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Dear Editor
It is alarming that President-Elect Biden has appointed Ezekiel Emanuel to serve on his Covid-19 task force. Dr. Emanuel wrote the notorious article "Why I Hope to Die at 75” (The Atlantic, Oct. 2014), deprecating the value of life in old age and urging “each of us to ask whether our consumption is worth our contribution" – as if unproductive people lacked an unalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Someone who thinks life isn’t worth living past 75 is, to put it mildly, unsuited to serve on a task force against a disease that is fatal mainly to old people.
Competing interests:
No competing interests
13 November 2020
Felicia Nimue Ackerman
philosophy professor
Brown University
Department of Philosophy/Box 1918, 45 Prospect St., Brown University, Providence, RI 02912
Re: US election: Biden announces covid-19 task force, promising “compassion, empathy, and concern”
Dear Editor
It is alarming that President-Elect Biden has appointed Ezekiel Emanuel to serve on his Covid-19 task force. Dr. Emanuel wrote the notorious article "Why I Hope to Die at 75” (The Atlantic, Oct. 2014), deprecating the value of life in old age and urging “each of us to ask whether our consumption is worth our contribution" – as if unproductive people lacked an unalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Someone who thinks life isn’t worth living past 75 is, to put it mildly, unsuited to serve on a task force against a disease that is fatal mainly to old people.
Competing interests: No competing interests