Text 13923, 120 rader
Skriven 2005-07-06 17:26:48 av Ed Connell (1:379/1.6)
  Kommentar till text 13917 av Stephen Hayes (5:7106/20.0)
Ärende: Re: LIBERALS READY TO ABANDON US RIGHT TO ABORTION
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Hey, Stephen.

 SH> From: Steve Hayes <hayesmstw@hotmail.com>

 SH> On Sun, 03 Jul 2005 02:20:28 GMT, usenet@mantra.com (Dr. Jai Maharaj)
 SH> wrote:

 ??>> Liberals ready to abandon US right to abortion
 ??>>
 ??>> By Gaby Wood in New York
 ??>> The Observer
 ??>> Sunday, July 3, 2005
 ??>>
 ??>> Last autumn, in the midst of a presidential election,
 ??>> America's Democrats were fighting furiously to protect
 ??>> what they described as a constitutional right -- to have
 ??>> an abortion.
 ??>>
 ??>> But in an extraordinary turn of events, some argue that
 ??>> it is the single issue standing in the way of their
 ??>> election prospects. They are daring to say what once was
 ??>> regarded as heresy -- that it is time to let the argument
 ??>> go.
 ??>>
 ??>> Abortion may still be the most divisive issue in the US,
 ??>> but in a move indicative of creeping conservatism,
 ??>> Democrats now seem happy to amend -- even relinquish --
 ??>> their position on it.

 SH> I have always been puzzled by the notion that the idea of a "right to
 SH> abortion" is a liberal one.

 SH> I remember how shocked i was the first time i encountered it, having
 SH> fled from South Africa a month earlier, one step ahead of the Security
 SH> Police, being hounded, like many other liberals, for opposing the
 SH> ethnic cleansing that was part and parcel of the implementation of the
 SH> policy of apartheid, having been officially warned by a magistrate in
 SH> terms of the Suppression of Communism Act (which was being used to
 SH> suppress liberalism) not to engage in activities that were calculated
 SH> to achieve any of the objects of communism (such as a democratic
 SH> non-racial South Africa), and being told by him that my membership of
 SH> the Liberal Party must surely count as one of those activities.

 SH> So, being regarded as an enemy of the state (enemy of the state number
 SH> 1648, according to the Security Police files now lodged in the Sate
 SH> Archives because of my liberalism, I thought I was a liberal and knew
 SH> what liberalism was.

 SH> So this is what I wrote in my diary the first time I saw "the rightto
 SH> abortion" being described as "liberal".

 SH> 4-Feb-1966, Friday

 SH> I woke up relatively early, and while eating breaksfast discussed
 SH> with Eric an article in yesterday's "Sun" on the subject of
 SH> abortion. The thing that struck me was that it spoke of the
 SH> "liberal and enlightened practice of legal abortion" and "a human
 SH> approach unaffected by moral attitudes" which sounded completely
 SH> nonsensical. As they put it the whole thing sounded to me like
 SH> fascist piggery based fundamentally on the idea that if the
 SH> existence of another person causes me inconvenience or discomfort
 SH> then I am morally justified in trying to get rid of the other
 SH> person. And here the fact that many of the people involved (in
 SH> abortion) were married women who already had children would seem
 SH> to indicate a certain amount of selfishness. And once having
 SH> established the practice that it is all right to get rid of
 SH> inconvenient individuals in some circumctances, then the way is
 SH> open for doing it on others. If unwanted babies are to be
 SH> disposed of in this manner, then why not euthanasia, which could
 SH> rid society of the mental defective and the physically deformed,
 SH> and possibly the old people who can no longer look after
 SH> themselves and so become a burden on society. The practice might
 SH> be extended to social misfits as well -- those who, while having
 SH> no obvious physical or mental defects, nevertheless fail to
 SH> adjust themselves to society. Political deviates would be the
 SH> next on the list. Why, we'll be back to the good old days when
 SH> Jews were liquidated in the gas chambers. Of course the good
 SH> doctor in Aberdeen might say that in a liberal and enlightened
 SH> country things couldn't escalate like that -- but do we live in a
 SH> liberal and enlightened society? And of course a humane approach
 SH> must not be affected by moral attitudes. How lovely for Mr
 SH> Vorster, I am sure. We can embark at once on a humane and
 SH> enlightened programme for all Bantu women who become pregnant.
 SH> Humane, because most of them have starving children already , and
 SH> another mouth to feed when there is not enough food as it is
 SH> could cause them worry, and damage their mental and physical
 SH> health and well-being. And the world will have cause to be
 SH> grateful, because we are solving the problem of overpopulation by
 SH> a liberal and enlightend practice of genocide. The foregoing, of
 SH> course, is an extensive exaggeration of what the article actually
 SH> said. But such escalation would really be perilously easy.
 SH> Perhaps there is something in human rights after all; if it were
 SH> enshrined in law the illiberal, unenlightened and inhumane idea
 SH> that every human being from the moment of conception, had "an
 SH> inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness".

 SH> ---

 SH> I regarded legal abortion as fascist piggery then, and I've seen no
 SH> reason to change my mind. It is not, and never has been, "liberal". It
 SH> goes against everything that liberalism stands for,

That you persist in using the word liberal in a way that it is not used in 
the US - it is just a label - is your own fault.  I, personally, have told 
you many times about this, so you have no reason for confusion.  Yet you 
persist, leading to your self-professed confusion.  I don't know what more 
we can do to help you.  When we have told you that US liberals are fascist, 
you object, but here you have so labeled them yourself.  All I can say is I 
told you so, but you refused to listen.  My guess is you will continue to 
miss the point, but who knows.

Here's the facts jack:

In the US, which is where I'm coming from, a modern American conservative is 
a direct descendant of the classical liberal.  I don't know if you will 
listen or not, but that's the truth.


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