2014-08-06
Explanation
The Joke
The comic is divided into two panels comparing "Ethics" and "Bioethics." In the top panel, labeled "Ethics," a man states the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." In the bottom panel, labeled "Bioethics...," a woman asks: "Are these others OTHER enough that I can do unto them what I don't want done unto me?"
The Humor
The comic satirizes a dark undercurrent in the field of bioethics. Traditional ethics presents a straightforward moral principle -- treat others as you would want to be treated. Bioethics, however, often deals with questions about the moral status of entities that are not fully "standard" humans: embryos, fetuses, animals used in research, brain-dead patients, genetically modified organisms, and so on.
The joke is that bioethics frequently involves drawing lines about who or what counts as a moral "other" deserving of ethical consideration. The bioethicist in the comic is essentially asking: "Can I reclassify these beings as sufficiently non-human so that I do not need to extend them the same moral consideration I would want for myself?" This is a cynical but pointed observation about how bioethical debates can sometimes function as sophisticated justifications for treating certain living beings in ways we would never accept for ourselves.
References
The Golden Rule ("Do unto others as you would have them do unto you") is a principle found in many religious and philosophical traditions, often attributed to Jesus's Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:12). Bioethics is the study of ethical issues arising from advances in biology and medicine, dealing with questions such as the moral status of embryos, animal experimentation, and end-of-life care.