2005-02-15

Editorial

On the Sanctity of Life

Pardon me, but I don't understand some of the thinking about sanctity of life that appears to be such a determining factor in choice of a president for, among others, members of the Catholic Church, re-born or natural Christian fundamentalists and individuals of various other persuasions who believe in the rights of the unborn.

There's certainly nothing wrong with valuing the sanctity of life of the unborn.   Anyone has a right to do that.   What bothers me is how so many people who loudly proclaim for the sanctity of the unborn and who so violently oppose abortion rights could support, at the same time , the killing of the already born by so vehemently advocating for Bush's war in Iraq?   What warped reasoning could give rise to a position that advocates that a fetus is precious but an 18-year-old kid is not?   How could one support the sanctity of an unborn child and 18 years later support government policies that sacrifice that same child needlessly as cannon fodder in support of a meaningless war based on lies?   Based on lies, I reiterate.   Somehow that makes the inconsistency even more obscene.

How can the sacrifice of our young men and women on the altar of war be reconciled with the teachings of Jesus and the meaning of Christianity?   If one is a devout Christian, as many fundamentalists profess to be, by what stretch of the imagination can one say that Jesus valued human life (pre- or post-natal) only some of the time and for only some people?

How are we able to carry these very emotional and contradictory beliefs in our minds at the same time without self-destructing?

Part of the explanation has to do with self-awareness and with being psychologically threatened by feelings of inconsistency.

As people develop through childhood into adulthood, they become increasingly self-aware. The extent to which this happens varies from person to person.   Some excel at analyzing their own thoughts and behaviors so as to avoid inconsistencies in thought and action and the psychological trauma that accompanies recognition that one is inconsistent.   Some are fairly good at it, but on occasion do behave inconsistently and have to rethink various of their attitudes and behaviors in order to make them more consistent.   Yet others develop with minimal self-awareness and a lack of concern about self-consistency.

This latter group, because they do not possess the self-awareness and the intellectual tools necessary for systematically analyzing their own and others points of view, can and often do, assume contradictory points of view without feeling threatened. In addition, they seem to need to rely on others to define their beliefs and behaviors for them; they are "other-directed," to use a term developed by sociologist David Reisman.

These folks thus become easy prey for unscrupulous single-issue religious and political zealots. Generally not discerning people and unable to integrate complex facts, thoughts and ideas in a consistent, logical manner, they have to resort to simplistic solutions for complex problems.   Their inability to think critically leads them to select their leaders on the basis of personal characteristics such as appearance and charm rather than by evaluating the content of what they say.   In other words, a significant segment of our population behaves like lemmings.   (Lemmings are a type of rodent noted for migrating into the sea.)   Lie to them, trickle down to them, scare them and exploit that fear and then present yourself as the savior and they'll follow you anywhere, even to Armageddon.

As Bill Moyers points out in his article, "There Is No Tomorrow," in the Commentary Section of this issue of REDUX, we are at the mercy of a ruthless bunch of religious hucksters who are masters at training lemmings.   And the lemmings are having a field day.   Unencumbered by having to think, they simply can sit back and react, using the choice words and phrases provided by their "handlers."   They have latched on to a "War Between the Worlds" type of scenario and are marching thoughtlessly, selfishly, without regard for the rest of humanity, toward an Armageddon that will lead them to eternal paradise at the expense of the rest of us.

I suggest to the lemmings among you who may have stumbled onto this editorial that you are too late.   Armageddon has already arrived.   It is known as Fallujah.   If you are curious about what you may have missed, see the article by Dahr Jamail entitled "Stories from Fallujah" (2005-02-08) in the Participating Authors section of this issue.   See also the photo essay, "The Children of Iraq," in the Reality Show Section (see Reality Show-listed on the sidebar on the Main Page.)

See and read about the damage that George Bush's hellfire and brimstone (shock and awe) onslaught has done, not only to innocent residents of Fallujah, but to our own soldier-children as well as they bullied and plundered their way through this city, slaughtering innocent civilians.

Looking at the damage, physical, psychological, and political, caused by this sick, distorted administration in the name of peace and democracy one can only conclude that there has been a massive, unprecedented miscarriage of justice and misinterpretation of everything that this country stands for.   And the fact that a significant portion of our populace has supported this atrocity and continues to ignore it while harping on the single issue of the sanctity of the unborn defies belief.

Every thinking person has to face up to the massive fraud that is being perpetrated on our country... on us...by a huge crowd of know-nothing lemmings who through ignorance will destroy us all.   Newt Gingrich has just crawled out from under a rock and is beginning to groom himself (if slugs can groom themselves) for the next election.   Stay tuned, stay informed and, as the signs say at railroad crossings in Quebec, "Gardez la droit!"   "Watch Out on Right."   It could mean your way of life.

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