The new duty to die?

[burnsspivey]

[quote name='Mateo el Feo' date='Dec 16 2004, 01:54 PM'] I would agree with your last statement: the government doesn't work well in the role of universal babysitter.

Regarding your original statement: generally, people who make statements about "not having more children than you can afford" use the statement to justify killing unborn children. Anyone who has exposure to the pro-abortion/pro-life debate would understand this enough to qualify a statement like this. You made no qualification, so either you're ignorant of the issue or you understood and intended to convey the underlying message contained in the statement. [/quote]
Actually, the third option is the correct one. I felt that it had no place in this discussion, so I carefully avoided it.

[Mateo el Feo]

[quote name='burnsspivey' date='Dec 16 2004, 04:50 PM'] Actually, the third option is the correct one. I felt that it had no place in this discussion, so I carefully avoided it. [/quote]
That's a little bit like a person saying "I'm pro-choice," with the expectation that the statement has nothing to do with abortion. The best way to be "careful" about statements with "underlying meaning" is to be explicit.

[burnsspivey]

[quote name='Mateo el Feo' date='Dec 16 2004, 04:27 PM'] That's a little bit like a person saying "I'm pro-choice," with the expectation that the statement has nothing to do with abortion. The best way to be "careful" about statements with "underlying meaning" is to be explicit. [/quote]
That's either a very poor analogy or simply a false one.

Advocating that people only have as many children as they can afford != advocating abortion. At the same time, pro-choice is a term that is a specific reference to abortion.

There are ways to avoid having children without having abortion, shockingly enough. It can even be achieved through NFP, which I know the catholic church endorses. Don't put words in my mouth that aren't there, simply because that's the way your mind works.

[Mateo el Feo]

[quote name='burnsspivey' date='Dec 17 2004, 03:25 PM'] Don't put words in my mouth that aren't there, simply because that's the way your mind works. [/quote]
I put no words in your mouth. Let me repeat:

The best way to be "careful" about statements with "underlying meaning" is to be explicit.

I'm sorry you don't understand the concept of a "loaded statement." It's pretty simple.

[Mateo el Feo]

By the way, if you're still having trouble with the idea of a "loaded statement," you might be interested to re-read the relevant text that you seem to have been commenting on. This might give you a clue why I made the connection.

Here is the text again:
[quote]"If you want the best for your child, you have to think about how many children you can look after. If you had two or three children, maybe you could have higher aspirations for them."

The India-born Flather is a former president of the Family Planning Association and currently sits on the board of Marie Stopes International (MSI), a UK-based organization that carries out some 35,000 abortions a year, and works in 30 mostly developing countries worldwide.

An MSI spokeswoman was quoted afterwards as saying Flather was speaking independently of the organization, although MSI is reportedly considering publishing leaflets cautioning of the financial costs of bringing up children.[/quote]

Again, if you're trying to wash your hands of the above connection to the pro-abortion stance, it'd be a good idea to be explicit.