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The Roleplay - Clone Me!
The doctor George Clony is sitting on a bench, reading the latest edition of the magazine "Cloning Today". Michael Jackson walks by, sees the doctor reading this magazine and sits down next to him to ask him about cloning.
Excuse me, may I interrupt you? I see you are reading "Cloning Today". Do you know more about this issue ?
G.C.:
If you allow me to say that I'm an expert in this field.
M.J.:
Oh is that really so! Could you give me some advice how to get a clone of
myself ? The world needs more than one "King of Pop".
The latest craze is to breed children in cows. I've heard about a spa in Texas
where beautiful examples were created.
Suddenly the owner of this spa passes and picks up some words of the conversation.
Man.:
I just happen to be the owner of this exclusive spa. Our company promises
the highest quality clones for personal or business uses and gives an assurance that our clones' brains have been completely wiped of any bad habits, tendencies and memories of the original human donor. If you aren't sure yet, perhaps I can convince you with a special offer, Michael. If you order now the motto is: buy one get one free!
M.J.:
Can you tell me more about the dangers of this technique?
G.C.:
Nobody knows for sure what your personal results will be. Otherwise it is a
chance for infertile parents to have children nevertheless.
Man.:
Yes, that's right. A lot of exceptionally pretty and exceptionally intelligent
babies have already been given birth to on our spa to their parents satisfaction.
A Buddhist priest followed by a group of demonstrators appears holding up some posters.
Demo:
Close Texas cloning spa! Stop cloning!
Michael Jackson walks straight towards the group.
M.J.:
Why do you want to stop cloning? Don't you think it is an immense advantage
for mankind? Cloning is a great invention for somebody like me.
Priest:
It is an intrusion into God's work. For us cloning is an affront to our religious
sensibility. You are playing God and you are interfering with the natural
process.
G.C.:
You only regard cloning as a moral problem. More serious are some other
objections against cloning, for example the susceptibility to diseases, the question of expense and diversity.
M.J.:
Oh, I understand. The costs for cloning will be tremendously high, won't they?
Priest:
Cloning requires large amounts of money and biological expertise. Before
Dolly was created there was a need of 277attempts. So cloning is currently an
expensive process. Besides paying a lot of money the whole cloning issue
appears to me like selling human beings.
Man.:
Cloning won't result in the sale of humans at all. It is merely a different way of
making babies. The process is rather a possibility to reduce the number of
miscarriages. It could also be used for parents who risk passing a defect to a
child.
G.C.:
This might be a positive aspect of cloning. But you know for sure that on the
other hand cloning reduces genetic variability which means that the population
is entirely the same. Thus the risk is given that only one virus can wipe out a
whole nation.
M.J.:
Don't you think possible overpopulation is the actual problem that is caused by
cloning?
Priest:
Oh, I see, you realised the main problem. For example in Asia, there are so
many people already that overpopulation is a real problem there. So why
introduce cloning in this part of the world?
Man.:
Asia would be a great market for us. So let's open the first Asian cloning spa in
the Thai capital of Bangkok. We could close down some massage parlours and
open a clinic instead.
Priest:
Oh, for heaven's sake. You can't do that. We believe in the concept of Karma,
and so reincarnation becomes absurd. Who and what will be reincarnated after
all your tinkering with human nature?
G.C.:
You shouldn't forget the benefits of cloning organs in order to save lives of
desperate patients. Urgently needed organs can be provided without negative
consequences.
Priest:
Do you want to divide our society into two classes, on the one hand those who
can afford cloned organs and on the other hand those who have a weaker financial background and are excluded from the medical progress?
Man.:
The medical benefits clearly outweigh the possible social consequences.
The applications of cloning they envision are not nightmarish and inhumane, but will improve the overall quality of science and life. Cloning will help to
produce discoveries that will effect the study of genetics and cell development.
If information derived from cloning research allows scientists to stop the
division of the human ovum, a technique for terminating cancer may be found.
M.J.:
Do you think my children won't have a soul if they are cloned ?
Man.:
Don't worry about that. Do you prefer to know, before the child is born, what he
or she will look like or do you just want to gamble with your child's outward
appearance ?
Priest:
You are so superficial. People who want cloning are overwhelmingly
self-centred and don't care about inner values! Cloning is an unjustifiable
intrusion into human life!
M.J.:
No I don't think you are right. By cloning myself I just try to give my
new-born children the possibility to look exactly as good as I do. But my
only concern is this: Will they lead a normal life and love and accept me as
their physical father ?
G.C.:
I am so sorry, Michael, to disappoint you but cloning might have a negative
effect on family relationships. It is unknown as to how a human might react
if he or she knew he or she was an exact duplicate of an older individual.
M.J.:
I see it is a very controversial issue. I haven't made up my mind yet whether
I will have myself cloned or not. Didn't you offer me the possibility to get an
impression myself by a short visit to your spa without any obligations ?
Man.:
Actually my spa is very exclusive and we usually don't do this sort of thing,
but I will make an exception for you, Michael. You can meet some of your
friends and colleagues at my spa.
M.J.:
Thanks a lot. I hope after considering all these pros and cons I'll make the right
decision for myself.
by Christina, Hendrik, Ines, Susanne
A brief look at the characters:
Superstar Michael Jackson (M.J.)
A Buddhist Priest (Priest)
A Manager of a Cloning Spa (Man.)
Doctor George Clony ;-) (G.C.)
Some demonstrators who protest against human cloning (Demo)
M.J.:
G.C.:
(to G.C.)
(to priest)
