The Trial, Entertainment, Abortion

I like to think of those who read this blog as a select group, not representative of the population as a whole. And it is through this medium that I can reinforce their sense of superiority, causing them to feel even more highfalutin as they mutter, "I'm sure glad I'm not as dumb as the guy who writes this blog." Of course, as I've discovered, all kinds of people stop by and read the occasional post and many, based on their comments to me, will likely find this particular post insulting. But that's okay. If they drop any nasty comments on me, I'll just follow my usual protocol and delete them.

You see, I can keep quiet no longer. What's got me all riled up is the never-ending media show called the Casey Anthony murder trial, a show taking place in nearby Orlando, Florida. 

Let me begin by saying I have not watched even a single minute of the trial and so I have absolutely no opinion regarding this woman's guilt or innocence. Of course I'm not a very big TV viewer to begin with and, outside of college football season, about all I watch are a few news shows, Mystery and Antiques Roadshow on PBS, and some of the military and "historical" documentaries that air on that collection of look-alike cable networks. I also secretly watch American Pickers but thanks to the DVR I can keep this embarrassing fact from dear Diane.

The idea of gluing myself to the TV screen and spending my days, this precious gift of time, watching some trial in which I have absolutely no interest...well, I simply cannot imagine doing so. But apparently millions of Americans think otherwise. Here in Florida, the Orlando stations have preempted much of their regular daytime programming so they can air the trial in full, Monday through Saturday. (And I just heard on the news, the court will be in session tomorrow, Sunday, for closing arguments.) These stations wouldn't do this unless they believed it would attract a larger audience than their usual inane daytime fare. I have no idea how much airtime the trial receives elsewhere, but down here large numbers of people have become addicted to it. I find it very disturbing that so many are completely absorbed by this exposition of the obviously gruesome and prurient facts and opinions surrounding the death of this little girl. There's something wrong here. No, there's something more than wrong here; there's something disturbingly evil about it all.

If you're one of those people, and you believe I have insulted you, don't expect an apology because you won't get one. I really don't care what you think. As one woman asked me when I expressed disinterest in the case, "Don't you care about this woman receiving justice for murdering her little girl?" My response: "If she's found guilty by the jury, she'll receive man's justice, but her true guilt or innocence will be judged later. And I don't believe you and others who watch this trial do so out of an overriding concern for justice. That's not a reason; that's an excuse. Your watching will have no effect on its outcome. You watch it for the same reason you watch soap operas or Law and Order or Wheel of Fortune...to be entertained, to be titillated." (I suspect our relationship might have suffered a bit as a result of my comments.)

The millions of trial watchers are driven by the same desire that drives the people who gather outside the courthouse early every morning, hoping to grab one of the few seats available to the public. As you might expect there have even been physical altercations as people jockey for position in line. Yes, I'm sure they're all consumed by a desire to witness justice being served.

Interestingly, many of these same folks who could relate every detail about the trial don't have a clue about what's happening in the Middle East, in Libya, in Mexico, or even in Washington, D.C., events that will ultimately have a far greater impact on their lives than this one murder trial in Florida. Like the so-called "reality" shows that now dominate almost every network's schedule, this trial is just another example of today's version of "bread and circuses" by which the people are distracted from the true reality of what's happening in our nation and our world.

But even more worrisome, such distractions lead people away from the Way, the Truth and the Life. We have so little time on this earth as we struggle along the path to salvation we must be careful about how we spend it. I'm certainly aware that life is not all struggle and hardship and that there are many worthwhile and enjoyable things on which we can devote our increasingly rare leisure time. But why would any believing Christian waste so much of that time being titillated by the trial of a young mother accused of murdering her little girl? This is not something that should monopolize our attention. 

Like everyone, I am saddened by this child's senseless death, but let's put it into perspective. I am far more saddened by the 50 million American babies who have been slaughtered by abortion since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. If you are truly concerned about justice, why don't you do something about that?

As long as I'm on this subject, let me express my amazement at some of the attitudes I encounter whenever I express my pro-life beliefs. I am especially amazed that so many Jews have no problem with abortion. Given the history of abortion in the 20th century, if I were a Jew I'd be fanatically pro-life. I've included below a few paragraphs on the anti-Semitic origins of abortion in pre-war Germany. The following is excerpted from a paper by Professor John Hunt, PhD, delivered at the June 2001 annual meeting of the Association for Interdisciplinary Research in Values and Social Change:

Hence, in 1933, in their first year of power, the Nazis passed a law forbidding abortion to Germans, increasing the penalties as they had been before Weimar liberalization. The Nazis wanted to increase the birthrate so as to have soldiers for their military. In March 1934, however, the Hereditary Health Court in Hamburg rendered a judgment which stated that abortion on grounds of racial health was not an offense. In its decision, it referred to a Supreme Court decision during the Weimar democracy seven years earlier, allowing the procedure for "medical necessities." In June 1935 the sterilization law was also amended to allow abortions on eugenic grounds and these abortions had to be followed by sterilizations, dependent -- technically -- on the woman's consent. Thus, sterilization, eugenics and abortion all come together.

For the first time in German history, abortion was legal. But one cannot ignore the roots reaching back almost fifteen years to the beginning of the Weimar democracy, during which time arguments had been made that unborn life was not that important so was therefore expendable. Despite the racial theories behind this decision there were some non-Nazis who approved because of the allowing of choice. In 1938 the government announced that Jews could have abortions at any time, since this could only benefit the German people. The Jews, as well as "unfit" Germans, had a "choice" most Germans did not. This meant that the Nazis saw abortion as a very useful weapon against undesirables; e.g. as an act of elimination.

During World War II the Nazis used sterilizations and abortions (also birth control and even the promotion of homosexuality) extensively in eastern Europe to carry out their eugenics policies. The specific aim was to keep eastern females available for slave labor while at the same time weakening eastern nations by hampering the reproduction of Slavic peoples. Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, a chief architect of the Holocaust, and personal friend of Adolf Hitler, once stated that the tragedy of abortion for German women was that afterwards women often could not have children. Not in the loss of an "individual life," as he put it. The Nazis used the word "parent" to describe pregnant women and the fathers of the unborn and the word "child" to describe the unborn themselves. Nazis forbade abortion in order to preserve German unborn but allowed, even encouraged, the destruction of non-German unborn.

You can read Dr. Hunt's paper here: "The Abortion and Eugenics Policies of Nazi Germany"

Hitler opposed abortion only for "pure blood" Aryan women, while he allowed and even encouraged it for others, those the Nazis considered undesirables. In an order to the SS, SD, and police on June 9, 1943, Reichskommisar Kaltenbrunner directed: "In the case of eastern female workers, pregnancy may be interrupted if desired." They first performed a kind of "racial exam" and then, "If a racially valuable result is to be expected, the abortion is to be denied . . . if not valuable, the abortion is to be granted."

Not many people realize that after the war, the War Crimes Tribunal indicted ten Nazi leaders for "encouraging and compelling abortion," which it considered a "crime against humanity." An interesting modern wrinkle on all this relates to IG Farben, the huge German manufacturer that during the war produced the poison gas, Zyklon-B, the gas used in the Nazi extermination camps. On July 29, 1948, sentences for mass murder and slavery were handed down at the Nuremberg trials to twelve Farben executives. The longest sentence, for seven years, was given to Dr. Fritz ter Meer, a top executive and scientist on the Farben managing board. After the war, IG Farben was divided up into a number of smaller companies. A French subsidiary of Hoechst AG, one of these spin-offs, is the manufacturer of the so-called "morning after" abortion pill, RU-486. So glad the family business continues to thrive. Plus ca change...  

Zyklon-B canisters at the Majdanek Nazi concentration camp near Lublin, Poland

Of course, I am equally amazed when I encounter an African-American who supports abortion. Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, was an unapologetic believer in eugenics and worked hard to encourage abortion, contraception and sterilization among the "unfit" races, a plan she believed would lead to the "salvation of American civilization." Several of her colleagues and fellow board members of the American Birth Control League described the eugenic practices of the Third Reich as "scientific" and "humanitarian." And Dr. Harry Laughlin, another Sanger associate and board member for her group, spoke of purifying America's human "breeding stock" and purging America's "bad strains." 

Sanger's writings, speeches and correspondence are littered with her overtly racist eugenics agenda. In a letter to a supporter, Dr. Clarence J. Gamble, of Proctor and Gamble, she discusses the tactics of securing the involvement of African American ministers in her "Negro Project"...

"The minister's work is also important and he should be trained, perhaps by the Federation as to our ideals and the goal that we hope to reach. We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members."

Of course the fact that Planned Parenthood "clinics" tend to be located in the inner city is just a coincidence. Yes, it's a coincidence that has led to abortion becoming the leading cause of death today among African Americans. Did you know that a black baby is many times more likely to be aborted than a white baby? Don't believe it? Check out the statistics (government statistics) provided here: National Black Catholic Congress.

In the words of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.” Legality and morality are two quite different things, and the more a nation separates itself from its core religious roots, the greater the difference becomes.

As I've already said, I'm truly saddened by little Caylee Anthony's tragic death, but other things sadden me even more.

Take a moment today to thank God for the gift of your life, a life like no other...

You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb. I praise you, so wonderfully you made me; wonderful are your works! My very self you knew; my bones were not hidden from you, When I was being made in secret, fashioned as in the depths of the earth. Your eyes foresaw my actions; in your book all are written down; my days were shaped, before one came to be. How precious to me are your designs, O God; how vast the sum of them! [Psalm 139:13-17]

God gives us a choice: "I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live..." [Deut 30:19]

L’Chiam!