 05/12/2013 8:57:02 PM PDT by TheZMan (Buy more ammo.)
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To: EveningStar

Hawking is incapacitated and in a wheel chair - if he gets the Muslims mad at him and they come to get him, he won’t be able to escape very well - just a matter of self- preservation........


10 posted on 05/12/2013 8:58:14 PM PDT by Intolerant in NJ
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To: EveningStar

Yes, the Palestinians reminded him about Leon Klinghoffer.


11 posted on 05/12/2013 9:15:58 PM PDT by Jumpmaster (Mitt said he will put America back to work. 53% said "Screw that"!)
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To: EveningStar

Never understood why people treat this guy with such reverence and admiration.


12 posted on 05/12/2013 10:03:11 PM PDT by DennisR (Look around - God gives countless, indisputable clues that He does, indeed, exist.)
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To: EveningStar

“Palestinian academics” asked him not to go? Both of them? Or are they scientists in the same way IPCC signatories are “climate scientists”?


13 posted on 05/12/2013 10:08:36 PM PDT by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: EveningStar

Steven Hawking has jumped the shark.


14 posted on 05/12/2013 10:16:22 PM PDT by eclectic (Liberalism is a mental disorder)
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To: Still Thinking
"Both of them?"

One of them claims to have invented fire. The other has claims on the invention of the wheel.

15 posted on 05/12/2013 10:25:58 PM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear
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To: DennisR
He reminds me of Carl Sagan who was bright in his youth, but turned into a jello-brained pothead. They both wrote popular science books for general audiences.

He's not as smart as most people (including himself) think he is. He seems to have always been hostile toward religion and quite ordinary when it comes to wisdom.

16 posted on 05/12/2013 11:02:15 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: EveningStar

Uh, Steven Hawking doesn’t actually set foot anywhere...


17 posted on 05/12/2013 11:44:10 PM PDT by ShasheMac
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To: EveningStar
I believe the premise is flawed; that is, Steven Hawking is a moral man. Moral relativism is more like it, combined with self deception and hubris.
18 posted on 05/12/2013 11:44:34 PM PDT by MasterGunner01
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To: Migraine

From the first time I saw him on TV I figured he was a fraud and haven’t changed my mind in years...he is still just a poser that everyone feels sorry for.


19 posted on 05/12/2013 11:58:04 PM PDT by goat granny
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To: EveningStar

What does moral have to do with it? Once you say there is no god, everything is moral.


20 posted on 05/13/2013 4:03:22 AM PDT by freedomfiter2 (Brutal acts of commission and yawning acts of omission both strengthen the hand of the devil.)
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