Hey All, With this provocative subject line, I am hoping to start a new thread. I don't know if I've ever started a thread before -- if i have, it was years ago; so this may as well be my first, so BE NICE, ok? ;-)
I really appreciated Bob Sartorius' comments about abortion. And I really appreciate Vince's passionate dedication to preventing the banal repetition of history. We need people like you, Vince. Abortion, the Middle East, Pepsi vs. Coke (sorry), these are immense issues that seem to defy productive debate. I guess I'm hopelessly humanist (i.e., non-religious), so it always puzzles me when people get so entrenched in their way of thinking that they lose the ability to recognize that their way of thinking, is, well, a way of thinking. And that there are other people who have other ways of thinking that are also equally valid. It is this human need to be right, this human affliction called the Ego, that is the cause of all our problems. Take abortion, for instance. This is such a polarized issue in our country, and it is often written about as if there is no hope for compromise -- that the two viewpoints are hopelessly exclusive. I disagree. I am firmly pro-choice. Th! is does not mean that I am pro-abortion. I do not know of any pro-choicers who go around advocating abortion per se; I would hazard a guess that no one thinks that terminating a pregnancy is a "good" thing, or that it is an act without unseen consequence. HOWEVER, it is a fact that women have always taken control of their reproduction, whether it's through taking bella donna or, in more modern times, resorting to coat hangers. Abortion, safe or unsafe, is a fact of life. Trying to control the minds and lives of millions or even billions of people is futile, and that should be self-evident to all but the most megalomaniacal or mentally disabled of people. I wish that we could reach consensus on this issue. If the "pro-lifers" would stop waving their Bibles long enough to realize that pro-choicers are not evil, and that really, in the end, many of the goals of the 2 groups are the same (happy, healthy children, for example), we might be able to reach some reality-based, ! pragmatic solutions. I.e., sex education in grade school, fr! ee distri condoms in junior high and high school... yes, this stuff makes the religious and radical pro-lifers froth at the mouth, but this is only because they are obsessively focused on the way things "should be" instead of on the way they are. I can totally understand why a religious person would find it morally repugnant to terminate a pregnancy under any circumstances (and though I have thankfully never had to face the choice, I am not sure what I would do even in the most heinous of circumstances, because even in my anti-religious humanism, I am a creature of nature (and therefore a bit of a pagan, I suppose) and I do view conception as some kind of miracle -- or at the very least, not something to be taken lightly.) But even though I can understand the "moral" arguments against abortion, I always come back to the fact that as a modern and allegedly civil society, don't we have to come to terms with the good and bad and ugly reality of everyday life? And if this thing called! abortion exists, then don't we have an ethical obligation to take whatever PRAGMATIC and NON-RELIGIOUS steps it takes to make sure that the need for it is reduced; but that when the need arises, it can be done quickly, safely and without obstruction? Don't women -- over half the population -- have a civil right to a safe medical procedure if the need arises? (Has anyone seen pro-lifers picketing the offices of urologists who perform vasectomies? And why do insurance companies reimburse for Viagra and not The Pill?!?!) Why can't we have the wisdom to step outside our belief systems long enough to see the other side and develop practical solutions? Isn't Either/Or thinking the real problem here? We are intelligent creatures with enormous creative powers -- surely we can find a solution! Yes, Yassar Arafat and Ariel Sharon: you are intelligent creatures with enormous creative powers -- surely you can find a solution! But it's difficult when neither of you wants to! You both prefer to be right -- and to hell with all the people who will lose their lives because of your hubris! Both of you are right and both of you are wrong! Get over it, get over yourselves, and stop the violence! Yes, George Bush and Dick Cheney: you are intelligent (well...) creatures with enormous creative powers -- surely you can find a solution! Surely we can end our dependence on fossil fuels! Surely you realize that the interests of your energy industry buddies are not one and the same with the interests of US citizens at large! Surely you realize that people can reduce, reuse, recycle, build hydrogen fuel cells, build photovoltaic panels and windmills and -- yes! -- still make shitloads of money! Surely you realize that where there's a will, there's a way! Either/Or thinking automatically precludes compromise. It automatically demands escalation of conflict. It automatically presumes a Victor and a Loser. We perpetuate Either/Or every day of our lives, in ways large and small. Until we become truly self-aware creatures -- aware with honesty and integrity of both our power to destroy and our power to create, and to take responsibility for those powers -- we are doomed to live our lives in ways that ensure our destruction. But I remain hopeful. Kay -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ .
