THE PRO-ABORT MINDSET VI

I don't find the Sarah Silverman clip below funny (it is actually quite offensive, so be warned), but the fact that it is supposed to be confirms what I have been saying about the pro-abort mindset.

As far as I can tell, this is an attempt at satire. It is about making fun of a particular mindset and the people who hold to it. I'm not exactly sure who Silverman is mocking here, but there are only two possibilities. She is either taking a shot at the advice giving friends or the Silverman character herself.  Either way it supports the same point - that the pro-abortion movement is about nothing more high-minded than narcissistic sexual licentiousness.

If the moralistic friends are the brunt of the joke, it is because they don't realize what a handy and consequence free (indeed quite pleasing) birth-control device abortion really is. And if the Silverman character is being mocked, it is because she is convinced that a serious issue like abortion is equivalent to taking a 12 year old who has the measles to a friendly pediatrician. Either way the sketch only makes sense if such people like the Silverman character actually exist. They do. The fact is, the attitude displayed by the Silverman character is foundational to the pro-abortion movement. For this group, regardless of what they might say, abortion has nothing to do with saving women's lives or helping the downtrodden and abused. It is about being able to conveniently escape from responsibility by killing a child.

Comments

[Sigfried Trent]

Curious. It seems pretty clear to me it is humor designed to be shocking and uncomfortable. By juxtoposing the very serious and moraly laden topic of abortion with a typical montoge that makes it seem light and carefree. Not all comedy is making a political judgement, some of it is there to simply throw up ideas in your face and make you think them over, to confront you with your own ideas and let you decide how you feel. A lot of "shock" art is pretty much trying to do the same thing.

So basicaly you take from it what you bring into it. Depending on how you see abortion you are likely to see the sketch in a somewhat different light although clearly anyone is likely to be a little shocked at portraying abortion as fun and jocular. I doubt that anyone goest to get an abortion wtih joy and frivolity in their heart, even if they portray a callous exterior.

I used to do volunteer work for family planning clinics and while they tend to be friendly they pretty much have the same atmosphere as any medical office. Peoples lives are on the line so its a serious place and usualy a few of the poeple there are seriously contemplating thier future.

There isn't much need to try and gain insight into pro-abortionists by looking at humor designed to make you feel uncomfortable. If you want to know what they think, try asking them and listening. You will find out a lot more than by making guesses based on a comedy sketch.

[Tomer Israeli]

If she's mocking the Silverman character (and SHE DOES) she's taking a swing at LIBERALS.

She took a swing at the stupid conservatives who don't want people to have fun, that's obvious.

At the same time, she takes a swing at some of her fellow liberals, who take the abortion issue too far, and celebrate it as an ideology, wear shirts saying "I had an abortion" etc.

Her point is that abortion is just a tool that people use, and people on both sides should stop making it a big deal.

I'm not saying it's my position. I'm saying I think it's her position.

[clara fox]

Siegfried Trent is right - Sarah Silverman's material isn't intended to argue a point or to politicize things; most of the time, it's meant to draw a 'shock laugh.'

The pro-choice group, to generalize as Johnson has, isn't looking for an easy out for their wanton behavior - in fact, most of the supporters of a woman's right to end a pregnancy have never and will never choose to have abortions themselves. The fundamental attitude behind the pro-choice movement is rather one of not imposing one's moral beliefs wholesale on others who subscribe to a different worldview.

[dc3]

the problem with that 'fundamental attitude behind the pro-choice movement' is that it fails to take into account the weight of 'one's moral beliefs'. Murder is simply wrong. By telling one person not to kill another person, am I pushing MY moral beliefs on you? Not at all. I'm simply stating the obvious moral law that is built in to all of us - taking another life is wrong, no matter which way you spin it.