New condom ads: Could your sperm create the next Hitler?
Pro-lifers argue aborted babies might have been the next Einstein, or the curer of cancer, etc. And there’s that great ad about the unlikely rise of Barack Obama given the circumstances of his conception.
Now the other side is spinning the argument their way. A German condom company called Doc Morris Pharmacies has released 3 condom ads implying condom use could prevent the birth of the next world terrorist.
The ads may be too witty for their own good. The Chinese are now mad their dear leader, Mao Zedong, is swimming with Hitler and Osama. Whoops.
Nor are the ads scoring well in test marketing. It makes sense people dream their progeny would paint like Michelangelo or lead like Reagan but not kill like Stalin.
Apr.17, 2009 1:00 pm |
Contraception |
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
I don’t really have words for this one. Wow.
Lauren: I do. Sick.
The illustrations are grotesque.
These are the flip-side of the “Life – Imagine the Potential” video a little while back.
People are not valuable for what they do (good or evil) they are valuable for who they are – human beings
One could easily do a parody of these by doing one up with a Barack Obama hair-do. As to whether he belongs with the others or not….
What are they saying? We should shred up our children because they might become killers? I suppose that in our utilitarian end-justifies-any-means culture, this should not come as a shock to me.
Bobby, I think it’s about as logical as saying we shouldn’t shred up our children because they might become geniuses. I think the ad is pretty ridiculous too, but the one it’s responding to is just as silly, ya know?
“I think the ad is pretty ridiculous too, but the one it’s responding to is just as silly, ya know?”
Yeah, I agree.
I disagree Bobby. The original ad was not simply pointing out that life can lead to positive potential, but that a person can make something of a hard childhood and that murder for the sake of avoiding that childhood is a foolish idea. These ads push the potential argument only. Besides, the ignorantly assume that the environment had no substantial effect on creating these super villains.
Posted by: Bobby Bambino at April 17, 2009 2:50 PM
“What are they saying? We should shred up our children because they might become killers?”
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No, they are saying ‘women’ should ‘shred’ their prenatal children for any, or for no other reason, than it is the woman’s ‘choice’ to do so.
No reason for the ‘choice’ for an abortion is unaccepatable or inappropriate.
The bottom line is that as many prenatal children as possible are ‘shredded’.
It is not about equal rights for women. It is about limiting birth rates and the reduction of the human population of ‘mother earth’ to ‘sustainable numbers’.
Ask any leader in the ‘Zero Population Growth’ crowd and they will tell you the planet is already overpopulated by billions.
yor bro ken
Besides, the ignorantly assume that the environment had no substantial effect on creating these super villains.
Posted by: Oliver at April 17, 2009 3:48 PM
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Exactly. I mean, why not Ted Bundy or Al Capone? Why not numerous other nefarious characters?
Environment has to the be greatest factor in shaping a child’s mind.
These ads are really stupid. What else is there to say??
Jasper, great quote.
“… Denying the humanity of a 20-week fetus is as unscientific and irrational as denying the beef on your plate is a cow because you can’t hear it moo.”
Thanks janet, that was a tip from Kelli (kel)
What is there to get upset about? It’s the flip side of your own argument: If you can claim that abortion or birth control may end the life a future scientist or great leader, then you also must also concede that it could also end the life of a future tyrannical dictator or mass murderer. It’s the same thing.
:O.
There is something…I don’t know…disturbing about these advertisements, and I am not certain what it is. I understand the jolt to make people care more about taking precautions, but…the little Hitler sperms really makes me unwell.
Danielle 10:20, that isn’t the flip side of our argument as pro-lifers. Our argument is that all life has value and should not be arbitrarily destroyed.
Posted by: Danielle at April 17, 2009 10:20 PM
“What is there to get upset about? It’s the flip side of your own argument: If you can claim that abortion or birth control may end the life a future scientist or great leader, then you also must also concede that it could also end the life of a future tyrannical dictator or mass murderer.
It’s the same thing.”
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Danielle,
It is not ‘the same thing’.
We do not advocate selective birthing based on the probabilities of said pre-natal child becoming a ‘success’, nor do we advocate selective killing based on the probabilities of said pre-natal child becoming a ‘failure’.
We say every human being is endowned with a GOD given ‘right to life’.
yor bro ken
This is demented. I almost wonder if we should perhaps run a crass but witty article for shock value and to soften people up to the idea of demeaning pro-aborts.
It is not ‘the same thing’. We do not advocate selective birthing based on the probabilities of said pre-natal child becoming a ‘success’, nor do we advocate selective killing based on the probabilities of said pre-natal child becoming a ‘failure’. We say every human being is endowned with a GOD given ‘right to life’.
Posted by: kbhvac at April 18, 2009 11:57 AM
-It IS the same thing. This is simply the flip side of the same argument as we’ve had on other threads. A defense for life is often that, by ending it, you could be sacrificing the life of someone who may have a very large and positive impact on humanity. That very idea has been used in arguments on this board. This is the SAME idea. By ending it, you may be sacrificing someone who may have a very large and NEGATIVE impact on humanity. You cannot have one argument without the other. The other side of the coin is often used in the PL arsenal without considering that the opposite argument is also possible.
I personally don’t see the potency in either side and think it’s silly to bring up in the first place. I somewhat agree that it is a close cousin to the selective birth debate. But…the ‘outrage’ over this ad is hypocritical, if you consider that the other end of this hypothesis has been used to discourage abortion for some time. They’re simply using your own argument against you.
Posted by: Danielle at April 18, 2009 5:02 PM
“I personally don’t see the potency in either side and think it’s silly to bring up in the first place.”
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It is obvious ‘you’ do not see.
I for one am not outraged by the ad.
The only use I have for condoms is for making ‘water bombs’ or piñatas.
But the distinction that you do not see is that we value humans, even though they may not value us, because they are ‘human’.
To do otherwise would be to devalue ourselves.
yor bro ken
Danielle- the thing is, it is different since we often hear of pro-choicers saying, “Abortion is good because the kid might grow up on the streets or become the next Hitler,” and yet we are always treated like lunatics for arguing that the child could grow up to become the next Martin Luther King, Jr. But the truth of the matter is if you abort Hitler, another one could be born.
It’s not a matter of killing of Hitler- it’s a matter of respecting each and every individual. People are not born with hatred, so killing them off will not eliminate them. People are taught hatred- hatred for different ethnicities, hatred for the opposite gender- or even hatred of the unborn. Hitler would be prevented through respecting every human being and loving one another for our differences- not killing.
at the end of the day, its just an ad, with concept to some is silly, to others is witty.
Danielle is right. These ads ARE the opposite of SOME arguments pro-lifers make against abortion. (an argument they shouldn’t make.)
Now, some pro-lifers on here have said, no we say that all human beings are intrinsically valuable. That is the correct pro-life view, but it is also true that sometimes, for example in that CatholicVote ad, we imply that abortion is also bad because think of all the cancer curers or whatever have been aborted. That argument is emotionally appealing but a crappy philosophic argument because it implies humans are valuable INSTRUMENTALLY, (based on what they can offer to society,) instead of being valuable INTRINSICALLY. Thus, pro-choicers rightly point out that the flipside of that argument is think about all the child rapists that have been aborted.
Scott Klusendorf had an excellent post about this here: http://lti-blog.blogspot.com/2009/02/pro-life-video-with-wrong-message-sk.html.
My favorite example of the “flipside” version of the “oh no, you’re killing the cancer curers” argument is this, taken from a pro-choice website: http://www.jesus21.com/poppydixon/sex/abortion.html. (I don’t endorse this website in general; it is very offensive to Christians, but it is interesting to see how pro-choicers see pro-lifers. Sometimes they make good points, and I think this link is an example of that.)