I know exactly who the smirking conservative a$$hat was and saw the long form so-called ‘debate’ (but really a discussion used to humiliate her) on YouTube. She would counter every example he tried to compare to abortion rights, in good faith with logical reasoning, he would switch back to his condescending rhetoric about ‘murder, morals, blah blah etc’.
I hope you’re right about this. I think we need more popular content creators on places like YouTube just to put out prochoice news, maybe doctors to discussing medical issues surrounding abortion bans.
Not just speaking about experiences with abortion though— we need to speak about experiences with pregnancy. Pregnancy can be wonderful and pregnancy can be terrible, but we very carefully never describe the terribleness of some pregnancies. We don’t want to acknowledge how hard pregnancy can be. Until we do, calls for bodily autonomy will never hit home. https://academic.oup.com/jlb/article/9/1/lsac003/6548698
Several years ago on one of those awful days when the antis all come out to demonstrate in front of healthcare clinics that offer abortion, I went across the street to stand next to some of them to thin their ranks so onlookers would know they were not in the majority. One of them wanted to start a conversation with me and said, "Isn't the weather lovely today," and I responded by snarling at her, "Fuck you!" I couldn't help myself and now I know why. THANKS!
Right on! Any person, minister or government that wants a woman to stay pregnant against her will is demeaning her autonomy and her humanity. This is akin to slavery. Everything else is bullshit.
Debating is meant to keep alive the pretense that we live in a functioning democratic nation. As what happens around us gets worse and worse, the topics of 'debate' get more and more absurd.
I'm less concerned about the conservatives who want to 'debate'. You've correctly described them here. What bothers me about debating is the media and other institutions desperately want to pretend that everything that's happened in the past seven years is okay and somehow within the range of normal. Because I think that does matter at the margins. People are naturally more followers than leaders, and they look for cues to what to believe and how to respond. The people in power, ESPECIALLY the ones who don't agree with what's happening, are doing the devil's work by treating it as the normal back-and-forth of democracy.
Exactly. When Roe was first overturned, I did talk to anti-abortionists to try and understand their views. Sometimes it was respectful and I learned that we have fundamentally different views on some aspects of reality. Sometimes my views were called evil. But as I learned more about abortion, I realized that a majority of people are pro-choice and that I was just engaging with a minority of people with an inordinate amount of power.
I also talked with moderate friends about abortion, and they were affected by both-sideism rhetoric. They were against banning abortion from conception, but they were also against abortions at 9 months—which I had to explain hardly ever happens, and when it does is due to a medical emergency. The two sides are not the same. The media should stop treating it as such and start reporting instead on gerrymandering and the hijacking of the judicial courts instead.
I know exactly who the smirking conservative a$$hat was and saw the long form so-called ‘debate’ (but really a discussion used to humiliate her) on YouTube. She would counter every example he tried to compare to abortion rights, in good faith with logical reasoning, he would switch back to his condescending rhetoric about ‘murder, morals, blah blah etc’.
I hope you’re right about this. I think we need more popular content creators on places like YouTube just to put out prochoice news, maybe doctors to discussing medical issues surrounding abortion bans.
Not just speaking about experiences with abortion though— we need to speak about experiences with pregnancy. Pregnancy can be wonderful and pregnancy can be terrible, but we very carefully never describe the terribleness of some pregnancies. We don’t want to acknowledge how hard pregnancy can be. Until we do, calls for bodily autonomy will never hit home. https://academic.oup.com/jlb/article/9/1/lsac003/6548698
Several years ago on one of those awful days when the antis all come out to demonstrate in front of healthcare clinics that offer abortion, I went across the street to stand next to some of them to thin their ranks so onlookers would know they were not in the majority. One of them wanted to start a conversation with me and said, "Isn't the weather lovely today," and I responded by snarling at her, "Fuck you!" I couldn't help myself and now I know why. THANKS!
Right on! Any person, minister or government that wants a woman to stay pregnant against her will is demeaning her autonomy and her humanity. This is akin to slavery. Everything else is bullshit.
Yes. That is all.
You hit the nail on the head. These people just use "debate" as an excuse to target and malign people.
Debating is meant to keep alive the pretense that we live in a functioning democratic nation. As what happens around us gets worse and worse, the topics of 'debate' get more and more absurd.
I'm less concerned about the conservatives who want to 'debate'. You've correctly described them here. What bothers me about debating is the media and other institutions desperately want to pretend that everything that's happened in the past seven years is okay and somehow within the range of normal. Because I think that does matter at the margins. People are naturally more followers than leaders, and they look for cues to what to believe and how to respond. The people in power, ESPECIALLY the ones who don't agree with what's happening, are doing the devil's work by treating it as the normal back-and-forth of democracy.
Exactly. When Roe was first overturned, I did talk to anti-abortionists to try and understand their views. Sometimes it was respectful and I learned that we have fundamentally different views on some aspects of reality. Sometimes my views were called evil. But as I learned more about abortion, I realized that a majority of people are pro-choice and that I was just engaging with a minority of people with an inordinate amount of power.
I also talked with moderate friends about abortion, and they were affected by both-sideism rhetoric. They were against banning abortion from conception, but they were also against abortions at 9 months—which I had to explain hardly ever happens, and when it does is due to a medical emergency. The two sides are not the same. The media should stop treating it as such and start reporting instead on gerrymandering and the hijacking of the judicial courts instead.
Well said.
Thank you, once again for you judgement and willingness to share it. If someone tried to debate with me I'd just tell them to go away and grow up.
Damn well said.