waton: Jws, wt are not a "race" because there are not enough of them.
I don't think that quantity has anything to do with the definition of "race". But I agree, Jws are not a "race".
What they are though, is a group of people who have a rare blood disorder. A blood disorder that dictates they cannot receive blood (well...certain kinds of blood). And what makes this an ethically precarious position for the Watchtower Society, is that it is the Society who has given that disorder to this group of people. That rare blood group has been constructed - the JWs are not 'medically' a rare blood group - the WTS says they are.
And that is where I have an issue with the WTS' blood phobia. They have been allowed to use that "religious" doctrine to create an experimental group - a group of people who can medically have blood but are prohibited from having it. This transgresses everything that their twisted mantra of "first do no harm" is meant to stand for.
"When you give somebody a disease — even by the standards of their time — you really cross the key ethical norm of the profession," said Arthur Caplan, director of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Bioethics.
The JWs haven't been given a disease per se. They have been given an inherited disorder. They have inherited a blood phobia from the WTS and their unholy alliance with the bloodless industry. The JWs have been given a blood disorder.
eyeuse2badub:
Unfortunately the wtbts will never be able to get "new light" on the blood issue due to the lawsuits that would follow.
"New light" concerning the blood issue has always followed the direction that new developments in the bloodless industry require. The only thing that could possibly change the blood doctrine is when a safe and effective blood substitute has been developed. And even then, I doubt it. There are always bigger and brighter frontiers to conquer in the world of blood development.
Besides, if and when that magic elixir - artificial blood - hits the market, all it will do is allow the JWs to say - see? jehobah was right! And all the while they will ignore the glaring reality that everything the bloodle$$ industry pin$ their hope$ on, only came about as the result of blood transfusion technology to begin with. Without blood transfusion technology, the bloodless world would be dead in the water. Hypocrites.