John Quiggin at
Crooked Timber takes another look at cancer as a metaphor for terrorism:
It struck me that, to make this metaphor exact we’d need:
• attacks on cancer researchers for seeking to ‘understand’ cancer
• even more attacks on anyone trying to find ‘root causes’ for cancer in the environment, such as exposure to tobacco smoke
• lengthy pieces pointing out that the only thing we need to know about cancer cells is that they are malignant
• more lengthy pieces pointing out that criticism of any kind of quack remedy marks the critic as “objectively pro-cancer”
Perhaps. Though, I’d add a couple more:
• lengthy articles from moral philosophers pointing out that cancer cells can't be held responsible for their malignancy
• numerous highly speculative papers from researchers suggesting that if cancer is left untreated it won’t spread
