[lbo-talk] Catholicism, was Re: blacks about as morally conservative as Republicans

Michael Smith mjs at smithbowen.net
Fri Dec 12 21:40:33 PST 2008


On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:40:30 -0800 (PST) "B." <docile_body at yahoo.com> wrote:


> One interesting pro-choice argument I've come across:
>
> Imagine you wake up one morning to find that a team of doctors are surrounding your bed -- and that they had attached a person to you through a series of tubes and other medical mechanisms, who was now laying next to you in your bed.

This is a *pro* choice argument? It's a damn weak one -- in fact, I'd say it's better ammo for the other side.

Assuming "pro" isn't a typo on Docile's part, this line of analogy really reveals a few important defects in the mental world of liberalism.

1) It implicitly assumes that the "you" who is invited to imagine this predicament will certainly feel that his or her life and wishes and comfort are more important than some arbitrary stranger's. This is in fact a safe assumption if the "you" being addressed is a striving merit-class product -- the core demographic of liberalism.

2) It grants the opposition's core premise -- the personhood of the fetus. My personal shorthand for this is "yes-buttery": the liberal's characteristic response to any reactionary argument always opens with the phrase "Yes, but..."

--

Michael Smith mjs at smithbowen.net http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list