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Sunday, January 22, 2006

Images of the Dead


Abortion will once again be a huge distraction in coming weeks as legislators wrestle with the parental consent issue - yet another attempt by fundamentalists to strip away by layers the laws that protect the privacy of pregnant women in America. A big anti-abortion rally is scheduled tomorrow in Washington with a plan to march on Congress and the Supreme Court, placards raised high.

The politics of life and death in this country are hard to understand. How the government, political movements and media deal with the images of death reveals an odd juxtapositioning.

Christian fundamentalists, for instance, revel in the bloody images of Christ, but they also use the image of an aborted fetus to bludgeon the public into understanding what they see as the true nature of abortion.

But where is the outrage when sensitized pro-life proponents come across images of Iraqi children whose bodies have been blown apart by bombs? Why are these images considered anti-war propaganda? A dead Iraqi child is just not their issue of choice, I guess.



And how can our government protect the rights of abortion protesters foisting obscene images upon women entering clinics but steadfastly refuse to let photographers capture the pristine image of caskets containing the remains of American soldiers returning from war overseas?

Three takes on Perception Management.


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is legendary how most anti-choice people are also pro-war and pro-death penalty, yet when anyone calls them on this, they show the world this handful of protesters who do not fit this profile. These anti-war/anti-choice people are the exception, not the rule.

It reminds me of the Republican convention, when they pulled out every moderate they could find to give the speeches. "See how reasonable we are?"

Anonymous said...

hello,
i have been reading your blog and would like to ask your advice on life in springfield as a liberal- i am being considered for a job at Missouri State and am honestly concerned about moving to springfield - more than a liberal, i am also gay and open about it and i am not a christian
is there anyway i could live there?
i'd appreciate an honest answer please! thank you for your time!

RSmith said...

Meghan,

By all means, don't allow my depiction of Springfield to dissuade you from accepting a job offer here. Anybody that has lived here any length of time knows this is a very conservative community, but it's also growing and changing. I think you'll find there are many kind and generous people living here, regardless of their faith or politics. I definitely wouldn't rule Springfield out as a place to live. And it wouldn't hurt to have another Democrat moving in.

Anonymous said...

meghan,
I won't tell you not to move here, because it can be a really nice place to live, but you do have to put up with a lot of conservative bs. There are getting to be enough liberals around here that although our views are not widely accepted, you can find people of like mind. good luck with whatever you do.

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