Minor rant...

[conuly]

I hatehateHATE the phrase "pro-life". Hate it with a vengeance. Many people who call themselves "pro-life" actually support the death penalty, and apparently don't see the hypocrisy. To my mind, unless the phrase is "pro-human-life", the only people who should be allowed to call themselves "pro-life" are antiwar, antideathpenalty, antiabortion VEGETARIANS. Possibly vegans, as all those animals get killed eventually. Still, reasonably, I'll allow them to pretend that pro-life means just humans. Guess what? They still shouldn't use that unless they're anti-war/deathpenalty. Anti-abortion works just as well and is less misleading, and it doesn't create a false sense of moral superiority. That attitude only works unless there isn't a moral dilemma, such as "is the mother's life at stake?" (unbelievably, some activists would not support abortion in such cases) or "does the fetus have some invariably fatal/painfully incurable disease?". Or even "can the mother afford to take care of the child?" Very few of the self-proclaimed "pro-lifers" are willing to adopt children to prevent them from being aborted. There are a few organizations which do do that, and they are to be commended.

Now, mind you, when I talk about "a false sense of moral superiority", I dislike "pro-choice" on the same grounds. However, I am less antagonistic towards it because 1. choice is not as strong a moral term as life and 2. I can't think of any good alternative. Pro-life could be anti-abortion, but it's absurd to call pro-choice pro-abortion, as many pro-choicers are against abortions, but feel that it is not society's place to condemn them. If somebody can come up with a good alternative name for "pro-choice", I'll gladly adopt/promote it.

Comments

[black-rat.livejournal.com]

Notice pro-life people tend to be in of the higher class range? In other worlds, people who have little chance of getting raped. Naturally, abortion is by no means contraception, but if something went wrong, it ought to be an option.

I'm not where I stand on the death penalty. I believe in it, because half the time people who kill are insane, and it would not be cruel to "Put them out of their misery". I also believe in revenge. Not all the time...that really is in your heart to decide. If someone killed someone out of pure greed, that's wrong. And hurting someone, say, molesting a child, is wrong.

However these are the reasons I would be against it. It's biased, higher class people/celebrities tend to escape the punishment they deserve. That's wrong. It's our whole law system screwing up. And as Ulyyf pointed out, a person who is not white is more likely to get the death penalty. How is that fair?

This is just how I think. I realize it's a little different from other opinions, and that's fine.

[conuly]

I believe in it, because half the time people who kill are insane, and it would not be cruel to "Put them out of their misery". I also believe in revenge. Not all the time...that really is in your heart to decide. If someone killed someone out of pure greed, that's wrong. And hurting someone, say, molesting a child, is wrong.

*stares*

Okay, I have to say, I completely disagree. Nothing against you, but you're about to get my reasons why I think that's wrong.

1. On "putting them out of their misery"... Unless you're mentally ill, you have no place to be saying that they would appreciate that. They may not want to be "put out of their misery". That reminds me strongly of Hitler's view of "lives unworthy of life". He actually went after the mentally ill and retarded first, I'm told. It also creates a dangerous precedent... so you kill only the insane who commit crimes. Now what? Then do you kill the insane who don't commit crimes? And how does one define insane, does it include mentally ill but curable? Does it include mentally disabled? Or different (some people might call aspies insane, we certainly aren't quite neurotypical!). Also, your assertation that half the time, those who kill are insane is, sadly, not the case. *le sigh* The insane deserve treatment and compassion, not death.
2. I don't believe in revenge either. I have found in my own experience that revenge and anger are flat. You don't get anything out of them. On a personal level, it costs less, and has greater benefit, to forgive. I am also uncertain that revenge should be a precedent for the law... that seems, mihi, to lead to a risk of mob law and lynch teams. Not good.

There's actually a document online (which I need to find again) you can print out and sign as a legal document, saying that if you are, perchance, killed by someone, you are requesting that they do not, under any circumstances, seek the death penalty. Or you could just add that statement to your will, I suppose... *goes to write a will so she can do just that*