Tell it like it is

This year's belated New Year's resolution is to start saying exactly what I mean regardless of how unpopular it might be. There are entirely too many things going unsaid around here (most especially at work) because nobody has the guts to say something negative. So from now on, if it's true and can be said tactfully, I'm saying it. If it can't be said tactfully, it's probably not constructive, and Thumper's mother's rule still applies. So far, several people have been told all about themselves with nothing but positive results.

On a related note, here's what has me riled up today: there's an article in the Washington Post (and several other places) about an upcoming Superbowl ad paid for by Focus on the Family. While nobody seems to have actually seen the ad yet, it is allegedly about some football player's mother, who is advocating against abortion by explaining that if she'd followed medical advice to terminate her pregnancy, the world would have been denied the pleasure of her son the football player. Of course, the pro-choice crowd is all upset and is petitioning CBS to pull the ad, and in response, the overly religious crowd is throwing around a lot of nasty names. In an attempt to avoid becoming the kind of person who comments on online news articles, I'm typing my particularly unpopular opinion here.

As a pro-choice, feminist, atheist (and probably several other things on the list of nasty names), I'm afraid I have to tell both sides to shut up because this is a stupid argument. If Focus on the Family has the money to buy this spot, and that's how they want to spend it, I question their priorities, but I don't think they care. And to the other side... if the ad actually says what they say it says, it's a stronger argument for choice than against. It's another example of a woman with several perfectly justifiable reasons to end her pregnancy. Like her own health, or the welfare of her other four children, or the fact that the Philippines in the 1980s was not on the cutting edge of prenatal health care. Once again they're pointing out that this is not just an issue of poor women with questionable morals, terrible judgment, and no regard for consequences. And it is not at all black and white, which is why choice is important. I'm glad that Mrs. Football-player's-mom had a choice, and I'm glad that the choice she made made her happy (but surely we can all imagine a less happy outcome), so can we please stop yelling the same "insults" at each other.