My former sister-in-law used to read these anti-choice bedtime stories that would tell about this kid who grows up to win the medal in this or that, discover the cure for cancer or diabetes or whatever...and they always ended, "but this did not happen because he was aborted."
Anyway...
These stories present abortion as costing the world x, y, and z. But no one ever considers the children who are not born because there was no abortion and that they might accomplish because they are welcome and wanted.
Considering her mother, it's not surprising my niece carried her rapist's baby to term & raised him. She should not have. She always expected him to be a bad boy and so he was. He's in prison now for some burglary in pursuit of money for drugs.
But if my niece had an abortion, she might have had a child with her husband sooner, a welcome child who grew up without the expectation of becoming a criminal in some way, one who doesn't use drugs to medicate the pain of an awful mother.
I mean, I care about my great-nephew. I send him books in prison, but his life has been painful. He grew up in a small town (276 people) where everyone knew his father was a rapist. Every mischief he got into was confirmation that he was bad from birth
Just the ordinary mischief kids get into was read as a sign he would go wrong. Yes, I know it's ignorant. People are ignorant. He had no leeway. He was inadequately loved. Always suspect.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Prosperity Gospel preaches that the poor are poor because they are unworthy, that they do not love God enough. The rich are rewarded because they are good Christians. In a way, the American health care system often feels like Prosperity Gospel, which is at heart, eugenics.
The quality of the health care someone can access is dependent on how good a job they have, how valuable they are to the economy. Yes, we have the ACA and it redresses the balance to a degree, but copays and deductibles still put health care out of reach for many
While Prosperity Gospel is a malignant mutation of traditional Christianity, it fit so well with the whole mythology of "Protestant Work Ethic" and Horatio Alger, etc. it spread like wildfire, even infecting the nonbelievers via New Age bullshit.
I suppose conservatives thought that Willie was conservative because of his support for the family farmer, but come on, that's so ahistorical. Democrats have always supported family farms. It was Reagan whose policies decimated family farms, policies that prompted Farm Aid
In Minnesota, the DEMs are called the DFL - Democratic-Farmer-Labor party to memorialize the merger of two parties, the Democratic Party and the Farmer-Labor party.
I grew up in farm country and worked at cafes where farmers came in every day to listen to the hog report. There are farmers and then there are farmers. So many farmers I know worked hard, struggled, and made ends meet. They were never rich. Rich farmers got checks not to work
I often think the Bernie/DSA vanguardists & Cult 45 have a lot in common - a yearning for an authoritarian government for example, but the single most unifying characteristic is their deeply held conviction that when Black voters decide elections, the election is illegitimate.
This is not hyperbole. The saliency of Bernie's rigged narrative is rooted in his pronouncement that Black voters in the South "distort" the nomination process. Never mind that caucuses win extremely white states create an illusion of popularity for populists who dog whistle
Bernie did well in some states. Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont (naturally), Wyoming, Idaho, Nebraska, Oregon, Washington (though only in the caucus, he lost the primary vote which does not award delegates)
I think this poll that a third of Americans think violence against the government can be justified might be overhyped. I mean, it is part of our American ideology that our government exists with the "consent of the governed." Our Declaration of Independence says when the gov't
impinges on our rights, becomes oppressive, we can replace it. This is part of American cultural history. I would be more concerned if it was a more specific question, but the general question is one that conforms to our founding principles.
And yes, if our government becomes a fascist authoritarian government with a cult leader who exploits racism and imprisons, even kills people based on their race, ethnicity, or country of origin, then we should resist that government.
If you are ever tempted to excuse your ancestors' enslavement of Black people, do this first.
1. Get a drink: water, coffee, tea, wine, beer, gin, whatever appeals. 2. Sit quietly with your thoughts, perhaps walk around the block. 3. Delete your account.
When researching my 7th-great-grandfather, I found his contract for moving from Barbados to Rhode Island. The people included his wife, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, an indentured servant & 3 enslaved people. This was in 1648. One of them, named Mingo, ran away. Good for him.
He was for a time Solicitor General of Rhode Island colony. He also was an asshole. I can note his accomplishments and still hope Mingoe escaped completely and remained a free man. I will not excuse his conduct as being "of the time." Benjamin Lay was of that time & knew better
This reminds me of a rafting trip down the Deschutes River many, many years ago with friends from work. At the end of the 1st day, most of us had some cold symptoms, sore throat, runny nose, slight fever. But of course, no one packed cold medicine. So, as a lifelong forager...
I went foraging along the riverbank and in the surrounding trees. I had someone gather white willow bark and someone else gather mullein. I gathered yarrow myself as some might confuse it with hemlock. I inspected the gathered mullein to make sure no stray bits of other plants
were mixed in because I saw enough datura growing in a clearing to poison the entire planet with its neurotoxin. But some cottonwood bark got in by mistake. It's harmless but it can give you a hot flash similar to niacin. IT is good for fever.