Gallup released a poll this week that has the Religious Right (and, these days, is there any other kind?) screaming in glee. Because it seems to say that America has started hating abortion. A record low 41% of Americans now identify as pro-choice.
But the chronically brilliant John Fugelsang looked at the numbers, and that isn't what it says at all.
(Current TV video stolen from Crooks and Liars.)
And yes, this is the same John Fugelsang who has permanently linked Mitt Romney to the Etch-a-Sketch, for his attempts to rewrite his past positions on just about every subject.
Nameless,
ReplyDeleteI saw that poll. Don't know if it's really giving us the lowdown on the numbers, but it seems to me that the pro-choice position has suffered major hits in the last few decades. The rhetoric of the religious right has been a great deal more effective than that of public figures who maintain women's right to control their own bodies. Even the labels work against such supporters -- to call oneself "pro-choice" is to risk sounding like a consumer-brat. Everything's gotta be about "choices." Milton said that "reason is but choosing," to be sure, but a term like "choice" is infected with consumer culture sentiment. The real issue isn't which brand of cereal to buy, it's whether or not women will be allowed enough personal autonomy to control their own reproductive systems. Because if we won't let them do that, it's pretty hard to see how we can claim to regard women as equals or even as fully human, for that matter.