Are you pro-choice or anti-choice?
This is a not-so-subtle way of saying "do you agree with me or are you an idiot?" 'Pro-choice' and 'anti-choice', as if the topic of abortion is as simple as that.
Pardon me for pulling a Bill Clinton here, but define "choice." Any woman who has consensual sex*, not knowing that it can cause pregnancy, did not make a choice (But she's unusually stupid.) Otherwise you could argue that both consenting adults made their choice when they decided to have sex, which is the standard that the law currently applies to the father already. He doesn't get a "choice" beyond that. You want total equality? Fine, then either he gets to have equal say in the decision to abort or not, or else they both made their decision when they chose to have sex. Why should he be accountable like an adult and she be unaccountable like a child?
Not ready to argue that point? Then think before you bombard me with bumpersticker slogans.
And no, I'm not saying this is my position. I never got to finish explaining my position before my highly intelligent, but politically naive coworker fired off with this mentally retarded gem:
"I think anyone who wants to stop a woman from having an abortion should be forced to raise the kid. Ha Ha HA!!! EVERYONE would be pro-choice if they did THAT!"
No they wouldn't.
This is like saying anyone who wants to limit private citizens access to firearms should be shot. Is this how good laws are made?
Do you actually have an argument or do you simply have nothing to offer and so you resort to insulting everyone who disagrees with you? Why not just call me a 'poo-poo head' and get it over with?
This whole argument started over a discussion about the states' use of child seat laws and seat belt laws to raise revenue in a bad economy. Seriously. And I held the same position on abortion that I held on child seats and seat belt laws. It's none of the Federal Government's business and not their right to decide for us. We, the People, must make these decisions in our respective states through our votes. Also, the Supreme Court has already and repeatedly ruled that there exists a right of parents to decide how to raise their own children without government interference. So even the states do not necessarily have the authority to force your child into a plastic seat if you, the parent, don't think it's necessary.
My coworkers started off well enough, disgusted with Big Mother pulling people over to check their seatbelts and see if any kids are in the car, properly boxed and bound according to Federal guidelines. But when one of them raised the specter of abortion they both retreated reflexively into the Politically Correct fascism debate mode.
Agree 100% or be personally attacked.
Poo-poo head!
I'm not even sure either of them heard a single word I said because nothing they said in response had anything to do with my comments. It was as if they were arguing with an invisible militant Catholic nun and I wasn't there at all. They heard what they wanted to hear instead of what I said. I talked about the Supreme Court's role in deciding Constitutional issues and the limits on what cases it is permitted to decide, and they responded with derogatory comments about pro-lifers and the Bible. Who said anything about the Bible? Who said I was on either side? If I have my own views do I HAVE to join the other side?
You see, with PC Nazis you are either on their side or the WRONG side. You can't be somewhere else. And the problem is, I'm somewhere else. I'm not going to be labeled as one or the other when my own concerns and issues don't fit neatly with either of the media-defined, sign carrying, piss throwing, spitting, shouting sides. I want the courts to do their jobs. And I want them to stay out of issues that aren't part of their jobs. I want my say as a voter in issues that are not specifically under the jurisdiction of those courts. That's how our system was set up and that's the only way it works. Abortion is the best example I can think of. When the voters had "choice" it was legal to get an abortion in every state in which the voters "chose" to make it legal**. And that was most of the states, if not all of them, back in the 1960s. But the voters had a say and could outlaw things that they thought were ridiculous, such as late term abortion. And there were no massive protests or riots.
Most voters, over 70%, have indicated their opposition to late term abortion. Most women oppose it. They say by that point the woman clearly knows she is pregnant, has known for a long time, and has made the "choice" not to do anything about it. Decision made. End of discussion. Most voters also feel that if the woman's life is in danger and she wants to abort, even late term, that is also fine. Reasonable limits for reasonable people. No throwing piss, no burning churches or clinics, no screaming lunatics, no cops or judges.
But there is nothing reasonable about arrogant federal judges who answer to no one and consider themselves above the Law and the People. There is also nothing reasonable about the PC Nazis and their personal attacks. If you don't have a decent argument, shut the fuck up. You don't have to express an opinion about everything. Sometimes you just don't have one. Sometimes, no matter how important the issue to some, you just don't care. But if all you have to offer is a personal insult to anyone who thinks differently than you then you are an asshole. And that is all you're really trying to be. Sooner or later you're going to find yourself on the "other side" too.
That is, unless you never, EVER think for yourself.
* We never got to the topic of rape. This was a 15 minute lunch. Go do your own blog if it means that much to you.
** There is no state in which polls indicate a voting majority wanting to eliminate abortion altogether (No, not even Mississippi.) There is similarly no state in which polls indicate a voting majority wanting to prohibit any and all restrictions on abortions, including late-term abortions.
You have read this article with the title A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste. You can bookmark this page URL http://thebohemianbunny.blogspot.com/2004/10/a-mind-is-terrible-thing-to-waste.html. Thanks!
