but it's going to be that way, for a little while anyway. As long as I am involved in this "thing", campaign, mission, whatever you want to call it in regard to the Planned Parenthood opening up here in Amsterdam, I am going to whine and kvetshn. I am no fool, there is no true way to fight PP. They are a huge corporation. But what they are bringing with them is not simply a birth control clinic, they are bringing a philosophy and a culture. I am also not so naive to think that Margaret Sanger's culture. She herself invented the terms "birth control" and "family planning". She financed development of the first Pill all to fuel her anti-minority eugenics program. How many people pay and swallow hormonal contraceptives without understanding the philosophy behind their creation? (I will save the rant about racism and health issues for another entry...I guess tomorrow. And yes, I know I am preaching to the choir.)
My question for today is about the culture Margaret Sanger created: How was she so successful?
For centuries the philosophy was simple: save sex for marriage, get married, love your spouse, welcome and adore your children. How did that get so disordered? Of course I understand that as flawed human beings, the goal was not always met. The point is, it was the goal. Now the philosophy is "you possibly cannot expect that from people, so don't even try it." Hmmmm. I didn't finish college. Every time I get a chance to add a credit toward the goal, I do. It is difficult.Yes, I did things ass-backwards, but despite my flaws in achieving that goal, I never changed my thoughts on college. It is a necessary achievement. Can you imagine how ridiculous it would be to say "College is an outdated and unrealistic goal for anyone to attend, especially blacks." Then I could open "college-protection centers" in minority neighborhoods and 80 years from now we would have politicians arguing how we should not discriminate against minorities by stressing they be educated.
Yet here we are. So my question is "why am I the extreme zealout?"
How has Margaret Sanger's philosophy that people are simply to stupid and without self-control to commit to marriage and family become the norm? Why do we spend so much money and tax dollars in sterilizing, medicating, indoctrinating, and of course, killing our fellow citizens? Yet the mention of anyone having an extra child without a set financial plan, or the mention of someone with children being assistance sends everyone in a tizzy. "My tax dollars are going towards paying for that child's food and sneakers!" Oh the outrage! Yet only the Religious Extremist like myself only complains about tax dollars going to this crap instead of going to feed a child in need.
I suppose you can argue that I am Extremist because I don't want anyone going within a hundred feet of Planned Parenthood. I should just live and let live. But who lives in a vacuum? This culture they created is the culture I am raising my children in. This is the culture my neighbors are living in. This is the culture that will shape the future spouses of my siblings, my children, my grandchildren. Everyday I watch the Baby Mamas push the strollers and talk about their latest Depo shots, and their escapades with guys who create children with but will not marry them. Generations of girls. Each day my husband goes to work with 5 other thirty-something guys. He is the only married one and they hassle him because he was so stupid to get married. It doesn't matter that it takes so much more energy to raise a family and sustain a marriage.
How is that possible? How have we gotten to a point where women see their children as an enemy? Where children are no longer a blessing, but a punishment?
Sometimes I even feel like "oh, I am not like those crazy fundamental religious right whatever they are. I understand what it is to be in a position of considering abortion. " At the end of the day, I am a crazy extremist. Once you decide there is right and wrong, and what is right does not change from person to person, but is simply right, you become an extremist. If you are Christian, you are an extremist.
More on being being "extreme".
Pansy:
I heard about the resistance effort in Portland, Me to PP that has been successful ... here are some links:
http://www.sentinel.org/node/9028
http://www.preciouschildrenofportland.org/
Hope this helps.
Neddy