Fuck you again, sideways, Arizona

[trenchkamen]

The law behind this book ban is, sadly, not new. Nor will it be the last time it is instigated, mark my words. It has supporters. Mostly these are the same people who think the Trayvon Martin case is being played up in the media by liberal radicals who want to stir up racial unrest. The only way to keep the peace, in their mind, is not to point out any white privilege. It's the most disgusting kind of insistence on color-blindness: if you ignore a problem, it doesn't exist. If you bring the problem up, YOU started it.

And then we have one Representative Terry Proud, who is defending an email in which she told a constituent she would like to see a law passed wherein a woman receiving an abortion would, in addition to having an ultrasound and a mandatory 24-hour waiting period, have to view a video of the procedure. The levels of fucked up this comprises are beyond comprehension. Clearly, she wants to gross out and scare any potential patients with a surgery video (which, let's be honest, will gross out and scare any but those already exposed to gore and viscera or those with a high tolerance for viewing such). I have never heard of such a law being proposed, for ANY type of surgery. I argue that an abortion is less bloody and gory than, say open-heart surgery or total knee replacement (and far less risky, might I add), but nobody is suggesting patients receiving these procedures view surgical footage so that they really "know what they're getting in to". Surgical videos don't bother me (because the patients are anesthetized; it is viewing suffering that bothers me), but most people would be grossed out and really scared by it. That's a natural human reaction.

This is clearly another shaming obstacle put in the way of women who want an abortion, another cheap attempt to scare. I bet conservative lawmakers in other states are reading these press releases, and thinking that Representative Proud has a mighty fine idea. Expect to see this spread.

At least her colleagues in the Arizona legislature are saying that this is a ludicrous law. Not everybody in this state is completely insane.

What the fuck is with the rash of bullshit coming out of Phoenix lately? Get bent, all of you.

Comments

[hiraku536.livejournal.com]

I think part of it has to do with the upcoming presidential election.

You have a whole bunch of Republican candidates who most people probably haven't heard of suddenly showing up all over the TV and the internet, parading values and ideas that would legitimize sexism, racism, homophobia, and economic bullshit.

Personal opinion on the side, people who said that they don't need to work with economy because there's a "Safety net", have never seen for themselves how very pathetically little the "Safety net" actually provides.

But I digress. I think when there're people who supposedly represent the authority suddenly saying, "Hey! Birth control is evil because it's a waste of tax money! I'm not gonna promote slut in my country!" or "I'm going to ban all gay marriages because God says it's not okay!" When people who happen to share the same view but had been kept relatively quiet about it suddenly hear someone from the government say things like this, they would feel, "Hey! Someone validated by core beliefs! That means I can be loud about it, too!"

At least that's my personal theory as to why we see a sudden burst of unfortunate stupidity. Also, tumblr is very very very very good at disseminating information, so more people are aware of what's going on out there.

[satyreyes.livejournal.com]

Thanks for calling my attention to the book ban, which I hadn't known about. I think you're right: it's another symptom of the gravely mistaken mindset that if we ignore race it will go away. And I think it's reasonably likely that any philosophy that leads you to conclude that particular books should be banned is a philosophy that makes at least one fundamental error that has nothing to do with banning books.

As for bullshit coming out of Phoenix? Speaking as a resident of Florida, I hear you.