Letters to the Editor
Tyler_Mason
Published Letters: 489 Editor's Choice: 41
-
What you're missing
[Read the article: Battle over embryos]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yes, the embryos are destroyed anyway. Do you really think the fundies are ignoring that or blind to it? No! They understand. Given a chance, they will force very one of those embryos to be brought full term. Just because fundamentalists believe different things does not necessarily make them stupid. They have a core belief about human life. The stem cell bill wouldn't even be a news item if they didn't have the brains and energy to impose their belief on others.
Meanwhile. most pro choice advocates can't wrap their heads around the concept that they are in favor of destroying life. Is it human life? Dunno. Probably. What else can it be? A DNA test will prove that abortion is quite different from a woman flushing an unfertilized egg or a man masturbating into the toilet. It is a separate living creature. Maybe we can define it as an expendable human parasite because it can't live without parental/governmental support.
This particular battle may harmonize the abortion laws. We may finally have to admit, as a nation, that life begins at conception and that we are willing to destroy that life. Then we can clarify when. Roe v Wade did that based on what is now some pretty old medical technology. The scale slides all the way from the death penalty to assisted suicide to the morning after pill.
-
@Anonymous
[Read the article: Battle over embryos]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You are wrongly stereotyping people. Using the same brush to paint everyone that disagrees with you is silly. You can't win the fights because you're fighting all the fights at once.
There are lots of pro lifers who are against the war, against the death penalty and even hate our illustrious prez.
I've met a faction that actually goes around looking for embryos to adopt before they are aborted. Most of them are very nice people. Everyday, they pray for an end to war, hate, murder, and poverty. It is very hard to dislike them. They really will find a home for an unwanted embryo. Not a foster home, but a family that can and will love the child. They don't even care if it is a christian family.
You, however, assume that everyone who dislikes one of your views dislikes them all. They are to be scorned and vilifiled. In other words, they are either for you or against you.
Regarding plan B, does it prevent fertilization or does it prevent a fertalized egg from adhering to the uterus? Is a fertalized egg alive?
-
@melthough
[Read the article: Battle over embryos]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks for the info on plan b etc. I think that a fertalized egg that doesn't adhere can be rationalized (without hypocracy) as a miscarraige. I can understand the pro lifers being against inducing a miscarraige while lamenting a "natural" one.
Regardless, I'd like to someday partake in a reasonable discussion about where to draw the line. Does second trimester make sense anymore? Should abortion be legal until crowning? Cutting the cord? Perhaps, like the spartans, undesirable new borns should be exposed? On the other side, should every fertalized egg be cherished as a full citizen with constitutional rights?
Avoiding the discussion because of hypocracy is self defeating. Both sides are rife with it. What's the rational for supporting pro choice but not the death penalty? Better to avoid conflating the issues too quickly into a holistic world view.
Even though many of the posters have absolute "us v. them" mentalities, I think I'm being stupid in trying to teach them about the adversary. Every army needs shock troops. The pro lifers have 'em.
-
ah yes, pedophiles
[Read the article: Giuliani's loyalty to an accused priest]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Remember back before 9/11/2001. Before we were told to be afraid of terrorists. Back when we had democrats in power. We were supposed to be afraid of pedophiles and sex offenders. Its the democrat version of "Get your fear on!"
So, we'd better get used to it. Our civil liberties will be eroded to protect the children. It is the excuse clinton used to push COPA and sneak-and-peak search warrants.
Same fear, same erosion of liberties, different bad guys.
-
I wish
[Read the article: Why they fight]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I wish the supreme court would revist roe v wade before a fundie justice gets in there. The whole trimester argument that made sense over 30 years ago is invalidated by advances in medical technology.
The issue isn't if roe v wade will be over turned or modified. The issue is what kind of supreme court will hear the case.
-
@meffert
[Read the article: Why they fight]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There are lots of reasons the fundies are willing to accept slow progress on abortion while the dems want action on iraq NOW.
Firstly, we gave the dems the power to end it because we want it ended NOW.
The fundies have a great deal of control in the GOP, but it is weak. Their power comes, largely, from control of the GOP primary and participating in lots of those minor local elections. The fundies are also nearly 100% mobilized. If they get too loud, they could scare enough people that they'll lose their advantage.
It's sometimes referred to as the republicans dilemma. The things needed to win the primary can cause you to lose the general election.
You also speak to a core difference between conservative and progressive. A progressive wants change because it might be better. A conservative accepts change if it is almost certain to be better. Notice that I said conservative instead of republican and progressive instead of democrat. The fundies are not conservative. Neither is bush. They are reactionary radicals wearing conservative cloaks.