Topic > The media and the scientific community treat people like tools

“We must not see any person as an abstraction. Instead, we must see in each person a universe with its own secrets, with its own treasures, with its own sources of anguish and with some measure of triumph. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Every person on Earth is multi-faceted: Everyone has more sides than you would expect. This is why problems occur when people are treated as one-dimensional characters, as this perspective is in direct conflict with an individual's inherent human nature. In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, both the media and the scientific community are guilty of treating the Lacks family as a mere collective tool; only Skloot herself shows respect for the family. Science is based on cold, hard facts, and the attitude developed by the scientific community is on par with that very mentality: cold and insensitive. When Henrietta's cells were taken, she was no longer Henrietta Lacks to scientists. Instead, it became HeLa, a cell line with no human identity. In fact, she has not been given any recognition for a long time, and when she is recognized, she is called "Helen Lane" by scientists and the media for a long time. It is this attitude towards Henrietta that he later turns on his family. Hsu attempts to draw more blood from the Lacks even after hearing about their difficulties: “If they're willing, I wouldn't mind going back and getting more blood” (Skloot 190). The consequence of considering Lacks as an abstraction is clear in the scientific community; these people, with unique identities, are treated like laboratory rats. They were only recognized for their medical potential, so all the other merits of the Lacks disappeared in the eyes of scientists. This approach may seem justified for scientific purposes, but it is problematic because it constitutes a violation of the intrinsic moral value of the family. Such an approach is also problematic because it reduces the value of the Lacks family; if there is no distinction of function between a laboratory mouse and a human, this signifies a serious lack of morality that is harmful to society as a whole. While the scientific community had minimal interest in Henrietta's real life, major news companies had minimal interest in Henrietta's real life. a broader interest. If this interest had been used ethically, HeLa's story could have been much better known; however, that's not what happened. The media made it seem like the scientists had done nothing wrong. During the filming of the BBC documentary, Zakariyya becomes angry over the claim that Henrietta "donated" her cells to scientists: "She screamed and threw programs when she saw that they listed... Henrietta as the woman who ' donated HeLa cells" (220). In this sense, information companies played a catalytic role in preventing the world from truly knowing the truth. It was because they viewed the Lacks family only as subjects of a story they did not have worked harder to discover the truth. The media also sensationalizes many of the scientific discoveries obtained using HeLa cells: “One was called HUMAN, FUSED PLANT CELLS: CARROTS WALKING FORWARD? 238). This tactic only serves to further distance Henrietta from her family and scares Deborah into believing that her mother had become part plant and was suffering excruciating pain. violates the principle of seeing a.