Cloning In The Media

Superior Essays
Human cloning has been a controversial topic of discussion for nearly two decades. Society is reluctant to legalize cloning because of the immoral implications of cloning. According to the President’s Council on Bioethics, a highly credible team of scientists who work alongside the president explain that this reluctance stems from people’s religious and political views; however, one of the main causes of this reluctance is the media’s inaccurate representation of cloning (The President 's Council on Bioethics). The media, especially in today’s society, plays such a major role in shaping people’s opinions and beliefs. The media often portrays cloning as inhumane, while also failing to inform the public of the true scientific facts of cloning. …show more content…
In today’s culture, “it’s nearly impossible to name a film where cloning or any other biotech advancement is depicted as unambiguously good” (Cloning and the Media: Friend or Foe?). This biased from the media makes society believe that legalizing cloning will make them all inherently evil. In reality, no one can say with absolutely certainty how clones will fit into society; however, if the media keeps on portraying clones in an evil light, society will start to form opinions, despite a lack of concrete evidence. The idea of the media not informing the public about all forms of cloning research also plays a role in the evil stereotype associated with clones. “This is because “human reproductive cloning... is often, if not always, given a fantastical, grim and negative frame” (Cloning in the Media: Friend or Foe?). When talking about cloning, the media only mentions one form, reproductive. It is always associated with evil and the “bad side” of a story. Because the public is only given information on one form of cloning and they are led to believe that it is inherently evil, they will be less likely to support the legalization of cloning because of the large impact that the media has on society’s views. Lastly, the media’s thirst for entertainment leads to the metaphorical, evil representation of clones and how they fit into society. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), one of the nation’s leading research institute for biological information, the media’s inaccurate portrayal of clones comes from their “need to create importance and meaning comes television 's predilection to fall back on metaphors when dealing with the debate on human cloning” (Cloning in the Media and Popular Culture). Filmmakers and directors need to make their film interesting and appealing to the public and what better way

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    In the article “Ethical Issues of Cloning” by Rita Putatunda explains about the problems of cloning. Copying the genes and making new reproductions of the human is equivalent to “playing God”. The successful cloning of Dolly (Sheep) in 1997 brings many tension upon society and furthers the possibility of human cloning. However, there is a high failure rate of cloning and it may alter the genes of the cloned animal/human. Putatunda questions that the cloning outcome might act as a unique individual or have to live like a genetic prisoner.…

    • 156 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    In fact, doing so is a veritable past time amongst Hollywood. In his essay for the art catalog Put on Your Blue Genes, Stephen Nottingham goes through Hollywood's use of genetic engineering and biotechnology in film, and some major scientific inaccuracies in them. Cloning is a popular topic in movies, and is an issue Hollywood desires to make their own ethical statements on. Unfortunately, they do so by grossly misrepresenting the science behind genetic engineering and cloning. Nottingham demonstrates how Hollywood has fostered fear through their representation of cloning.…

    • 2120 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Summary/Response: “Human Reproductive Cloning: A Conflict of Liberties.” In this article “Human Reproductive Cloning: A Conflict of Liberties,” Joyce C. Havstad’s conflict is if cloning becomes safe and reliable, people should be able to have reproductive freedom. The author explained that promoters of human cloning know that it may lead to harmful characteristics. Instead of positively promoting human cloning they explain the causes and effects that could take place.…

    • 262 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Currently the creation of cloning remains a debatable and moral disruption issued as unethical to the human race. Cloning takes away the uniqueness of species in the way that two or more people now share the same of everything especially genes which are supposed to be different from person to person. As science becomes more and more advanced, it seems to be taking humanity into science’s control. The issue of…

    • 786 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In 1996, the world had its first glimpse of a cloned animal in the form of Dolly the sheep. With that came much shock, not only in the scientific community but in the people of the world, because more and more people became interested with the notion of cloning. A big part in all of this was played by Dolly not just because it was a successful clone but because it opened up the world’s eyes on cloning (Aldridge par.3). But cloning is not just something where a person pops out of nowhere it is actually harder because scientist have to either get a stem cell from the host or either get the DNA from an animal and have the animal grow inside a closely related animal. Now more than ever, people have a great mind set on the ways they could help…

    • 212 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ethics of Cloning In The Creation: An Appeal to save life on earth, E.O. Wilson claims the next great extinction, in relation to mankind, is already in progress. If neglected, the extinction deems devastation to the degree of the final years of the Eremozoic Era. Wilson suggests that mankind takes a stand to either evolve alongside a quickly changing environment or change the whole environment around us by integrating genetic engineering (91). With this in mind, the twenty-first century has opened a new door into the world of genetic development.…

    • 1316 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    What´s Therapeutic Cloning?

    • 2603 Words
    • 11 Pages

    By the end of the year 2000, thousands of animals were successfully cloned. In 2001, a human embryo was cloned successfully to a 32 cell stage, before scientists terminated it. Had this experiment continued, a child might have been born with identical DNA to it’s parent. We are capable of cloning, the technology is there, but whether we should exercise this technique on humans or not is an ethical question that has haunted progressive thinkers…

    • 2603 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Pros And Cons Of Human Cloning

    • 883 Words
    • 4 Pages
    • 3 Works Cited

    The President's Council on Bio ethics, Human Cloning and…

    • 883 Words
    • 4 Pages
    • 3 Works Cited
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Furthermore, “because of what cloning is, one cannot presume a future cloned child’s consent to be a clone, even a healthy one. Thus, ethically speaking, we cannot even get to know whether or not human cloning is feasible.” Kass argues that there must be boundaries with what mankind can and cannot…

    • 1315 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The process of cloning is socially controversial nowadays, as it involves creating an exact copy of oneself defying the laws of nature in the process. There are many influences that derive from human…

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout all the research I have done, I have come to the conclusion that I disagree with cloning and gene therapy. It is a good idea, but it can mess up reality. In this paper, I will talk about what cloning and gene therapy is, give the pros and cons, and I will also give my own opinions about them. Cloning is making…

    • 1041 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Victor Frankenstein a fictional mad scientist may have more in common with modern day scientists than most expect; both going against nature and our humanity to create life. Cloning an idea not so long ago seemed like it was purely science fiction, but now that it’s looking more and more like an actuality, we ask ourselves should we keep it that way. Cloning animals is not only unnatural but has uncertain outcomes with a high failure rate and a high probability of diseased clones to continue the practice. Animal cloning has a significant percent of uncertainty that goes along with the process. Despite several hundred attempts and years of relentless research, more than ninety-five percent of cloning attempts results in failure (American Anti-Vivisection Society).…

    • 576 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “All of these arguments had their intended effect; today, a large majority of Americans think that human cloning is morally wrong” (RTD pg. 329). Cloning only reproduces a common occurrence in nature. A person who was conceived by cloning is the genetic duplicate of someone else, but so are monozygotic twins. So, if there is nothing bad about having twins, “naturally,” why should it be wrong to use cloning techniques to bring the delayed birth of a twin? “Human cloning is not wrong and has legitimate purposes, and we should focus on doing it well,” argues John A. Robertson, a professor of law at the University of Texas at Austin (RTD pg. 329).…

    • 942 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Reproductive Cloning With constant new developments in science, society is forced to react and adapt. Along with these new developments, citizens are left questioning the ethics behind the experiment. Almost one hundred thirty years ago, society was introduced to the idea of cloning. It was not until the year nineteen ninety-six when the idea became reality and the first cloned mammal was born, Dolly the sheep. She set the grounds for the next cloned mammals to come.…

    • 1416 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cloning The first cloned living animal was duplicated was in 1996. This animal was a sheep named Dolly. This was in 1996, imagine how far cloning as improved today. Cloning isn’t just for animals though, we could clone organs for people in need.…

    • 408 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics