Battalion
O PINION
Page 9 • Wednesday, November 3, 1999
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Should Ron Harris' new Website attempt to sell infertile parents
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NO
R on Harris is,
first and fore
most, a busi
nessman.
But as business
men go, he is one of
the most tasteless,
money-hungry and
amoral of the
bunch.
He seems to live
Harris' auction for eggs
exploits infertility for
personal financial gain
i/2bth. S255/mo Jercs:
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ASAP 6808966
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693-100201) m ^
ad 3bdtm./3» m nwiti
Ashley 69F6I79
ate neeaec •
Models can sell eggs
if they choose; Harris
not guilty of wrong
lall Kristen TIWMi
nmates lor spng
y or April
lor spring. Great teawn®
5-2481
A !
ERVICES
fashion photogra
pher who has
nade a career
M springsemesteiPayi-jy^ 0 f taking pictures Of
litles. Urgent! 693-342V ° ^
— roeautiful women is
new 3bdrm. dupleit. I , .
te 694-7701 ooking into a career
:h|ange. Ron Harris’
iVebsite, which de-
e to anywhere in the ti)Uted last Monday, is a
__7irtual bar where the
i Driving Lots-oMmw )n ] y things on tap are eggs from models
&sat Fruepm-Bpmissrhat Hams has hand-picked.
30pm). inside Ban* [couples can bid on these eggs, which
ste 217 646-6117 siafe the genes of current models. But de-
3i7). ipite how shallow and overpaid these
^respective parents may seem, Harris and
he bidders should have the right to contin-
or t u. game. nove | ty
The same American culture which
/ANTED
tu game, freshman 1^5 pl acec j suc h a high priority On physi
cal beauty has mandated those with
icif ca^-rai? 618 " none y can have or do what they want
- if they pay for it.
GHT LOSS tailed “Darwin’s natural selection at its
ery best” by Harris’ Website, bids for the
(all and have mote
rimPlus same formula;s*'
- Effective for Diet 8
/CS Cash- Check- CreW
eggs begin at $15,000, but Harris already
has been given a bid $42,000 for one of
the eggs. The models who participate in
the auction receive the fee.
Beauty is their asset, and they have
the right to profit from it. Federal law pro
hibits the sale of human organs but not
sperm or eggs.
Some critics of the auction, including
American Society of Reproductive Medicine
spokesperson Sean Tipton, have said soci
ety has reached the point of accepting the
idea of compensation for eggs or sperm but
not a sliding scale on the basis of what at
tributes donors bring to the table.
Current sperm and egg donors have
profiles available which include pictures,
SAT scores, the donor’s athletic ability
and other traits prospective parents may
consider important.
There is no harm in making couples pay
more for superior merchandise.
The parents who invest in this scheme
are making a loving gesture — a substantial
pre-emptive monetary contribution to their
ERIC ANDRAOS/Tm Battalion
child’s future before birth. Not many par
ents can display that kind of tangible
love. There is nothing wrong with loving
parents wanting to give their future little
boy or girl a head start on their looks.
These future children obviously are val- „
ued by their parents.
The only dangers presented to these tro
phy children are those of overbearing par
ents. How would the parents of a little girl
feel if they paid the equivalent of an Ivy
League college education for Heidi Klum’s
ova, but their daughter suffered from a
weight problem?
However, parents who resent their
children not meeting expectations are
not limited to ova customers. Any chil
dren of successful parents are subject to
the same scrutiny. Of course, as Nancy
Etcoff, an author on the subject of beau
ty, points out, paying for the genes of
beautiful people is not a sure thing.
There is no guarantee these children will
have the desirable traits of their biological
predecessors. Parents must be aware of this
before they pay.
The sperm of male models will soon ap
pear for sale on the site, subject to the same
conditions as the eggs currently for sale. So
bargain-hunting parents, saddle up to the
bar — this babe’s for you!
Jeff Webb is a senior
journalism major.
by that tried-and-true motto of many
used-salesmen and shameless self-
promoting entrepreneurs: “Anything
for a buck.”
The longtime fashion and Playboy
photographer has started a Website
which acts as a middleman for infertile
women and prospective egg donors.
However, these are not your every
day egg donors.
The women whose eggs are auc
tioned off are models looking for a
new source of income.
With a high enough bid, an infer
tile woman can theoretically increase
the possibility of having an exception
ally beautiful child.
The problem with the site is not its
support of in-vitro fertilization or
Harris’ promotion of the beauty of his
egg donors.
What is wrong about Harris' prac
tice is his use of the physical attrac
tiveness of his models, coupled with
society’s preference of beautiful peo
ple, to fill his own wallet.
With egg bids ranging from $15,000
to a possible maximum of $150,000,
Harris is trying to conduct his operation
at a level where money is not a factor.
This leads to a lot of easy money
being thrown around by wealthy peo
ple in need of an egg donor, a possibili
ty he is counting on.
Even though all the money paid for
the egg goes to the donor, Harris adds
his own 20-percent finder’s fee on top
of the final price.
In another shrewd business move,
Harris did not make his site a simple
meeting place for potential donors and
receivers. His Website is an auction
house where bidders fight it out. And
as their bids increase, so does Harris’
20-percent fee.
This money-making scheme re
moves the last bit of credibility Harris
might have as a objective assistant to
infertile couples.
Anyone still doubting the greedy
motives behind Harris’ site need look
no further than the site itself.
To make even more money off of his
online egg auction, Harris is posting
advertisements which can generate in
come for him, even if he never sells a
single egg.
The Website currently has two ad
vertising banners, but all signs point to
him adding more and trying to make a
buck off of advertising everything from
Viagra to Bloomingdales.
The fact that his site received more
than 1 million visitors in a single day
makes it attractive to potential adver
tisers, and one of the banners currently
on Harris' site is for a video-exercise
program he started in the 1980s.
Like the shady businessman he is,
Harris generates all these advertising
dollars under the guise of helping in
fertile women have children.
Finder’s fees and advertising rev
enues aside, Harris may hit the jackpot
with another money-making function
of the site. Besides being a fashion
photographer and producer of several
Playboy videos, Harris is working on a
book called Naked Power. Harris said
the book is “about why beauty exists
and how knowing this might help you
achieve happiness.”
Harris himself understands why
people primarily would be visiting his
site — namely to find an egg donor —
and how to use that to help him build
his personal income.
Recent news reports have ques
tioned the authenticity of Harris’ egg-
auctioning service.
Citing the crudeness of the site’s de
sign and the fact he has received only
one serious bid, many wonder if Har
ris really plans to continue with the
ova auctioning.
Nevertheless, Harris has found the
model that lays the golden egg.
By hosting such a highly visited site
and getting his face in all the papers,
Harris has created a peerless platform for
hawking his new book, sure to hit stores
just in time for Christmas shopping.
Once again, Harris is undermining
the good intentions of his Website.
He is selfishly looking to increase
book sales and fatten his own pocket-
book off infertile women and curious
visitors to his site.
For Harris, the blurred line be
tween justified infertility assistance
and unethical greed-based beauty
auctions is a dotted one he is more
than happy to sign on.
“Anything for a buck.”
Eric Dickens is a junior
English major.
Nazi’ not term to be used nonchalantly
MAIL CALL
Pick up your
copy today
MARK
PASSWATERS
Directory
>le
f you ordered Campus
quested delivery, deliv-
lin the next few days.
impus Directories, you
them up at 015 Reed
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i your part number,
nber, account name,
ct person and phone
directories should be
nts, administrators
yellow pages.
[ n 1933, the
National So
cialist Work-
rs Party came
) power in
ermany. Over
le next 12
?ars this
:oup of people
Dmmitted pos
hly the great-
;t acts of genocide the world
ad ever witnessed.
Following the orders of their
ader, Adolf Hitler, followers of
lis party’s doctrine slaughtered
ns of millions of people in the
ame of Aryan supremacy. In their
linds, the “master race” was justi-
ad in eliminating anyone who
ood in the way of their aims.
Sixty-six years later, the word
'Jazi” is used casually. People at-
ch it to those whom they do not
5ree with or are opposed to them.
When someone calls the Park-
griraffic and Transportation
?rvices “parking Nazis,” or Jerry
dnfeld refers to the “Soup
azi,” it can almost be excused
i ignorance posing as humor,
'hen educators refer to parts of
e current governmental system
ey do not like as “Nazism,” no
reuses can be made.
As astounding as it sounds,
•me more liberal members of so-
ety — including some teachers
- have adapted this practice to
ascribe those who they do not
agree with. Anyone who considers
him or herself an educator should
have a far better grasp of history.
Throwing the term “Nazi”
around loosely not only is self-
serving; it is unacceptable. Nazism
is one of the most insidious con
cepts ever thought of, and people
should respect the force such a
word holds. Using “Nazi” to de
fame people of a different political
viewpoint weakens society’s mem
ory of the lives lost at the hands of
the real Nazis.
The basic premise of the Na
tional Socialism philosophy was
found in the superiority of the Ger
man citizen.
As Hitler himself stated in his
twisted testament Mein Kampf,
Germans were the example of pure
Aryanism and were superior to all
other races of humanity. As a re
sult, millions of “inferior” people
were slaughtered.
Hitler’s desires were stated
plainly in his book, and his Nazi
underlings carried them out with
ruthless efficiency.
As a result, names like
Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen are
etched into our memories. Six mil
lion Jews and at least 15 million
Slavs (most of them Russians)
died at the hands of the Nazis less
than 70 years ago.
What the Nazis did should
still be firmly etched in our col
lective psyche, and the word
“Nazi” should be used only in
the strongest of cases. Instead,
some Americans use it as a label to
condemn more conservative mem
bers of our society.
Anyone who uses such a word
in this fashion should be given a
history book to read.
Neo-Nazis and members of the
Ku Klux Klan are deserving of this
black mark: someone who has an
“R” behind his or her name on C-
SPAN does not.
What the Nazis
did should be
firmly etched in
our memory.
Is there racism in this country?
Without question. Could some still
exist , in the highest levels of gov
ernment? Perhaps.
But saying those who do not
like people of different skin colors
are as evil as the people who
rounded up millions and executed
them is disgusting.
Individuals who refer to people
who do not think like them as
“Nazis” are in the business of self
inflation. Those who support pro
grams many Republicans oppose
have no business comparing the
GOP members of the 105th Con
gress to Heinrich Himmler, Rudolph
Hess and Hermann Goering. While
Republican views may be offensive
to some, they do not deserve to be
condemned in such a fashion. Nei
ther does the guy at the corner
store who says, “No soup for you!”
The horrors Nazi Germany in
flicted should be taught to all stu
dents so it is not forgotten. Com
paring Nazi crimes with such
matters as not putting “mixed
race” boxes on a birth certificate is
not completing this task.
In fact, it actually helps to mini
mize their crimes. Disliking people
for their skin color may not be ac
ceptable, but neither is comparing
them to people who slaughtered
people because of their skin color.
This is still the United States,
and people are still entitled to ex
press their opinions, no matter
how unsavory. The Nazis not only
expressed their beliefs; they put
them into practice. This crucial dif
ference separates the Nazis from
common society.
Minimizing the message and ac
tions of the Nazis by comparing
them to today’s problems is horri
bly wrong and sets a frightening
precedent. Eventually, what the
word “Nazi” stood for will be gar
bled, increasing the chances some
one will be allowed to repeat the
Nazis’ actions.
Mark Passwaters is an electrical
engineering major.
Trying to convert
others intolerant
In response to Chris Huffines
Nov. 1 column.
Huffines’ defense of the South
ern Baptist Convention's resolution
to increase efforts to convert other
religions, namely the Jewish reli
gion, is deplorable. As Abraham
Foxman said, it is arrogant for any
religion to believe itself the “cor
rect” belief system.
ROBERT HYNECEK/Thi: Battalion
It is even more arrogant for reli
gions to impose their beliefs on
anyone else.
The Southern Baptists’ belief
that Jewish beliefs are any less cor
rect than Southern Baptists’ own is
the same kind of thinking which
leads to, as Foxman put it, "the
backdrop of intolerance towards
Jews in Europe."
It is ridiculous for the Southern
Baptists to think they help Jewish
people by attempting to convert
them. Jewish beliefs have been
around for more than 2,000 years
and need no assistance from
Southern Baptists. Huffines' state
ment that the Southern Baptist at
tempts at conversion are signs of
respect is outrageous.
The attempt to change some
one's beliefs, especially on their
holy days, is like spitting in their
face, not a sign of "love and re
spect" as Huffines puts it.
It is equally ignorant of Huffines
to attack Foxman's support of Jew
ish solidarity an affront to Jewish
people. Not supporting any group’s
solidarity is an attack on that group.
The Southern Baptists and every
other denomination that actively
converts must realize that if there is
such a thing as the one correct be
lief system, be it religious in nature
or not, everyone will come to it.
This will happen not because it
has the best marketing division of
all belief systems, but by its own
virtue of being the one.
Terrell Rabb
Class of ’02
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