Thursday, September 18, 2008

Political correctness burns me up, especially when it's worthless

So I'm at a notary public's office where they do vehicle registrations for the DMV and they had a display of possible license plate choices. One of them read: "Choose Life." I'm not going to get into my personal beliefs on the abortion issue or attack anybody else's. But on a very real, rhetorical level, I object to the very way we discuss abortion and our stance on the issue.

PRO CHOICE or PRO LIFE. That's absurd. ABSURD. AB-S-U-R-D. How can there be two pro sides on an issue? If we're debating, we're already screwed. Therefore, many people would have us think that it's "Pro life" and "Anti life," but that's not the issue at all. The issue is about CHOICE, not about LIFE. If I support a woman's right to choose, I'm therefore pro CHOICE. If you don't support somebody's right to choose (and want to pick a DMV license plate to announce that), then you're really ANTI CHOICE, not PRO LIFE. It's that simple. Nobody who supports a woman's right to choose wants to kill babies, is against the idea of babies or new life. We (ahem, they) merely support the idea that a woman should be able to decide. But the pro lifers would NEVER agree to be on the anti stance of this debate and they don't want to discuss the real issue, which is about choice (do we not live in the land of the free? the "freest" country in the world?) because then people would actually have to THINK about the issue, what the issue really is, rather than make an emotional decision. And it's hard not to be emotional about babies. That's biology.

And where's the pro choice license plate option? So much for separation of church and state.

Then there's this: Rose McGowan's comments. When did we get so afraid of people having opinions? Even if they're different than ours. What kind of an idiot would assume that Rose McGowan's personal opinions represent the thoughts and opinions of her studio? I mean, I get that it's for legal purposes. But I just detest this pandering we do to absolute ridiculousness. She has an opinion and it's a little shocking. And, worst of all, she actually spoke her mind. Reminds me of the link I put up a while ago about Katherine Heigl kicking heiny. Yes, they're gorgeous actresses. But that doesn't mean they don't get to speak their mind, even if their studio does think it's ill-timed. What great press, though. Hadn't even heard of the movie and now I have.

I'm getting so tired of people being afraid to argue (even me, y'all). Argue properly in a way that genuinely challenges beliefs, laws, conventions. It's the truth of all things - when your belief in something has been challenged, it is all the stronger when it passes through. But the truth is we're afraid our beliefs won't stand the challenges. And maybe they won't. Scary stuff.

2 comments:

Mary said...

Rhetoric! Everyone wants their side to sound best. Hence we're both PRO. personally I feel like it's more like PRO-CHOICE and amateur night at the revival, but whatever, I'm giving my opinion away (for free too! damn! that's it! pay up people where's mah two cents)

Emilie said...

LOL. I think I ended up giving my opinion, despite my best intentions. I'll give you 2 cents next time I see you. Though I may owe you lots of 2 cents for all the amusement and comraderie.