Oh but it does just stop.
That scares a lot of people, and we all know fear is the mind killer.
Heās not talking about the death of an individual. Heās talking about a larger frame of reference in which life continues from one organism to the next in an endless chain.
I am aware of that.
Are you aware of how afraid of subjective death other people are? Even otherwise rational people lose it when death is discussed. At least one occurs in most fictions. There are a lot of ego defense mechanisms standing between most people and rational debate re: that larger frame of reference being appreciated.
And even then, and speaking in that larger frame of reference, and as far as we know at the moment, were the sun to go supernova life would stop because as far as we know life exists on the planet earth, and, to scale, can exist in a zone as thick as a coat of paint on a basketball. Sure, we suspect it may exist on mars, maybe goes to one of the moons of Saturn. Maybe it is everywhere, but thatās a maybe.
I was saying pretty clearly itās hard to think about death, on a scale other than personal, for a lot of folks.
From the lack of my fabulous culinary flair? Iād say yes.
When I hear the argument that fertilized eggs have the āpotentialā to be a human being (whatever that really means), I always think of stem cells, too. Especially given that probably the majority of fertilized eggs fail to implant or self-abort because they have too many flaws to fully develop, something that āpro-lifeā forces fail to mention. (They also fail to advocate for the life-saving interventions these āpeopleā need to come to term, which makes me question whether they really believe in the equivalencies theyāre claiming.)
The anti-contraception thing is pretty new. There was a time when even the Southern Baptist Convention had an official pro-contraception position, which was shared by essentially all protestant groups. It is my understanding that the change to opposition of contraception was made as a compromise when the various groups joined the Catholics in a united front against abortion.
There is a bomb in Gileadā¦
āthey are the voices of mainstream politicians, mainstream religious figures, and mainstream media.ā
Perhaps the author would care to cite examples of where any of the above entities called for violence. Terrorists, whether they be religious extremists or rabid anti-abortionists, are crazy, full stop. This kind of violence is ONLY acceptable in the minds of the disturbed. And certainly isnāt being preached by any āmainstream politicians, mainstream religious figures, and mainstream media.ā
They are crazy āfull stop.ā Does that mean nothing can be done? Itās from a year ago, but it is just as true today:
āFull stopā is too simple, and ācrazyā people are just as much products of their culture as ānon-crazyā people. In the recent election in Canada the incumbent government drummed up support by taking a stance against the niqab. The next day there was an attack against a pregnant woman in a niqab in Montreal, then one against a woman in a niqab picking up her kids from school. The people who carried out these attacks were undoubtedly already racist and just looking for an excuse. Then they were given one.
The rhetoric isnāt the only problem, but itās part of the problem. You might be right that violence isnāt being advocated by anyone in the mainstream, but I you canāt write off the entire problem as one of a few random crazy people instead of one that is created by American culture.
While I agree that there shouldnāt be a law with upper limits, I do have a really hard time with the concept of purely elective abortions in the later stages of development. But I also know that those account for a very, very small number of overall abortions. I think too many pro-life people think that is the ānormā, however. In which case one could be a little more empathetic to their views.
Interesting.
And that right there is the same line of thinking I have for other issues, and why I am against abortion being illegal. Banning them wouldnāt make things better, people would still get them, possibly at the cost of their own lives. If you want to reduce abortions, support education and attacking the social ills that lead to them.
Oh drat. I knew I should have taken the express instead of the commuter, well I finally made it, even though Iām lateā¦ I meant to put this somewhere closer to the beginning but I guess yaāll can have it now:
Welcome to a discussion on Abortion!
And possibly semanticsā¦
One troll sure wasted a lot of time here.
Boing has the best mutants anywhere, and the level of discourse in response was so refreshing.
Huge digital hug for the Boing!!!
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