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If Threre’s a Positive Outcome…

…To the murder of Dr. Tiller, it’s that the killing has often been described as an act of terrorism in the media. It’s good to call things what they are, and therein lies the turning from toleration of tactics like these. Whatever your feelings about the validity of the cause, all sympathy should cease the moment a trigger is pulled.

As for the validity of the cause, another positive outcome is that there has been a great deal of discussion about the reasons for late-term abortions. The procedure is truly a brutal one, and it is very hard to see the pictures and maintain anything like equanimity, yet there are many valid reasons for having one. As blogger Andrew Sullivan, normally pro-life, has said on his blog after a long series of accounts from readers who had encountered Dr. Teller or had had to undergo the procedure, “I have to say I am beginning to believe that these abortions, given their excruciating moral and personal choices, may be the most defensible in context of all abortions. And yet they seem to be taking life in a more viscerally distressing way. I need time to think and rethink these things.”

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 7th, 2009 at 8:38 pm and is filed under The Political Mindscape. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “If Threre’s a Positive Outcome…”

gary simms Says:
June 9th, 2009 at 10:23 am
I liked your take on terrorism. Interesting that the killing of the soldier in the mid-west by an American convert to Islam has not received much press. After all, it’s also terrorism
Steven Goldman Says:
June 10th, 2009 at 7:40 am
It’s somewhat shocking that that story has been so quietly received, but in some ways it’s also a good thing. Historically, the reaction to a crime like that would be somewhere between a lynching and a riot resulting in multiple murders.
Ian Says:
June 11th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Steve:

For the record, I’m sure that Dr. Tiller’s clients were in gut-wrenching situations much of the time. But the man did perform 60,000 abortions, are we arguing that none of them were morally questionable even by the most “libertarian” standard? Did Tiller ever say, “Actually, I don’t think it is proper to terminate a pregnancy in the 3rd trimester simply because you now have cold feet.” I’ve never heard anything of the sort. Surely even you are squeamish about the killing of a healthy third trimester fetus. And in all probability Tiller undertook such procedures as a matter of at least some routine. Where is the outrage over that? I mean, have you seen a third trimester fetus? The only difference between that and a newborn is an umbilical cord. Tiller was a monster, this is objectively true. His murder is nonetheless monstrous, both for the intrinsic evil of killing a fellow human being and for its possible impact on the now solid but tenuous majority of Americans who describe themselves as pro-life.

And if you think it is a good thing to bury coverage of the Islam-inspired murder of a US soldier, I assume you also want to suppress any and all photos relating to US mistreatment of detainees in Iraq and Guatanamo Bay because “historically, the reaction to a crime like that would be somewhere between a lynching and a riot resulting in multiple murders” of our soldiers?

Your comment reminds me of Sarte’s reasoning behind not publicizing Stalin’s crimes: The cause is more important than the crime. I knew you were far-left, Steve, but I had no idea you were Sartre-esque.

If Threre’s a Positive Outcome…

3 Responses to “If Threre’s a Positive Outcome…”

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