The fetus has its own DNA, so it's technically not
just their bodies...
Anyway, this is neither the time nor the place. Just for the record, I
do care about poor people (like I mentioned, it's one of the high religious priorities at that), I do care about sex education (yet not in the way: "hey, here's a condom, now go f*** like bunnies") I do care about reasonable living conditions etc. - BTW I am not especially privileged, particuarly economically speaking, so it's not like I'm living in a friggin castle.
And yes, "freedom to not wear masks" is very idiotic, as is all the covid-cospiracy bullshit etc.
However, that's a symptom, I'd guess. Once you stop believing your government or the media (which does
not necessarily mean you're a stupid, alt-right hick, I'd say it's one of the legitimate results of postmodernism as a currently prevailing philosophy) you tend to stop discerning as to what to believe and what to not.
(end-line - I still like to think about people on the different side of the opinion spectrum as
people. Even a late-term abortion supporter is still human and
I hope trying his best to fight for his dubious ideals ("freedom from everything"). Same goes for a Trumper, a Bidener, a Covid-denier, a Holocaust denier, a COINTELPRO denier, Nixon, Reagan, take your pick).
But like I said, not the time, not the place. I only hope that you'll believe me that although I might be anti-abortion, anti-masturbation (for a different, philosophical reasons, not that it's "murder"
), anti-sex ed (at least in the way you'd probably imagine it) etc., still - I'm not a Bible-thumper, I'm not retarded, I'm not a fundamentalist and it all sprouts out of my theology, philosophy, anthropology, experience. Well, not just "mine", the Catholics have 2000 years of that and I'm borrowing a lot, understandably.
And although you (and especially Loosey it seems) have an altogether different outlook on, well, almost everything, including human anthropology,
I still insist that given a certain amount of time over a beer I'd be able to explain it all in a way that you would most likely still disagree with, but were possibly able to respect. I believe it and I can only hope you at least admit it as a possibility.
I give @JudasMyGuide credit for being consistent about being anti-abortion, anti-euthanasia, and anti-death-sentence, though. All too many conservatives decry abortion but gleefully light up at the prospect of killing criminals, which always seemed incongruous to me.
Absolutely, this is completely incomprehensible to me. How one side is all for abortions and all about abolishing the death sentence and it's the opposite for the other one...
I also respect conservatives who don’t hide behind rape / incest / life of the mother exceptions. If you’re truly pro-life, then there shouldn’t be loopholes. Of course this exposes the deep problems with holding a truly pro-life view, but at least it’s consistent. I think Alan Keyes was the last major candidate I can remember who actually pulled back the veil and was honest about his point of view on this.
This is a misunderstanding of the pro-life position, I'd say. First of all - life of the mother ... that's different, because it profits no-one if both die and if it's the life of the wife instead of the baby... while I do consider it to be a virtue of martyrdom - sacrificing yourself for the baby, I do not think we could rightfully request that of someone else (request to literally die, you might ask that of soldiers and even then only in the most extreme of cases). You need a vocation to be a martyr and that's something the law should not decide (IMHO).
So for example, my wife will soon be finishing her second pregnancy, but were it an ectopic one we would probably 1.) wait if it doesn't fix itself in the early stages - actually happened to a (non-religious) relative, 2.) search for a doctor willing to try a fetal transplant (not an easy thing to do. not a lot of doctors willing to even try that), 3.) let them extract the fetus because it would otherwise kill them both. Still would break our hearts and still we would give him a proper burial.
Funnily enough, one of the many things I discovered I agreed upon with the Church (yes, including abortion, I was against it even as an atheist and well, Chuck Schuldiner also was (at least I interpret the lyrics to Altering the Future in that way)) is the fact that the spouse is more important than the offspring. It is an idea well-versed in tradition, but only rarely met anywhere else outside.
And while I personally think that yes, indeed, abortion is not correct even in these other cases, such as rape/incest (and btw my wife is the same, it's not just that I'm this manly man deciding about
women's bodies), I am willing to admit that for example in cases of rape the very pregnancy as a "internal reminder" of sorts of the traumatic experience can be so devastating to a person's psyche that I'd be willing to at least have a discussion on that.
But not when it's merely a matter of convenience.
Also, what scares me (almost) the most is how quickly it became
normal. Mainstream. That now me problematizing abortion is in the minority, in the defensive. Because it's expected, normal, natural, it's euphemized into "women's rights", "reproductive rights", "universal health care". That's what makes me feel we're slowly getting completely lost.
And then of course you have the rabid pro-lifers who are suddenly all for abortion in private as soon as they knock up their mistress or their daughter gets pregnant, but that’s neither here nor there...
There are hypocrites everywhere, we are all human after all.
But yeah, there's very few issues I agree with GOP upon (but those I do I agree with strongly), I actually agree with Democrats on much more stuff (social responsibility and poor people,
some sort of gun control, non-discrimination of gay/trans people (doesn't mean marriage, it means they should not lose their jobs or get hated/beaten/killed for it), no death penalty... also, I am
strongly, intensely against racism in any shape or form - that's so opposed to any kind of Christian ideal that's absolutely inconceivable to me ("There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" - the whole friggin theology of Paul is about that!). Then again, my attitude towards BLM is very complex (I agree that there was enough of the systemic racism and until they started to do this kind of mess, nobody listened - how long it's been already since Trayvon Martin? Shit, since Emmett Till? On the other hand, I don't find the execution proper - violent revolutions are not my style
and I hate the statue defacing and the current wokeness everywhere (like Best Picture for
Moonlight and caveats before
Gone with the Wind etc)) so I straddle the line on that.
Also - for example when I did the voting calculator it sided me with Trump on the issue of trans people (not) serving in the military. Which I am against not because some sort of discrimination or something, but because the specifics of any army do not seem really hospitable to the presence of actual trans people - maybe I'm wrong about that, but I'd fear it would be an opportunity to some kind of bullying or something. But sure, I'm a bigot 'cause of that. - These issues are complex, that's what I'm trying to say.
But the stuff I disagree I disagree very
strongly - I just cannot endorse the abortion candidate. Makes them pretty much as evil as the other party. And unfortunately, their current almost blood-thirstiness in that regard (expelling a guy out of the party 'cause he's pro-life?) do little to endear them to me. Shit, you gave us
the better presidents in the 20th century (well, there's still Teddy Roosevelt, whom I like, but whatever).
