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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: thames_sider who wrote (19455)	7/26/2001 10:13:12 AM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

Pragmatism means little without established values that serve as ends to be achieved or upheld. But more than that, there must be the recognition that we make statements on the values that animate our society, and therefore promote an understanding of what is important, through symbolic actions. Thus, symbolic actions become matters of practical importance. Every time we prefer the autonomy of the female to the well- being of her child, as is evident in the case of elective abortions in the last trimester, we are eroding maternal responsibility for infants, and setting up the circumstances where it makes sense to high school girls to dump their new- borns in the trash. We are continually engaged in culture- forming decisions about the relative importance of maternity, about the relative importance of paternity (if it is only the woman's business to abort or carry the child, why should a man pay child support?), about the interests of society in promoting responsibility (it is no one's business if someone uses abortion as a form of birth control, or as a method of sex selection), and so forth.........

To: thames_sider who wrote (19455)	7/26/2001 11:05:07 AM
From: Lane3	Respond to of 82486

I simply take the pragmatic view - call it ruthless, or realistic, or whatever: that a human being, a new life, is something which must be both willed and desired. I've posted before that whenever I trim a houseplant, I feel I have to put the cuttings in water to grow into a new houseplant. I struggle with throwing them away. So I can hardly fail to feel a pang at the thought of an abortion. I think that if we lose that pang, we lose our humanity. But I think that what is important is the pang and choice that causes the pang more so than the result of the choice. We've developed too far as a species to be so slavish to nature and the definitions handed to us. You're right that we're no longer at the point where survival of the species requires us to set a priority on producing new life. It's about time we recognized that. If we can't even recognize that, how will we deal with cyborgs, clones, and other coming challenges? Karen