political blather

[rm]

I've finally managed to watch some of the DNC, and I saw Kerry's wife speak for the first time. It wasn't a great speech, and she's not a great speaker (and I hadn't realized about the accent -- I wonder how that will play), but she she just radiates power in a way you pretty much never seen from political wives, and really even female politicians or female public figures in general. I mean, there's just this undefinable Bene Gesserit sort of thing about her that leaves no doubt she would be ruthless in defense of whatever she viewed at her domain. Interesting.

Meanwhile, there a controversy errupting over shirts you can buy on the Planned Parenthood website that say "I Had an Abortion." Without touching the actual abortion part of the debate, I think these are interesting, powerful and problematic. In our all-irony, all-shock all-the-time culture I can too easily see them being baby-t's on 13-year-olds trying to look cool, and that disgusts me. But as women who are encouraged to be silent about these choices, who are encouraged to let everyone believe that no matter what they think about abortion it only happens to other people who aren't as good as them... I love these shirts, I love the idea of stark words speaking silently, because I am that sort of marketing person. Of course, my understanding of protest comes from Act-Up, which was shocking, stark and marketing savvy. Anyway, I think the shirts are smart and interesting in a world that can't keep up with them. http://store.yahoo.com/ppfastore/ihadabt.html

How do we say we do not celebrate a thing, while also saying I am not ashamed of it? How do we talk about doing what is necessary in a world that seems broken into craven and lazy? How do we say, life is full of terrible choices and the critical thing is that we remain capable of choice, not just in the law, but in our hearts and minds? When politicians talk about moral education, character education, what they should be talking about, and I think are often talking about in code, are reasoning skills.

I don't believe you can teach morality. I believe you can demonstrate kindness, and love and that you can teach reasoning skills and ethics, and if you're serious about it, morality is the result. But if you seek to solely instill a set of beliefs over a code or framework from which to find beliefs, all you will do is beat fear and lack of thought into a mind.

Finally, I know most of the people reading this are ass broke, and of a range of political spectrums, however I think we can all agree we are fighting for our country's future in this election, and are devided with a hostility and fierceness I don't think any of us have previously seen in our lifetimes.

If you want Bush out of the White House, please give money to the Kerry campaign. If you're ass broke, dig the change out from under your couch cushions, count it up, and make a contribution that size. Even if it's only $10. Kerry may not be the man you want on the environment, or gay rights or whatever your specific concerns are. I know he's not a perfect fit for me, but I also know he will at change the current direction of things that terrify me so much.

To the few Republicans who hang around these parts. To my knowledge, you're all my type of Republicans, which is to say smart, more libertarian than not, and annoyed by your party's constant distraction from important stuff like the economy and national security to wage wars on crap like the marriage ammendment. Vote for whomever you're going to vote for, but do me a favour and take the time to get involved in your party and make it a party that doesn't require me to roll my eyes when you talk about the party of Lincoln. I'm for smaller government, and I could get behind your cause and we could have a lot more unity and civility in public discourse if you would all stand up and take your party back. So do what you need to do, donate money where you need to donate money, but do something.

Comments

[00goddess.livejournal.com]

Of course, my question is why not celebrate it,

Because some women who have had an abortion might not want to celebrate it. They may not be ashamed, but they may not think it something to celebrate. There are those who do want to celebrate it, and of course they can do so.

Even in Japan, honoring a notborn child isn't "celebration"; it's another form of ancestor-worship and a bit different.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Because some women who have had an abortion might not want to celebrate it. They may not be ashamed, but they may not think it something to celebrate. There are those who do want to celebrate it, and of course they can do so.

True, but anyone who did so in the least bit openly would be widely regarded as (at best) vastly insensitive and even many people who are pro-choice would think less of someone who did. I think that such attitudes definitely need to change. It is widely regarded as a shameful decision here and that does no one any good, especially since this attitude is most prevalent in the mass media (on the rare occasions where abortion is even mentioned in mass media entertainment).

Even in Japan, honoring a notborn child isn't "celebration"; it's another form of ancestor-worship and a bit different.

Yes, but these ceremonies show that Japan is a culture where abortion is not viewed with the same shame as it is here.

[00goddess.livejournal.com]

It is widely regarded as a shameful decision here and that does no one any good

I absolutely agree.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I would think less of someone who did... and honestly, I think at minimum you've been vastly insensitive with what you're trying to say here. I know you meant no offense, you honestly never do, but abortion isn't fun, it isn't pleasant and it isn't simple. And just because we should have the legal right to do something, doesn't mean we should be casual about the nature of the act. We also have the right to kill in self-defense (and in some states quite a bit more than others). It's still killing. I won't celebrate that.

My suspicion is that the vast majority of pro-choice individuals, who don't speak out about it particularly because it's not pragmatic, and being pragmatic on this issue is critical, don't believe abortion is murder, but absoutely believe it is killing a thing. I do at any rate, and to me it's at the very core of the ruthless nature of women, all this life and death power over things that are neither.

We love you dearly as a defender of our gender and all that, but but as someone who has never, and could never go through an abortion, it makes you sound insensitive at best to ask a woman to celebrate a situation and a process that is so much and in so many ways about the betrayal of the flesh.

I know no woman who would tell you abortion was easy, even when the choice was simple, clear and without guilt. For fucks sake, it's a surgical procedure. And many women are forced to deal with humiliations like waiting periods, government mandated literature that offends their intelligence and knowledge, and protestors.

I celebrate voting. Wearing an "I had an abortion" T-shirt isn't about celebrating our goddamn rights. It's about saying "I'm your neighbor. I'm just like you. What do you think of me now? Everyone keeps secrets. Maybe you shouldn't."

And to continue on this Japan thing... these ceremonies are not about shame, but they are about mourning, and that's a proper thing.

Celebration is a completely fucked up word to use on this topic. And this is not me be a self-loathing woman. This is just me telling you the world is a lot more complicated than you think, and that's a good thing.

[lllvis.livejournal.com]

"And just because we should have the legal right to do something, doesn't mean we should be casual about the nature of the act. We also have the right to kill in self-defense (and in some states quite a bit more than others). It's still killing. I won't celebrate that."


I KNEW we thought alike in some instances...

[rm.livejournal.com]

I'd be really shocked if anyone paying actual attention felt significantly differently than I do on this. Certainly, I think the biggest secret of most of the women I know (I don't really live in a world where I meet many people that aren't pro-choice, regardless of their reservations on the subject) -- is that we think gay porn is hot, or whatever our clever little deviance of the moment is.

The big secret is that we do think abortion is kill, and we still thing we have a right to do it. This is me being more philosophical and literary than an essentially political discussion deserves, but I think that it is fundamental to the nature of women to see men as those who can stop things that already exist and themselves as those who can stop things that have not yet happened. It's a weird mix of power and powerless women see in themselves, and I think it translates intensely to our thinking on abortion in a way that is not often discussed in public, because quite frankly, it's not expedient to do so.