Where Oh Where to be Outraged?
By: Bill Schoettler
June 29, 2022
OUTRAGE; an extremely strong reaction of anger, shock, or indignation.
I am outraged! But at what? Well, that’s a good question because, as I see it, there are multiple areas where I can focus my extremely strong reaction of anger.
Let’s take the most recent hoorah over the disappearance of Roe v. Wade. Suddenly this country has developed, at least according to Hollywood celebrities and noted political figures of the progressive-liberal-left, an attitude toward women that completely destroys what they have spent generations [read “thousand of years”] developing. Their “rights”.
There is a problem with the definition of “woman” because they were recently, very recently termed “a birthing person”. But today the expression “birthing” doesn’t seem to work. The Woke Generation that coined the concept of a woman as a “person who menstruates” or “a person who gives birth” or “a person with ovaries” is now having to face an uncomfortable reality. Giving birth doesn’t happen when the birthing person decides to have an abortion. So a woman now should become a “person-who-decides-that-she-is still-a-birthing-person-who-has-decided-not-go-be-a-birthing-person-because-she-wants-an-abortion”.
Or a “person-who-has-ovaries-who-isn’t-going-to-use-them”.
Kinda tough to swallow all those syllables to define what we old-fashioned folk call “a woman”. But we’re only hitting the tip of the iceberg about my sense of outrage on this subject.
I’m not upset with the overturning of Roe v Wade, I’m upset with the upsetness over the SCOTUS decision. Women can still get an abortion. It is not “illegal” to get an abortion. Let’s take a look at what was happening up to the time of this recent court decision. Abortions had been provided for almost 50 years.
The original belief was based on sound medical information…anytime during the first trimester (i.e., the first 3 months of pregnancy) a woman could discover:
a) the gender of her baby,
b) whether it had chromosomal defects or
c) other medical bases for concluding the forthcoming baby would have medical or physical challenges.
Also, and arguably this was equally important, the mother-to-be could evaluate her social-economic-familial position and consider whether she wanted to bring this new life into the world and accept the responsibilities that came with motherhood. If anything negative came up the pregnant woman could have an abortion.
Then things began to change. The trimester was pushed further and further until it became acceptable to “abort” the fetus up to the moment of birth. The laws of most jurisdictions would call it “homicide” if a viable fetus was killed in an accident…and “viable” was defined as “being able to live outside the womb”.
And thus the idea of giving birth became as significant as flipping a coin.
Now we are hearing from “corporate America”, from businesses who have sat down with their calculators and done the math. If a young woman (i.e., of child-bearing age) is hired, works long enough to become efficient and valuable to the employer, and then becomes pregnant and leaves her employment to have a child, the employer loses:
a) the time and expense of hiring and training the employee,
b) now has to hire and train a replacement,
OR:
a) must pay the medical bills for the med insurance for the pregnancy and birth,
b) has to provide “maternity leave” (and possibly “paternity leave”),
c) anticipate increased medical insurance premiums for the new child, plus
d) anticipate family emergencies that will take the employee away from her work.
The answer, already adopted and announced by Dick’s Sporting Goods, is to pay the pregnant woman up to $4000 to have an abortion. Presumably, Dick’s is equally sympathetic to the emotional concerns of the potential new mother as it is about the potential economic cost to Dick’s.
I have no problem with the economic analysis of an employer who makes such choices. America is, after all, a land of free enterprise. My problem is how the entire media circus has opened its arms to absurd notions about the whole subject.
We have now, and have had for many years, The Pill plus the “Morning After Pill” plus the old standby condoms as well as the ancient remedy of holding an aspirin between the knees. There has even been a sister (if I’m allowed to use the term) program concerning drugs…“Just Say No!”. And we’re not even considering the potential for a male to have a vasectomy.
Bottom line…if a woman doesn’t want to have children in the first place, in this country she can avail herself of multiple options. If a male doesn’t want to have children he too can take precautions. And if the throes of passion overcome reason and thoughtful consideration, there is the morning after pill and…yet today and abortion. So what’s the fuss about?
And I’m not yet done with objects for my outrage. There’s so-called “gun control”, a stupid and outrageous misnomer. You can’t “control” an object, you can’t prevent a person from using a gun by passing a law…any law [short of outright confiscation of all weapons]! And the assault on “assault rifles” is incredibly stupid. More people are killed each year in this country by knives and fists than by rifles, any rifles of any sort, including assault rifles. And, just incidentally, the term “assault” means to attack. It has a legal definition in all criminal codes. And ALWAYS refers to the conduct of a person. Firearms do not “assault” anything. People do the assaulting.
Then there is the subject of our open southern border. This is creating multiple problems. First is, of course, the influx of strangers into our country. We didn’t invite them. We have a procedure to be followed by those who wish to become citizens or merely visit. None of these people are following the procedure. AND OUR GOVERNMENT IS NOT MERELY PERMITTING THIS IT IS ENCOURAGING AND ABETTING THIS INVASION.
Then there is the health problem. None of these people are being medically checked for diseases…and we native citizens are thus exposed.
Then there are the accompanying drugs that are coming in, such as fentanyl, which is killing over 100,000 Americans each year. Tell me why this is being allowed. Guns, after all, account for but a fraction of fentanyl deaths.
Then there is the rising cost of living…and purchasing anything and everything.
Now we had a past President who was famous for saying “The Buck Stops Here”. That was Harry Truman, a Democrat, and he freely acknowledged that whatever happened in this country was his responsibility. He didn’t blame it on Russia or Stalin, he didn’t blame it on China or the Republicans. He accepted responsibility for everything. This suggests that OUR PRESIDENT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING THAT IS HAPPENING IN THIS COUNTRY.
- Rising costs on all commodities,
- the influx of illegal border crossers,
- the rising crime rates plaguing the nation,
- the rising drug deaths,
- the financial meltdown including inflation,
- the declining value of the dollar,
- the alarming continual deprecation of this country as being undemocratic and racist and misogynistic and patriarchal,
- the Democratic-attitude that anything or anyone who disagrees with them is a terrorist or, at a minimum a deplorable.
But I’m running out of space so I’ll have to finish my rant later.
