Abortion Billboard Starts Race Debate

[thessalonian]

This fine lady has this pastor for lunch.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2010/02/24/am.abortion.billboard.cnn?hpt=T2

[Thy Geekdom Come]

Great, the doofus pastor is from where I live. Fantastic.

A friend of mine was threatened with arrest when speaking outside an abortion clinic down here while he was standing on public property.

[Archaeology cat]

Yeah she does. Seemed like he kept presenting a false dichotomy of focusing just on social justice and not on the issue of the numbers of women having abortions. And the strawmen arguments of saying that she must be demonising black women by pointing out that more black women, percentage-wise, have abortions.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

Well, if Rev. Sharpton says abortion's okay...

I love how the guy ends with "maybe we're saying the same thing." Shreveporters, in my experience, are notorious for saying things like that. A lot of the more liberal ones HATE the idea of there being a disagreement between people and they will take two completely opposing views and try to harmonize them.

[HisChildForever]

[quote name='Archaeology cat' date='24 February 2010 - 01:46 PM' timestamp='1267037212' post='2062458']
Yeah she does. Seemed like he kept presenting a false dichotomy of focusing just on social justice and not on the issue of the numbers of women having abortions. And the strawmen arguments of saying that she must be demonising black women by pointing out that more black women, percentage-wise, have abortions.
[/quote]

I'm in class so I can't watch the video right now, but I will say that Margaret Sanger was a racist and Planned Parenthood does try to appeal to minorities.

[Archaeology cat]

[quote name='HisChildForever' date='24 February 2010 - 06:56 PM' timestamp='1267037814' post='2062466']
I'm in class so I can't watch the video right now, but I will say that Margaret Sanger was a racist and Planned Parenthood does try to appeal to minorities.
[/quote]
Yeah, I thought I'd read some statements from Sanger to that effect.

[rhetoricfemme]

Automatic facepalm for referring to black children as a separate species from the rest of us. I understand what they're trying to say, but this doesn't do much to legitimize their argument, and I think even makes it weaker. Between the 'endangered species' phrasing and the paranoid rhetoric she's spouting off, she isn't doing anything to help stop abortions. It's just pointing fingers instead of looking for a solution. It also feels more like this pastor is saying, "Look at me I'm proactive and angry, yay!"

And if the 'abortion industry' is targeting minority groups, perhaps it's because they've done their homework and understand specific groups to be particularly vulnerable and willing to accept abortion as a solution to their problems.

It'd be nice if Bill Cosby would say something about this. He's an intelligent person who advocates the black community to stop victimizing themselves, to be hopeful of the future and to take responsibility for themselves and their communities.

[Ed Normile]

[quote name='rhetoricfemme' date='24 February 2010 - 02:49 PM' timestamp='1267040969' post='2062496']
Automatic facepalm for referring to black children as a separate species from the rest of us. I understand what they're trying to say, but this doesn't do much to legitimize their argument, and I think even makes it weaker. Between the 'endangered species' phrasing and the paranoid rhetoric she's spouting off, she isn't doing anything to help stop abortions. It's just pointing fingers instead of looking for a solution. It also feels more like this pastor is saying, "Look at me I'm proactive and angry, yay!"

And if the 'abortion industry' is targeting minority groups, perhaps it's because they've done their homework and understand specific groups to be particularly vulnerable and willing to accept abortion as a solution to their problems.

It'd be nice if Bill Cosby would say something about this. He's an intelligent person who advocates the black community to stop victimizing themselves, to be hopeful of the future and to take responsibility for themselves and their communities.
[/quote]


Yes you make some good points here, especially about the pastor and homework of the abortion industry. Bill Cosby is still shell shocked from his last attempt at stating a truth, so I doubt he would touch another hot topic like this for a while.
And by the way what the heck is that cat doing to your foot?

ed

[add]

sad fact it is
the truth hurts

[Winchester]

Give me convenience or give me death.

[rhetoricfemme]

[quote name='Ed Normile' date='24 February 2010 - 02:54 PM' timestamp='1267041299' post='2062500']
Yes you make some good points here, especially about the pastor and homework of the abortion industry. Bill Cosby is still shell shocked from his last attempt at stating a truth, so I doubt he would touch another hot topic like this for a while.
And by the way what the heck is that cat doing to your foot?

ed
[/quote]
I actually just checked out Bill Cosby's website, and while I know there are plenty of folks who don't want to hear what he has to say, he's started a speaking tour called Join the Cos (hahaha) in order to help out the black community with getting these problems taken care of. But no, I haven't specifically heard him say anything about this particular topic. I'd like to go to one of his talks, though!

Elan the Cat is mopping the kitchen floor. He likes to play around by latching onto your foot and not letting go. Although it's more fun for me when I have my shoes on, I couldn't pass up his zeal and that facial expression.

[Totus Tuus]

That was FABULOUS!

This is my primary area of research in the pro-life movement and I am so glad more and more information is being released to the public about this issue. It really is staggering what is going on in the black community. I have talked to dozens of black college students across Florida and Georgia on various college campuses about this issue, and there is a rampant lack of knowledge about the actual abortion numbers that occur in their population. There is, however, no lack of knowledge about the heartache and division that abortions cause their lives and their families.

"A dead child doesn’t need education
A dead child can’t rise politically because it’s dead
A dead child can’t rise economically because it’s dead."
I loved that part.

[Veridicus]

The abortion rates among blacks are a sad statistic. Planned Parenthood really gets their facilities into minority neighborhoods.

And the pastor never addresses anything she says. She sounds intelligent and he sounds ignorant.

Edited February 25, 2010 by Veridicus

[rhetoricfemme]

[quote name='Totus Tuus' date='24 February 2010 - 07:06 PM' timestamp='1267056401' post='2062645']
"A dead child doesn’t need education
A dead child can’t rise politically because it’s dead
A dead child can’t rise economically because it’s dead."
I loved that part.
[/quote]
I wish she would've referred to the children as something other than [i]it[/i].

[Totus Tuus]

[quote name='rhetoricfemme' date='24 February 2010 - 07:21 PM' timestamp='1267057289' post='2062653']
I wish she would've referred to the children as something other than [i]it[/i].
[/quote]

The other option would have been the gender-neutral "he," which might have sent sparks through the feminist air at CNN. I think she chose well in opting for "it" because she qualified by saying, "dead child." After all, I have never seen a pregnant mother get offended when someone says, "do you know if it's a boy or a girl?" Just my humble .02, but I can definitely sympathize with where you're coming from.

[rhetoricfemme]

[quote name='Totus Tuus' date='24 February 2010 - 08:00 PM' timestamp='1267059648' post='2062669']
The other option would have been the gender-neutral "he," which might have sent sparks through the feminist air at CNN. I think she chose well in opting for "it" because she qualified by saying, "dead child." After all, I have never seen a pregnant mother get offended when someone says, "do you know if it's a boy or a girl?" Just my humble .02, but I can definitely sympathize with where you're coming from.
[/quote]
Lol, you should've seen me when I was pregnant. Calling a baby whose sex was still unknown [i]it[/i] put me on a soapbox, lol. I thought she could've gotten away with referring the them as [i]they[/i]. But yes, saying [i]dead child[/i] still is a term to hit it home.

[Totus Tuus]

[quote name='rhetoricfemme' date='24 February 2010 - 08:44 PM' timestamp='1267062293' post='2062683']
Lol, you should've seen me when I was pregnant. Calling a baby whose sex was still unknown [i]it[/i] put me on a soapbox, lol. I thought she could've gotten away with referring the them as [i]they[/i]. But yes, saying [i]dead child[/i] still is a term to hit it home.
[/quote]

Ah, point well taken! Clearly there is an exception to every rule!

[Sternhauser]

How many times did he call her "Young lady?" At least four. Pretty condescending.

~Sternhauser

Edited February 25, 2010 by Sternhauser

[Happy_Catholic]

There's actually an anti-smoking campaign in NZL where there's a Maori woman with "endangered species" listed, as more Maori women die from smoking related diseases then any other group in society.

I dont' think its racist or playing with semantics, all its doing is playing on words that illicit a response, good or bad, this is going to get people's attention, and maybe the attention of women who matter, who are walking up to that abortion clinic.

As for Margaret Sanger, she was a filthy racist. Her writings are beaver dam scary.

[Era Might]

[quote name='rhetoricfemme' date='24 February 2010 - 02:49 PM' timestamp='1267040969' post='2062496']And if the 'abortion industry' is targeting minority groups, perhaps it's because they've done their homework and understand specific groups to be particularly vulnerable and willing to accept abortion as a solution to their problems.[/quote]
Contraception/abortion groups are driven by the idea (even if unconsciously) that the poor are helpless creatures who need white help and control. There's a scene in Charles Dickens's "Bleak House" where the upper-class characters visit a poor home, and the drunken/abusive father resents their presence because they see him as a baby. He may be a scoundrel, but he is still a grown man who CHOOSES to be a scoundrel. He is not a helpless child or a "social problem" to be solved by manipulative do-goodism. It is this kind of condescending do-goodism that undergirds contraception/abortion groups (and other groups that try to control society through social engineering).

Is there a literal conspiracy to abort black children? No. But it seems clear to me that contraception/abortion groups depend on the kind of condescending and manipulative do-goodism of whites trying to "uplift" people who are supposedly helpless without white help.

One thing I would be curious to know is the number of white employees at Planned Parenthood who live in poor black neighborhoods. I don't know the answer, but I would be willing to bet that hardly any of them do. And the reason, I would argue, is because the do-goodism in their line of work is inherently condescending. True solidarity requires you to share in the life of those you serve, to become one of them, to con-descend (i.e., to descend with) rather than to be "condescending" (i.e., manipulatively patronizing). Planned parenthood and other contraception/abortion groups are not about fostering solidarity with poor blacks; these groups work through social manipulation and condescending do-goodism.