September 13, 2008

So Shocked I Can’t Breathe

I read this article and nearly collapsed:

In an article focusing on newly appointed vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, prominent feminist Camille Paglia admits that, much like Gov. Palin, she also believes abortion involves the murder of an innocent life – but unlike Palin, Paglia says she is a “firm supporter” of abortion.

A liberal feminist admitting that abortion is murder was enough to cause my head to spin. And then I read this:

“Let’s take the issue of abortion rights, of which I am a firm supporter. As an atheist and libertarian, I believe that government must stay completely out of the sphere of personal choice. Every individual has an absolute right to control his or her body,” said Paglia, voicing the commonest argument put forward by feminist supporters of abortion.

Unlike her fellow pro-abortion colleagues, however, Paglia continued on to – as she termed it – “face the ethical consequences” of embracing abortion. “I have always frankly admitted that abortion is murder, the extermination of the powerless by the powerful,” she said.

Paglia then admitted that in order to rationalize and accept abortion, one would have to not only accept, but logically condone other atrocities against life – that is, one would have to accept murder for the sake of protecting a particular, more important “right”, as she does. The author criticizes those on the social left who parrot the scientifically untenable position that the fetus is just a “lump of tissue”, saying that those who do so are simply afraid to face the consequences of their pro-abortion position.

And this:

Paglia also criticized some on the social left for their logical inconsistency in condoning the killing of the innocent, but not of the guilty. “I have never understood the standard Democratic combo of support for abortion and yet opposition to the death penalty. Surely it is the guilty rather than the innocent who deserve execution?” she said.

“What I am getting at here is that not until the Democratic Party stringently reexamines its own implicit assumptions and rhetorical formulas will it be able to deal effectively with the enduring and now escalating challenge from the pro-life right wing.”

Is hell freezing over, or is this woman saying these things to keep those pesky pro-life, right-wingers on their toes? (And for the record, I am one of those pro-life, right-wingers.)

Posted by Dana @ 6:01 AM • Politics