PWNED!

UPDATED: It has been pointed out by Gary that Erich Schulte is an Obot sexist pig with a heinous case of CDS. Obviously, I was not aware of this when I linked to his article.

I still think this point is valid, though: That if you carry the “Abortion is Murder” rhetoric to its extreme, it would indeed justify murder, like the killing of Dr. Tiller. Thus, using the term “Abortion is Murder” is hypocritical and ridiculous.

Just sayin’.

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You know how the fundiegelicals claim that the reason they hate abortion is that it’s murder? Well, this guy on the Internets named Erich Schulte says they don’t really think that. In fact, no one does.

And he has some pretty darn compelling arguments to prove it, too.

Take the horrible murder of Dr. Tiller, the doctor who performed late-term abortions. Because of his work, Dr. Tiller was deemed a mass murderer by the pro-life community; yet almost all of the “pro-life” organizations roundly condemned Dr. Tiller’s murder. Well, if you are a pro-lifer, then supposedly you think all zygotes, embryos, fetii and viable babies are people. In that case, there is a veritable Holocaust going on right here in America, all day, every day. So, why don’t more abortion doctors get killed by fundiegelical true believers? In fact, why are there any abortion doctors left? Why haven’t these nasty, villainous murderers all died at the hands of anti-abortion activists? Wouldn’t stopping such a Holocaust be an act of real, indisputable heroism?

Schulte expands on this argument.

We might start by putting the ball in the pro-life court. If abortion is actually murder, then legalized abortion is indeed in the same ballpark as the Holocaust. Maybe it’s The Holocaust with less torture and suffering, but the deliberate murder and body count are right there. What analogous situation has there ever been, or might one imagine in which 1) A holocaust is underway and 2) it is not morally permissible to use violence against the executioners to stop or slow the holocaust?

Then, he really starts letting the fur fly.

The first point a pro-lifer will make here is that we live in a society of laws and “give unto Caesar” and blah blah blah, which is what O’Reilly said in response to the shooting. This is obvious bullshit. One could certainly call into question the basic legitimacy of a government that sanctioned the murder of millions of its own people. Roeder himself did just that as a Montana Freeman. But you don’t have to go that far. Even if you like the basic structure of your government, you clearly don’t need to adhere to the specific laws that allow for mass murder of the people. If you have a fanatical reverence for the letter of the law, you can even break the law to stop the murders, acknowledge your guilt and accept your punishment. No matter how you slice it, it’s stupid to argue that, “yes, millions of civilians are being systematically murdered, but the law’s the law, so I guess my hands are tied.” By this logic, Rosa Parks and Gandhi were both in the wrong. And not only were the people who hid Anne Frank wrong, the Franks were wrong for hiding. So it cannot be the case that attacking abortionists is wrong simply because it is illegal.

This is really good stuff, isn’t it? Wait – it gets better. Mea culpa, Mr. Schulte – I admit that I have committed the same “shameless stupidity” as Stephanie Miller when arguing with fundiegelicals about abortion and contraception. How many “oy veys” do I have to say as penance?

This brings us to the eternal nexus of liberal and conservative punditry in this country: shameless stupidity. With commercials on all of my other radio presets this morning, I punched into Stephanie Miller long enough to hear her crew complain that the killer proves pro-lifers are not really pro-life because they sanction such killings. (They also made the embarrassing claim that Bill O’Reilly has “blood on his hands.”) Pro-lifers will deal with these situations by similarly claiming that killing a doctor is antithetical to their “pro-life” mission, like Gary Bauer who said that true pro-lifers “reject the killing of every defenseless, innocent human being” and Tiller’s killer “has nothing to do with the pro-life movement, which overwhelmingly condemns the murder of the innocent.” Charmaine Yoest, the President of Americans United for Life, said, “we condemn this lawless act of violence. The foundational right to life that our work is dedicated to extends to everyone. Whoever is responsible for this reprehensible violence must be brought to justice under the law.” This is, of course, total nonsense. For starters, how is someone who conducts thousands of murders innocent?

While vegan, pro-life, total pacifists do exist, they are foolish and rare because, obviously, killing murderers to save innocent people is generally acceptable in principle. For example, if someone had plugged the Columbine shooters early in their rampage, that person would be hailed as a hero. Nobody would be like, “well, if you’re so opposed to Dylan and Eric killing students, isn’t it hypocritical to kill Dylan and Eric, who are themselves students? Check and mate!”…

(snip)

…[T]here is no way you can claim that Tiller is both a calculating mass murderer of children, and an innocent who deserves protection. He is no different than the principles in The Holocaust, the Columbine twins, Ted Bundy, or any other willful mass murderer. And, of course, we would gladly turn out the lights of any of those people once they started killing if it became clear there was no other way to stop them. The only difference one can identify in Tiller is that he terminated fetuses. We all know damn well that fetuses are not people and killing them is not murder and that is the only explanation for why Roeder was wrong to kill Tiller (emphasis mine).

I don’t think pro-lifers are necessarily upset about Tiller’s death because of any compassion for him, and they are not angry at Roeder for killing him, per se. I think they want to string Roeder up for calling their bluff. The only reason Roeder seems like an irrational maniac is that his actions are consistent with the actual tenets of the pro-life movement.

Erich Schulte, you have completely pwned both sides of this endless, unwinnable debate. In fact…I think I love you!***

***in a non-sexual, non-stalky kinda way