Too Few Are Emerging from the Abortion Debate with Much Dignity

 

People never cease to surprise or disappoint me.  It might have been reasonable (well, in a parallel universe perhaps; admittedly it was always unlikely in this one) to suppose that the whole abortion debate would have brought out the humanity in those who are campaigning so vigorously on one side or the other.  One would have expected a certain level of reasoned discourse on such a sensitive subject. Instead, the ordinary bewildered onlooker must find themselves stunned by the endless name-calling, points-scoring and even threatening behaviour from some of the characters involved.  None of the groups have come out of this with much dignity.  At times the actual subject of the arguments seems almost to have been forgotten, so vitriolic and entrenched have opposing sides become; but I do think that the blanket anti-abortion supporters in particular have outdone themselves.

Now admittedly not even someone who finds the carry-on of the Church as distasteful as myself would expect them to keep quiet completely on this one; but in their glee at actually feeling that they have the right to take the moral high-ground for the first time in years—having forfeited that position completely with their unbelievable and certainly un-Christian behaviour—they have lost the run of themselves. Seriously, did they have to trot out the Excommunication card so heavily?  It only serves to draw attention to the many times that they HAVEN’T used it against genuine monsters, not those who are simply expressing a different view; and I have said here and elsewhere that the Church does not, in all fairness, claim to be a democracy and so it can hardly be surprising that it doesn’t behave like one.  To expect that is just daft.

As low as I generally expect them to stoop, it was still with surprise that I was told by one of my best friends recently of an incident that she saw in one church.

It’s worth an aside here to point out that this relationship shows that people of differing views CAN get along:  the lady in question was in fact my partner for a number of years.  Despite her being a confirmed God-botherer and my indifference to that, we never argued about it in any major way, simply out of respect for the opinion of the other.  Although as should be obvious she was wrong and I of course was right, as usual.  Heh.

She had travelled to Dublin for a Confirmation on the Saturday and stayed on until the following day in order to attend the Children’s Mass that followed.  So there were the children, dressed in their best clothes and no doubt enjoying being the centre of attention to mammy and daddy, when the priest decided that this was a good time to ask everyone’s indulgence as he was about to introduce an anti- abortion campaigner to give a five minute talk.

What absolutely wonderful timing! What sensitivity from a man who is supposed to be of the cloth!  Of course, their treatment of children as anything approaching human has hardly been exemplary by some of them over the years; but surely a bit of thought would have told this eejit that there is a time and a place; and that perhaps a Mass for children wasn’t it.

My friend wasn’t the only one to find this abhorrent.  It seemed to be the general feeling.  Naturally I asked why they didn’t just walk out on the idiot in protest; but of course that would have caused the kids even more confusion than they were undoubtedly feeling already at the hijacking of their special day.  We all regret, I think, that children seem to be almost forced to grow up far too quickly these days; but that is obviously a concept that the good ‘father’ isn’t familiar with.

Meanwhile some of the more extreme groups have been sending truly reprehensible letters and items—including plastic foetuses—to Taoiseach Enda Kenny.  Now Crom knows I’m not Kenny’s biggest fan by any means, but what kind of person takes the time and has the mentality to do such a thing?  And no doubt sees no contradiction in flopping down on the knees every Sunday, into the bargain.

They have also been harassing politicians at their homes.  Much of this—what a surprise—is done under cover of darkness.  Speaking during Leaders’ Questions in the Dail just after the publication of the legislation on abortion, Waterford Independent TD John Halligan said:

“There have been several serious incidents of verbal abuse aimed at deputies, some of whom have been ambushed outside their houses, spat at and threatened with having their homes burnt down.  One deputy has been threatened with having her throat cut.”

He added:

“No such threats were made to priests, bishops or anyone else within the Catholic Church convicted of abusing and destroying the lives of children… We now have senior Vatican officials calling on deputies who might be Catholic to resign if they support the Bill.  Threatening deputies to induce them to vote in a particular way must surely be illegal.

“If it emerged that a major criminal was attempting to bully deputies on any issue there would be a major outcry.”

Still, this ongoing argument has shown up what I’ve always hated about the party whip system, with Enda Kenny warning his deputies that they must support him, no matter what their consciences dictate.  Now that can’t be right either, no matter what my own views are.  Nor is Kenny the only one to be cracking the whip.  It now looks as if Sinn Fein TD for Meath West Peadar Toibin will have it removed from him if HE votes against the legislation, as it seems that he is adamant about doing.  As he puts it:

“It is an impossible task for me to vote for legislation that will lead to another person’s death.  TDs are responsible for their actions.

“I believe if a TD votes for abortion that TD is in part responsible for abortions that happen under that legislation.”

Now I must confess here to be in favour of legalising abortion; but it does seem to me that he and the others who have a different view and who simply don’t want to sign up for this have the right to state their opinions without threats hanging over them; indeed, they are having their very careers threatened.  As someone who believes strongly in the importance of being an individual I think it just flat-out sucks for people to be asked to vote against their beliefs just because their party leader has instructed them to.

Presumably it will be pretty much over by the time you read this; but in the meantime I expect that things will get worse before they get better.  In my experience they generally do.

You can email abuse to me at chasbrady7@eircom.net or follow my blog on www.charleybrady.com

 

People never cease to surprise or disappoint me.  It might have been reasonable (well, in a parallel universe perhaps; admittedly it was always unlikely in this one) to suppose that the whole abortion debate would have brought out the humanity in those who are campaigning so vigorously on one side or the other.  One would have expected a certain level of reasoned discourse on such a sensitive subject. Instead, the ordinary bewildered onlooker must find themselves stunned by the endless name-calling, points-scoring and even threatening behaviour from some of the characters involved.  None of the groups have come out of this with much dignity.  At times the actual subject of the arguments seems almost to have been forgotten, so vitriolic and entrenched have opposing sides become; but I do think that the blanket anti-abortion supporters in particular have outdone themselves.

Now admittedly not even someone who finds the carry-on of the Church as distasteful as myself would expect them to keep quiet completely on this one; but in their glee at actually feeling that they have the right to take the moral high-ground for the first time in years—having forfeited that position completely with their unbelievable and certainly un-Christian behaviour—they have lost the run of themselves. Seriously, did they have to trot out the Excommunication card so heavily?  It only serves to draw attention to the many times that they HAVEN’T used it against genuine monsters, not those who are simply expressing a different view; and I have said here and elsewhere that the Church does not, in all fairness, claim to be a democracy and so it can hardly be surprising that it doesn’t behave like one.  To expect that is just daft.

As low as I generally expect them to stoop, it was still with surprise that I was told by one of my best friends recently of an incident that she saw in one church.

It’s worth an aside here to point out that this relationship shows that people of differing views CAN get along:  the lady in question was in fact my partner for a number of years.  Despite her being a confirmed God-botherer and my indifference to that, we never argued about it in any major way, simply out of respect for the opinion of the other.  Although as should be obvious she was wrong and I of course was right, as usual.  Heh.

She had travelled to Dublin for a Confirmation on the Saturday and stayed on until the following day in order to attend the Children’s Mass that followed.  So there were the children, dressed in their best clothes and no doubt enjoying being the centre of attention to mammy and daddy, when the priest decided that this was a good time to ask everyone’s indulgence as he was about to introduce an anti- abortion campaigner to give a five minute talk.

What absolutely wonderful timing! What sensitivity from a man who is supposed to be of the cloth!  Of course, their treatment of children as anything approaching human has hardly been exemplary by some of them over the years; but surely a bit of thought would have told this eejit that there is a time and a place; and that perhaps a Mass for children wasn’t it.

My friend wasn’t the only one to find this abhorrent.  It seemed to be the general feeling.  Naturally I asked why they didn’t just walk out on the idiot in protest; but of course that would have caused the kids even more confusion than they were undoubtedly feeling already at the hijacking of their special day.  We all regret, I think, that children seem to be almost forced to grow up far too quickly these days; but that is obviously a concept that the good ‘father’ isn’t familiar with.

Meanwhile some of the more extreme groups have been sending truly reprehensible letters and items—including plastic foetuses—to Taoiseach Enda Kenny.  Now Crom knows I’m not Kenny’s biggest fan by any means, but what kind of person takes the time and has the mentality to do such a thing?  And no doubt sees no contradiction in flopping down on the knees every Sunday, into the bargain.

They have also been harassing politicians at their homes.  Much of this—what a surprise—is done under cover of darkness.  Speaking during Leaders’ Questions in the Dail just after the publication of the legislation on abortion, Waterford Independent TD John Halligan said:

“There have been several serious incidents of verbal abuse aimed at deputies, some of whom have been ambushed outside their houses, spat at and threatened with having their homes burnt down.  One deputy has been threatened with having her throat cut.”

He added:

“No such threats were made to priests, bishops or anyone else within the Catholic Church convicted of abusing and destroying the lives of children… We now have senior Vatican officials calling on deputies who might be Catholic to resign if they support the Bill.  Threatening deputies to induce them to vote in a particular way must surely be illegal.

“If it emerged that a major criminal was attempting to bully deputies on any issue there would be a major outcry.”

Still, this ongoing argument has shown up what I’ve always hated about the party whip system, with Enda Kenny warning his deputies that they must support him, no matter what their consciences dictate.  Now that can’t be right either, no matter what my own views are.  Nor is Kenny the only one to be cracking the whip.  It now looks as if Sinn Fein TD for Meath West Peadar Toibin will have it removed from him if HE votes against the legislation, as it seems that he is adamant about doing.  As he puts it:

“It is an impossible task for me to vote for legislation that will lead to another person’s death.  TDs are responsible for their actions.

“I believe if a TD votes for abortion that TD is in part responsible for abortions that happen under that legislation.”

Now I must confess here to be in favour of legalising abortion; but it does seem to me that he and the others who have a different view and who simply don’t want to sign up for this have the right to state their opinions without threats hanging over them; indeed, they are having their very careers threatened.  As someone who believes strongly in the importance of being an individual I think it just flat-out sucks for people to be asked to vote against their beliefs just because their party leader has instructed them to.

Presumably it will be pretty much over by the time you read this; but in the meantime I expect that things will get worse before they get better.  In my experience they generally do.

You can email abuse to me at chasbrady7@eircom.net or follow my blog on www.charleybrady.com