It's such a bad idea to show those photos. I can't fully articulate my reasons why, but in my gut I feel it's a bad idea.
It would be better to show a group of nuns with babies or adopted mothers with babies that they have adopted to take the "burden" off of unwed teen mothers.
I mean, we in the pro-life movement see them every day, it's just so easy to forget how horrible those photos really are.
I just think that showing those horrible pictures can do nothing but stir up more hatred and animosity. It can really only backfire on our cause. I mean, I'm against abortion, but I don't think it helps to go shoving it in people's faces.
You can't win people over by making them angry and offended... I mean, children can see these pictures for heaven's sake!
I just don't see how showing this upholds the dignity of these dead babies. Not to mention the dignity of the little ones who have to see them on TV. I know that it is reality, but my daughter who watches TV innocently, will be haunted by those images.
The use of horrific images never has anything but a negative effect on whatever cause you are trying to defend.
After all, what cause was ever helped by the use of such horrible images?
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18 comments:
Actually, I think its horrific how people are now forgetting the Holocaust. Or, even worse, writing it off as just another aberration from ancient history.
More power to Jewish activists for reminding us, shrilly, of the atrocities to which civilized people can descend.
Not to speak of other unpleasant topics that may still be happening ...
There is a whole world of Holocaust deniers out there who refuse to believe pictures, witnesses, the evidence of buildings...everyone's lying, especially evil Jews. The pro-abortion lobby are just as capable of denying the evidence. But that shouldn't mean we don't confront them with it.
Actually Sue, I wasn't addressing the people on the other side who deny that the photos are real.
It was in response to a blog post by a Catholic who claims to be pro-life but just "has a problem" with the use of graphic images.
Her posts about it have been the most nauseating self-congratulatory litany of appeasing rubbish I've ever seen from a supposedly pious Catholic.
The vertebrate pro-lifers who use the images as part of a systematic programme of public education hear these complaints a lot from people who like to proclaim how pro-life they are but are mostly interested in being nice.
There's a certain kind of pro-life Catholic who lives in mortal terror of confrontation. They live to be liked. It's deeply morally repellant and they are usually one of the biggest obstacles we have in getting the job done.
There's another argument against the images though, which is that they contribute to moral coarsening. The young people aren't moved by pictures of atrocities because they don't remember a world without HOLOCAUST WEEK POSTERS in the hallway at school. They just make funny gifs out of them. - Karen
We are on the same side. I am not the enemy.
Kat, I've been involved in the prolife movement for 13 years in four countries, and in all that time, the biggest problem we have had is not the people who are overtly on the other side. It's the people who claim to be with us, but whose need to be liked and to get along hampers and undermines every move we make.
@Karen, it's not in our hands to ultimately make up people's minds or to decide what they do with such images. It is up to us to show the visual truth and say this is what it is.
There are many, many ignorant people who, as a result of seeing the images and then listening to and heeding their consciences, change their minds and hearts.
Oh, and all that baloney about how the images traumatize children is an utter myth. I know from my experience seeing such images as a child, and I know from having seen kids' reactions to the images, and I know from testimony of others who invariably say the same thing: the child becomes very reflective, turns to mommy and asks some variation on the question: Mom, why is that baby broken?
Kids ask about the darndest things.
It must be very exciting for you to have been present to hear all the children ever who have seen pictures of atrocities to say these darndest things. Do you teleport and bilocate? - Karen
Fair enough.
Just remember, there's no neutral ground. If mom and dad don't explain it to their child then the culture at large will and the public school system.
Abortion is traumatizing and God provides the grace to those are shown its truth.
As Hilary said, "There's a certain kind of pro-life Catholic who lives in mortal terror of confrontation. They live to be liked."
One strategy of these people is to promote a "woman centred approach" (abortion is bad because it traumatizes women). And the Vatican seems to be promoting this approach.
Hilary, I'd appreciate it if you would blog on this issue sometime.
I have.
Just remember, there's no neutral ground. If mom and dad don't explain it to their child then the culture at large will and the public school system.
Wow, you really know just a handful of families, huh?
I have three children, none will be entered into any public school system before being fully equipped to deal with nonsense, and the culture at large does not have access to my children.
But hey, maybe I should start smoking pot at home too, because after all, the public schools and the culture at large.... - Karen
As Hilary said, "There's a certain kind of pro-life Catholic who lives in mortal terror of confrontation. They live to be liked."
One strategy of these people is to promote a "woman centred approach" (abortion is bad because it traumatizes women). And the Vatican seems to be promoting this approach.
What did anyone expect would happen? Nice ladies can't handle this stuff, it makes them deranged. - Karen
Sorry for the multiple comments here, but the basic problem is the near-total destruction of the domestic sphere as a place where a woman can live a fully adult life. You're saying "pro-life activists" but let's face it, you mean women - good Catholic women who should be home but there's either nothing serious and real for them to do there or diving into the serious and real work of homeschooling leaves them isolated, exhausted, and depressed, so they look for friendship and support in... pro-life activism.
This is all just good femininity in the wrong place because there is no right place anymore. - Karen
No Karen, I know lots of families.
Kids being exposed to these images: that's what the topic was to begin with. Lot's of kids in public schools (look outside your box) these days first learn of abortion through the school system, and their first indoctrination gets pretty well entrenched - the whole feminist ideology.
Fact is, most if not all parents are not going to tell their kids about abortion. "Hey, Johnny, come here for a minute, I want to tell you about abortion." LOL! Like that's going to happen.
No, if they do discuss it, it is because the discussion gets initiated from an external source (like GAP displays).
Not exactly sure what your reference to marijuana is about.
I know Paul, you're having trouble with complexity and analogies. Have a lollipop and go play, adults are talking. - Karen
Karen,
Stop now, or feel my wrath.
No rudeness in commboxes please.
Sorry, I forgot that children get pictures of dead people. I'll give him some of those instead. - Karen
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