I know, what a general post title. But I just can’t muster anything more interesting about the fact that that a “Terri Schiavo memorial concert” will be happening in Indianapolis in order to spread awareness about the “sanctity of life.”
“We’re holding this concert to do just that,” he said, “but not only to remember Terri, but to remind people that there’s tens of thousands other persons like my sister living with brain injuries today that need to be protected.”
Yes, there are tens of thousands of braindead vegetables out there, far beyond the point of a medical recovery even being possible, and we need to make sure we keep them plugged in, squandering the resources and, indeed, the lives of their loved ones in order to “protect the sanctity of life.”
It’s so strange and grotesque that they call themselves “pro-life.”
Amanda Marcotte was right yesterday when she wrote this:
In this contrast, you really begin to see the perversity of calling the anti-choice movement “pro-life”—it’ an oxymoron. They’re motivated, on a base level, by a hatred of life. Or, life as most of us define it, when we use phrases like “what I want to do with my life”, “living my life”, “life is good”, and pretty much every other use of “life” outside of anti-choice propaganda. Life, for most people, is about being in this world. It’ about enjoying food, enjoying sex, having goals, making plans, creating relationships, loving each other, developing beliefs, thinking thoughts, learning, enjoying a good night’ rest, listening to music, enjoying drama, enjoying quiet, kicking your feet up and petting the cat, diving into your work, making a difference, helping others, selfishly hiding away and doing for yourself, falling in love, grieving a loss, the thrill of winning, the sorrow of losing, the ambiguities of the human spirit, the bright light of reason, the joy of discovery, the curiosity inspired by mystery, a walk in the park, a Christmas with family, a loud concert, a good book.
But when anti-choicers speak reverently of “life”, they don’t mean this. They imagine things that are technically alive, but have no relationship to this word—Terri Schiavo laying in bed with no brain to speak of, a mindless fetus, a fertilized egg, a stem cell. They relate to these beings, who are not really living, and scrounge up nothing but anger and hatred at those of us who are perceived as actually living in the impure, disgusting, life-having world with connections to family and friends, brainy intellectual engagement with reality and of course, dirty, filthy, despicable sex. The impure wetness of real life disturbs them. They dwell endlessly on the medically disgusting aspects of abortion—aspects that exist in all medical procedures—because their minds are enraptured by hatred of the perceived filthiness of human bodies and life. The world with all its squirming, actually living life—it’ bothersome. Better to dwell on the imagined peace of the fetus, the immoveable quiet of a person in a vegetative state. Someone who is recognizably human but not really living—the purest, simplest, least disgusting way of being. Purity is always under threat, from fluoride to uncontrolled sexuality.
Yeah, read that whole piece.
Why am I writing about this on an LGBT blog? Well, for one, because we’re dealing with the exact same group of patriarchal Religious Right goons who seek to keep us from living our lives. Because it’s the same exact fight. To borrow from Amanda again,
…these two fights—for reproductive rights and gay rights—are the same fight. It’ about the right of people who aren’t straight men to have a sexuality without punishment or shame. We’re the ones who deserve the label “pro-life”, because we support the right for gays and women to survive and to thrive—to live. And make no mistake, we’re all up against a patriarchal right that is sadistic and violent.
Yep. The joke about anti-choice groups being “pro-life” right up until the moment of birth is clearly true. They “support life” right up to the point that they can no longer control it, project their insecurities and shame onto it, etc.
Sick people.
