The Newest Plot by Extremist Wackos Masquerading as Concerned Citizens

I know that title line is a little dramatic, but let's face facts. Extremist nuts on both the left and the right are intent on utterly destroying this nation. This week, we hear from the right.

I read a letter to the editor of the Everett Herald on Monday suggesting that to help balance the state's budget by completely defunding Planned Parenthood. For those of you who don't know, Planned Parenthood is a clinic of sorts that provides all sorts of family planning and sex-ed services, including but not limited to: free STD screenings, contraceptive distribution, and even abortions.

My personal feelings on abortion aside, it is by no means the only service provided by Parenthood. Far more effort and attention are lavished on prevention, including educating people about the risks of sexual activity and all potential repercussions-- including pregnancy. People like the guy who wrote this letter would have us believe that Planned Parenthood is nothing but a baby butcher shop.

What happens when struggling, unwealthy young women and men (as Planned Parenthood serves both) need the kind of advice/counseling/education that they can only get from a place like Parenthood, and they find they can't get it because the platform has been yanked from directly beneath the organization? Contrary to popular fringe-wacko belief, if they can't find the services they need, they won't abstain from the dirty deed. They'll do it without protection and education if necessary. What happens then? Best case scenario, no negative consequences. Or there could be an unplanned pregnancy, which is likely to end in abortion or (billions of times worse!) postnatal abandonment. Or there could be a sexually transmitted disease. Without the kind of services and products that Parenthood provides, that burden may end up falling even harder on (you guessed it) the taxpayer when the party/parties concerned need cheap healthcare or possibly hospital attention due to childbirth.

Believing that abstinence prevails is a foolhardy idea that endangers millions of lives. Human beings seem to have a fair amount of control over their instincts and urges; but in most cases, it's still not enough. Which is why any doctrine (be it religious, political, or purely personal) that preaches abstinence and also condemns the use of contraceptives is a doctrine of death. Next time, the violently hateful people who sit in many positions of authority should try teaching instead of firing off. They might learn something themselves in the process.

Defunding Planned Parenthood is not the act of concerned citizens interested in maintaining the moral purity and low tax prices they've come to cherish. It sends the message that if you want to have sex before marriage, you deserve any ill fortune that befalls you. That's just rhetoric.

Still in the News?!

Several months ago (I believe roughly in the vicinity of September), renowned filmmaker (renowned strictly in cinematic circles) Roman Polanski was apprehended by authorities in connection with a 1977 child-rape case. I blogged about the event when it occurred, likening the media to vultures swooping upon decaying carrion, but also saying it's right and just that Polanski pay for his crime. And quite frankly, child rape is, in my opinion, one of the worst crimes of them all.

Well, people are still talking about it! There was an opinion piece in one of the newspapers recently calling for a boycott of Polanski's films.

You have got to be kidding me.

Let's all agree that the rape was heinous and disgusting. Rape always is. But what bearing does it have on the quality of a movie like Rosemary's Baby, which was released nine years before the crime was committed? Or Polanski's adaptation of Shakespeare's "Scottish play," which was released six years before?

I'm sure that proponents of the boycott will insist that, for instance, Rosemary's Baby reflected early signs of a troubled, potentially violent mind. The film's plot involves a young wife being drugged by her neighbors and dragged unconscious to a Satanic ritual wherein the living devil is conjured up, then proceeds to impregnate her. Disney fare it ain't. But before you boycott it, bear in mind that: (a) it is based on a novel written by Ira Levin, who has no other connection to the director; (b) it's purely fictional; and (c) the whole nine year thing!

Polanski's films exist in a world completely separate of his crime. It is not fair to the hundreds upon hundreds of other artisans who craft a motion picture together to boycott them because of one individual. If you object to Rosemary's Baby, object to the content or the thematic elements. Even object to the tacky 60s styles before the director! Polanski's crimes should be judged as criminal. His films? Purely as cinematic. Take OJ Simpson, for example. The man may be one of the worst actors in history, but that's how I remember his film work. And only how.