so the pope is in the hospital again. i used to really like that guy, b/c when i was living in israel he came to visit, and he very respectfully put a note in the Wall, ostensibly asking forgiveness for the Church's inaction during the Holocaust. i thought that was pretty freakin' classy and thereafter thought the pope was an adorable old man.
well, that dude is just totally addled with old-ness these days. i mean, first there was that whole "dignity of women" debacle, where he talked about women's great sensitivity and i believe implied women should be nicer to their husbands (i can't find the references right now). but when i saw this on bookslut this morning i about screamed. ok, pope, i get that you are against gay marriages b/c you're the pope. whatever. but there is no need ever to compare abortion to the Holocaust. (for one thing, there are plenty of actual genocides to compare to the Holocaust.) this is just as un-classy and insensitive as the anti-abortion protestors who were outside eisenhower auditorium when elie wiesel was speaking back when i was a little college freshman. their signs also compared abortion to the Holocaust--and also features MUCH-larger-than-life photos of fetuses.
my point is this: it's your own business if you think abortion is a huge crisis. maybe you should take a more proactive stance re: abortion if it bothers you that much--you know, give kids condoms and stuff, or adopt all the babies that would otherwise be aborted. but the one thing you shouldn't do is co-opt a completely unrelated tragedy to try and make your own position more sympathetic. abortions are nothing like the Holocaust--there is no band of women out there going, "hey, i hate fetuses! let's all get knocked up and then abort them!" the Holocaust--and all genocides really--is a disgusting piece of history because one group specifically targeted another for extermination. abortion is a personal issue for each woman--it's not a campaign of hatred. it's not deliberate. so SHUT UP, pope!
god, what if his successor is worse?!
there's an interesting article on slate today about chris rock and how his foul-mouthed polemics are deceptively conservative. like his bit on abortion, which insinuates that abortion causes women to ignore the consequences of promiscuity (which shouldn't be the issue, as long as it's protected) and unprotected sex. at least rock couches his screed in satire. maybe rock and the pope should have a tete a tete--surely a sign that the apocalypse is at hand!
ReplyDeleteJeez, lay off, would ya? You're killing us here.
ReplyDeletewow! i've finally hit the blogging big-time! catholic dignitaries are commenting on my site!
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