Students avoid “violence” and “undue emotional trauma” of graphic abortion display
The campaign our group, The Student Response to the Genocide Awareness Project, promoted was one of taking a different path – both emotionally and physically – than one normally would when faced with such violence. We asked people to disengage, to ignore the provocations of the GAP staff, and to walk a different way across campus if at all possible and avoid the GAP exhibit all together….
We had a carnival on the other side of campus to provide students with a fun, safe space to find community and distraction from the GAP display.
[W]hile our opinions about abortion are varied, we agree that the GAP’s tactics of exploiting others’ experiences and causing undue emotional trauma are unacceptable.
We live in a community where many people from many different areas of the world have relocated as refugees and asylum seekers from places where they expericed [sic] the effects of genocide. We feel that it is amoral, unethical and extremely distasteful for the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform… to co-opt and capitalize on the painful experiences of so many people for their own gain….
~ University of Southern Maine student Mea Tavares, explaining why she organized an avoidance protest against a graphic display of aborted babies. as quoted by The Portland Daily Sun, April 13. The group also hung a painted sheet [click to enlarge] with the words, “Try Compassion and Civility,” to obstruct the view.
[Photo via The Portland Daily Sun]
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.
wow. can we say de-nial? How about hanging pretty painted sheets over Auschwitz, how wouild the people of Rwanda responded to them doing this if Rwanda was trying to create awareness of the genocide that took place almost 2 decades ago, what about- instead of having commercials promoting feed the children or help the abused animals, we just had pretty pictures on tv with nice music and said that all is well with the world- lets eat cake! C’mon! DENIAL /= freedom from responsibilty in cases of human injustice
Pay no attention to the genocide behind the curtain!
Took the words out of my mouth.
Well, at least these silly girls understand that abortion is violence, produces trauma, and is leading to genocide in places – but I find it odd that they think putting up a colorful sheet makes them safe from it. A society that will abort the unborn without qualms is a society on the brink.
Teresa Calcutta – “If we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people to not kill each other? Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want.”
So, pastel psychedelic sheet or not – abortion affects everyone in America. There is no hiding from the effects on society by the accumulated and continuous murder of children.
Still waiting to hear about the violence part.
I’m feeling pretty uncharitable today (I have a newborn so I’m not getting much sleep). So I’ll just say it. This girl is a freaking moron! Really. she is in COLLEGE? God help us if critical thinkers like this are our future.
Mea, why would the display cause emotional distress? Abortion is just a glorious womanly right I’m told. What about the images causes emotional distress? Or are you saying that in college you are not yet mature enough to handle images of the “real world”…the lynchings, the holocaust, etc… Go back to your dorm and suck your thumb and watch Dora then. You’re obviously not big enough yet to handle truth.
“Waaaaaaaaaaa! Shreek! You have no right to expose my small children to aborted babies photos! How dare you? Oh, and those adult college students, don’t expose them either! Waaaaaaaaaa!”
They held a carnival? LOL. But abortion hasn’t caused mental health issues in our country. Uh, okay.
Hide from reality you frail emotional cripples. Let the real adults deal with making killing humans illegal in our country again.
Brava Sydney M ! :)) *clapping*
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: you don’t have to be smart to go to college.
Ostriches…totally. That’s apathy to the hilt…
Under Student Life on the University website, Mea states in part, “The “GAP” travels the country with huge, extremely graphic imagery of supposedly aborted fetuses juxtaposed with victims of the Holocaust and 9/11 to spread their message that they think abortion is genocide.”
I wonder if Mea realizes there have always been and still are people who believe the Holocaust pictures are “humans supposedly killed by the Nazis.”
I guess Mea doesn’t think college students are smart enough to decide for themselves what photos are real or not.
“supposedly aborted fetuses”
Right, they were turned to shreds by natural causes.
I think everybody already said what I was thinking. ;)
Obviously, their parents’ money is being wasted trying to “educate” this lot!
Classic psychological projection: you see in the other what you most despise about yourself.
Overdue emotional trauma would be more accurate. Time for them to fully own what they pimp for daily.
I love this. They responded to the provocations of the “Center for Bio-Ethical Reform” perfectly: by ignoring them and doing something positive and creative instead. That’s a much better way of dealing with trolls than getting into a mudslinging match with them. This should be the model response for every college in the country that is harassed by these goons.
“New York, NY, October 23, 2007 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called on presidential candidate Mike Huckabee to refrain from invoking Holocaust imagery, following his recent use of the term “holocaust” to refer to abortion…In a letter to Governor Huckabee, ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman said: “The Holocaust was a unique tragedy in human history – an attempt by the Nazis to exterminate the Jewish people that led to the deliberate murder of six million Jews. We find the use of analogies to the Holocaust in other contexts deeply painful, disturbing and offensive. Such analogies can only trivialize and diminish the horror, and cause further pain to Holocaust survivors and to those alive today who lost friends and loved ones”
That the anti-choice crusaders, the majority of them Christian, continue to flaunt the highly offensive to Jews abortion/Shoah comparison underscores their contempt for the Jewish people. But then the majority of American Jews are pro-choice so one wonders if this is a very nasty form of “pay back?” It certainly shows a great deal of insensitivity on the part of those who claim to have God on their side.
CC-seriously, do you EVER come up with any new points?
@Courtnay: What? CC give up her cultural appropriation schtick? No way! That would require maturity and an awareness of her own privilege, which are traits that are utterly beyond an “enlightened” person like her.
Well she does get to live in the reality-based world in one of those enightened states, y’know. And here I am, stuck in beautiful, God-fearin’ Tennessee!
**eyeroll
“Try compassion and civility”???
Mea, it is my fervent hope that some day you will feel the need to change your last name to “Culpa”
They responded to the provocations of the “Center for Bio-Ethical Reform” perfectly: by ignoring them and doing something positive and creative instead
Uh, actually these youngsters brought more attention to the prolife movement with their colored bedsheet, joan. People have a tendency to want to learn more about what other people want to hide from them.
Kinda reminds me of when my ex started locking his truck glove box. Did he really think this wouldn’t further provoke me to find out what he was up to?
Guilty people act, well, guilty.
Just another proabort fail.
Good one, Hans! (Wish I’d thought of it first!) ;)
Prax, what WAS in the glovebox??
14 year olds are old enough for sex and abortion, but college students aren’t emotionally ready to see graphic images of abortion. Riiight.
People have a tendency to want to learn more about what other people want to hide from them.
Bingo Praxedes!!
I also found this sentence under this University’s Student Life section: ”Student Life provides a welcoming environment, support and advocacy for all students.”
Yeah, a welcoming environment to all students but prolife students. Haters gotta hate. Bullies gotta bully.
Prax, what WAS in the glovebox??
Courtnay, he had added toothpaste and a toothbrush to the glove box and I didn’t figure he was trying to impress the guys on the construction site with his minty fresh breath. (:
This led me to the search of his shop were I found that he had locked his tool box also. Once I found the key to that, I was blessed with finding the love letters. God Bless him, he’s a charmer but not always the sharpest tack in the pack. (:
Yes, Praxedes, the first amendment is for abortion proponents only! And CC, how weird. The word holocaust is perfect here. In Nazi death camps, and in Rwanda, people were being exterminated in large numbers just for being what they are: Jewish, members of a certain tribe, etc. Likewise in abortion, little people are being slaughtered by the thousands just for being what they are: small.
ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman said: “The Holocaust was a unique tragedy in human history – an attempt by the Nazis to exterminate the Jewish people that led to the deliberate murder of six million Jews. We find the use of analogies to the Holocaust in other contexts deeply painful, disturbing and offensive. Such analogies can only trivialize and diminish the horror, and cause further pain to Holocaust survivors and to those alive today who lost friends and loved ones”
Is Mr. Foxman actually trying to say that Hitler killed only Jews and that’s what makes the Holocaust unique? Hardly. They don’t get a lot of mention, but some 3-4 million Poles, Czechs and other Slavs, as well as the Romany (gypsies) and other races, all “non-Aryan peoples” were also killed. But then they were largely Christian, so I guess they don’t even count as genocide.
There have been many progroms and other episodes of killing Jews that are far better candidates for “unique” killings of Jews alone than the Holocaust.
Does Foxman really expect us to believe that the only reaction Holocaust survivors would have is a feeling and ‘hurt” that someone would compare their suffering to the suffering of other victims? Anyone who really lost people in their family to hate-filled genocide is going to recognize hate-filled genocide wherever it occurs and want to stop it, unless they are filled with some poisonous ideology that prevents them.
Foxman’s comment is absolutely senseless, and I think it was made for mainly political reasons. I think what is going on here with his outrage is not so much his concern about Jewish feelings as it is his concern for abortion. Ten to one he is pro-abortion, and just does not see it as killing, so naturally he thinks it trivializes the killing of Jews. Pro-life Jews (among them Rabbi Yehuda Levin, who frequently appears at the March for Life) have no difficulty at all comparing abortion with the Holocaust, because they know that it is one.
All in all, Mr. Foxman’s attitude disgusts me. He himself is trivializing the Holocaust by politicizing it, and saying somehow that some victims and not others are worthy to be included. Yes, CC, go ahead and tell him that. And use my name.
By the way, CC, I think it would be a terrific idea for you to try out some of your other senseless and repetitious memes in the real world. Did you know that the Holocaust was completely legal? Yup, they passed all the requisite laws first. Why don’t you go and tell your Jewish friends. “Well, the Holocaust was legal, so it couldn’t be wrong. No law called it homicide, so it couldn’t have been murder. All in all, it was the Nazi’s ‘choice,’ so it’s OK with me.” I’d love to see their reaction. Go ahead, I dare you.
“People have a tendency to want to learn more about what other people want to hide from them. ”
Okay, great. This works out for everyone then, right? People who don’t want to look at these pictures won’t have to, and the professional trolls at the “Center for Bio-Ethical Reform” will, at the same time, get even more attention for their cause.
“Yeah, a welcoming environment to all students but prolife students.”
The CBR goons are students at the University of Southern Maine? Really?
“Yes, Praxedes, the first amendment is for abortion proponents only! And CC, how weird. The word holocaust is perfect here.”
The word “Holocaust” has come to refer to a singular, specific event in human history (that disproportionately, but not exclusively, affected Jews). Do you go around referring to riots where shops and other buildings are defaced or destroyed as “Kristallnachts”? Of course not.
Of course, the irony of ironies is joan calling others trolls.
Hi Mea,
Eventually I knew you would get around to reading this blog.
I have questions regarding what you said about violence:
Did you actually face the violence being displayed?
In what manner is CBR co-opting what are horrible acts against innocent people groups?
What’s the source of violence for the abortion genocide depicted by CBR?
Was there any compassion and civility shown towards those very young children depicted in the photos?
I have a feeling this is perhaps more personal for you than others – but it’s very telling you feel compelled to provide a safe, secure place for others to avoid confronting what you see as a direct assault against your sensibilities.
The problem is – young aborted children are in what should be a safe and secure space, but that doesn’t stop the violence from reaching in and dismembering them.
Think about it.
“Of course, the irony of ironies is joan calling others trolls.”
That’s not irony. You should learn what that word means before trying to use it.
The CBR goons are students at the University of Southern Maine? Really?
So only folks who think like you and Mea think are welcome to make presentations at So. Maine? Really? The rest are goons? So much for higher education.
The word you chose was “students”. Not guest lecturers, representatives of various and sundry political causes, or even just people in general. I wouldn’t make an issue of it, except you specifically referred to students in order to smear the University of Southern Maine and/or the “Student Response” group as hypocritical or failing to live up to their own standards, despite the fact that the Student Life page you quoted does not promise a welcoming environment for any jackass with a billboard and too much time on his hands, and therefore your point is null.
The word you chose was “students”.
Right. Prolife students have no problem with facing the truth, joan. They have seen the pictures before. There were already signs put up by the prolifers warning others who may be sensitive or have young children along of the photos.
However, by putting up the painted sheet and holding the carnival, those who support abortion were not welcoming prolife students to the area but attempting (fail btw) to make them feel that their stance on abortion is wrong. These student proabort bullies also want to keep young people who are still riding the fence on abortion from making educated decisions about the morality of abortion.
Find me one So. Maine University prolife student (prolife meaning they agree that abortion needs to be made illegal) who thinks that the painted sheet, the carnival and articles telling students to ignore fellow prolifers made them feel that prolife students are welcome on campus.
Mea and her supporters have smeared themselves, joan.
Mea posted here? And I missed it! I hate being late to the party. :P
By antonomasia the word holocaust was applied to The Holocaust. It was originally used early on in the Bible to refer to the burnt offering. It’s applied to the extermination of the Jews as the best (or worst) example of sacrificial victimhood simply for being people of God. The same word can be used by analogy to describe the systemic eradication of a Kind of Person. Abortion fits, if anything does.
And then there is this: The Student Response to the Genocide Awareness Project
As if Mea and other proabort students speak for all Southern Maine students.
Way to welcome student diversity to campus, eh joan?
I told you, Joan and cc always post in tandem, where one goes, so goes the other. I think they are the same person.
ninek, with all due respect I doubt that theory. They have sufficiently distinct personalities that it seems pretty unlikely to me. Besides, I’m sure I’ve seen them post not in tandem at times.
Hmmm….it looks like those images are getting to them. I wonder why.
Keep putting up your sheets and holding your little carnivals, Mea. It’s not going to change the truth or make it go away. Perhaps, if you decide to grow up someday, you’ll realize that.
joan,
“Of course, the irony of ironies is joan calling others trolls.”
That’s not irony. You should learn what that word means before trying to use it.
Actually, that is irony. It looks to me like JDC understands the word perfectly. You, on the other hand, are apparently having some difficulty. Please consult a dictionary.
the Student Life page you quoted does not promise a welcoming environment for any jackass with a billboard
In light of the truly idiotic comments you have made on this blog, you might want to reconsider calling other people “jackasses”.
I hope you continue to post here, joan. Your comments make us all feel smarter in comparison.
“These student proabort bullies also want to keep young people who are still riding the fence on abortion from making educated decisions about the morality of abortion.”
Free speech doesn’t mean having the right to a captive audience, and it certainly doesn’t innoculate the speaker against a nonviolent response. But really, if hanging a rainbow-colored flag on the opposite side of campus constitutes “bullying,” then you must think abortion clinic protesters are committing psychological warfare, no?
Megan, the bullying comes into play when a group of students claim to speak for all students and tells others to ignore a segment of people.
Think about if a LGBQ group came to campus and a few students claimed to speak for all Southern Maine students calling themselves the Student Response to LGBQ Awareness and they behaved the same way.
Think about if they told others to go around and ignore the folks talking about LGBQ issues and they even went as far to hang a sheet and put on a carnival to keep interested adult students from learning more. This would be bullying as well and I would oppose it as well, wouldn’t you?
Free speech doesn’t mean having the right to a captive audience, and it certainly doesn’t innoculate the speaker against a nonviolent response.
Now last I heard, those who oppose abortion are not allowed to hang objects covering up the abortion clinic nor are they allowed to hold carnivals on clinic property, are they? In addition, the prolifers are speaking out for a group of humans that are at a high risk of immediate death. If those putting on the GAP display had plans to end the life of many of those who went near the display, I would expect students to protest.
Do you and Mea see showing Holocaust and 9/11 photos to adult students as non-compassionate and uncivil? Or is it only non-compassionate and uncivil to show what is currently the legal killing of humans?
I think you and Mea have a lot of emotions in common.
“We asked people to disengage, to ignore the provocations of the GAP staff, and to walk a different way across campus if at all possible and avoid the GAP exhibit all together….
We had a carnival on the other side of campus to provide students with a fun, safe space to find community and distraction from the GAP display.”
And that’s fine if they want to avoid walking by and viewing it and provide an alternative activity…
“The group also hung a painted sheet [click to enlarge] with the words, “Try Compassion and Civility,” to obstruct the view.”
However, by hanging the sheet in front of & obstructing the view of the GAP display (as much as I find the GAP displays distasteful), they are censoring and infringing on the free speech rights of the GAP.
Anyone stop to think that maybe GAP was there because some Pro-Life students asked them to be there?
Impossible, x. Isn’t obvious that they only show up where every single student is opposed to them?
then you must think abortion clinic protesters are committing psychological warfare, no?
Actually. all the blood and death is perpetrated INSIDE, as you know and advocate, Megan. Why don’t you show those babies a little civility and compassion? You and your deathmongering friends can put up all the rose colored blinders you want to hide the truth from yourselves, but YOU are the ones waging a war on women and children.
“Megan, the bullying comes into play when a group of students claim to speak for all students and tells others to ignore a segment of people.”
Also, Praxedes has a good point here as well, what they were doing was also attempting to speak on behalf of all the students and bullying.
Here’s a solution: allow the pro-choice group to provide actual pictures of these “blobs of cells” so the pro-life can display medically accurate pictures. At 7 weeks, etc.
Arizona just approved a law prohibiting abortions after 20 weeks. If the pro-choice group supports “choice” at 20 weeks, ask them for pics of 20-week-old fetuses just so medically accurate pics are out there. That resolves the complaint of purportedly innacurate pictures.
” However, by putting up the painted sheet and holding the carnival, those who support abortion were not welcoming prolife students to the area but attempting (fail btw) to make them feel that their stance on abortion is wrong.”
The response of the student group was an attack on the form of the message, not the message itself. The student who organized the counter-campaign went out of her way not to pass judgment on anyone’s beliefs toward abortion. She didn’t even obliquely refer to reproductive justice or anything that could be construed as being pro-choice. For all you know, she herself is pro-life but disagrees with the tactics used by the CBR, like many people here on this very site do.
Do you believe that it is impossible to support a cause but disagree with certain ways of promoting it? If so, then you must approve of terrorizing or killing abortion clinic employees, right? After all, the perpetrators of those attacks are motivated by the same basic moral imperative that you are: to end abortion.
“Actually, that is irony. It looks to me like JDC understands the word perfectly. You, on the other hand, are apparently having some difficulty. Please consult a dictionary.”
No, it’s not irony. There is nothing ironic at all about me calling someone else a troll, even if you accept the implied premise that I myself am one, a fact which has no logical bearing whatsoever on whether certain other persons happen to also be trolls. In fact, a troll would, in all likelihood, be more equipped to accurately identify trolling behavior in others. It’s as far away from ironic as you can possibly get.
“In light of the truly idiotic comments you have made on this blog, you might want to reconsider calling other people “jackasses”.
I hope you continue to post here, joan. Your comments make us all feel smarter in comparison.”
Now this, on the other hand, is an example of irony. In trying to make me look like an ignorant fool, you instead revealed yourself to be one by reinforcing the rectitude of my post. Thanks for playing.
The best response to the writing on the sheet would have been for someone to have taken a marker and written the SAME WORDS over the pictures of the dead babies followed by a slew of question marks.
I wish CrankyCatholic could do that now.
This is WONDERFUL !!! The courage of our kids to shame, humilate, disgust and disturb the Pro-Infanticiders on their campus.
Too bad the parents don’t have the same courage. From the very hour that Roe V. Wade came down to the present day nearly 40 years later the adults have been too afraid to lose their jobs, go to jail, lose their reputations, get kicked out of their churches or to be looked at like the Radical Christian Right version of the Occupy Wall Street movement or maybe the White Conservative Christian version of Louis Farrakhan’s Miilion Man March movement to take to the streets in massive and sustained civil dissobedience. BUT HEY…..LET” GET ALL PATRIOTIC ON THE FOURTH OF JULY FOR ALL THOSE BRAVE FOUNDING FATHERS WHO RISKED THEIR LIVES AND THE SOLDIERS AND THE MINUTEMEN WHO ACTUALLY DIED FOR AN IDEA AND A PIECE OF PAPER CALLED THE CONSTITUTION…..(Burp)…pass me another hotdog would ya?
Oh…that’s right….you’ll attend a rally held by a Mormon names Glen Beck because he’s fired up about Jefferson and the Constitution. AND OH YEAH….can’t wait to vote another Mormon to the presidency named Mitt Romney just because he’s not Barack Hussein Obama. But do what these kids are doing on a massive scale and force the authorites to take drastic action when all of you refuse to take down the banners when the leader’s “anxiety level” reaches too high….only for them to be even more anxious when a thousand more come to replace you when you are all in jail. Nothing will change a politicians mind more than the economy taking a hit or the news cameras on outdoor pens like Guantanomo, Cuba housing all the Pro-Life activists who have been detained because the local jails are so overrun with even more Christians and Pro-Lifers. Sigh….I guess we will have to wait for the actual Anti-Crist to show up and force you all to take a micro-chip in the forehead before you get your dander up enough to take to the streets…..because the Spirit of the Antichrist in the form of legalized infanticide in America just doesn’t quite cut it.
The student who organized the counter-campaign went out of her way not to pass judgment on anyone’s beliefs toward abortion. She didn’t even obliquely refer to reproductive justice or anything that could be construed as being pro-choice.
BS, joan. Mea claimed to speak for all Southern Maine students and not all Southern Maine students think it is her job to protect them from reality. She in truth went waaaay out of her way to try to keep the truth from her classmates.
Mea also writes on the Student Life site: “On April 11th and 12th, choose compassion. choose civility. choose love. Walk the route on the map you will see around campus.”
Mea is specifically stating if you don’t choose the route she wants you to walk, you will be choosing non-compassion, incivility and hate. So BS again, joan.
For all you know, she herself is pro-life but disagrees with the tactics used by the CBR
Um, okay. You might get a small percentage of true prolifers to believe that BS, joan but again we have a proabort fail.
I found this quote from Mea on Stand in Solidarity with Maine’s Family Planning Health Centers in response to her not being able to attend their May 5th protest: “darn it! I’m going to be stuck in a college algebra class. …but I’ll think about safe sex the whole time, just for Planned Parenthood!”
I think I’m safe in assuming that Mea is probably pretty well known in her area for her outspoken views on a few subjects, the legal killing of unborn humans being one of them. Am I right, Mea?
Again, I will ask if showing photos of Holocaust and 9/11 victims to college students is uncivilized and non-compassionate as well?
Mea’s gig is up. Her game is over. She’s been exposed for the bully she is.
The best response to the writing on the sheet would have been for someone to have taken a marker and written the SAME WORDS over the pictures of the dead babies followed by a slew of question marks.I wish CrankyCatholic could do that now.
Yes, Mike! Using the same thin scrolly font! Put it on a psychedelic background and some Southern Maine prolife students can post it around campus and see how long it is before Mea and Co. throw a hissy fit. Shrieeeeeek! ”I’m melting!”
Are you out there, Cranky?
In fact, a troll would, in all likelihood, be more equipped to accurately identify trolling behavior in others.
Ah, but not if they are incapable of seeing such behavior in themselves. You serve as a perfect example.
Not to mention the fact that the word “troll” does not even begin to describe the GAP.
Truly ironic.
In trying to make me look like an ignorant fool
Oh no, you did that all by yourself. And you have succeeded spectacularly, with every comment you have posted on here.
you instead revealed yourself to be one by reinforcing the rectitude of my post.
You might want to look up the meaning of the word “rectitude”. And you wonder why everybody here has such a low opinion of your intellectual capacity.
Nice try, though
Oh, and…. Congratulations! You have once again made a complete fool out of yourself.
Please continue to post here. We need the amusement.
“BS, joan. Mea claimed to speak for all Southern Maine students and not all Southern Maine students think it is her job to protect them from reality. She in truth went waaaay out of her way to try to keep the truth from her classmates.”
Where did she claim to speak for all students at her school? By naming her group the Student Response? That’s laughable. Did you even attend college? If you did, you would have known that any given school has hundreds or thousands of student organizations that all figure “student” into their names in some way. Are each and every one of them claiming to represent all students? Of course not. The only people Mea’s “Student Response” group represents are the ones who joined or otherwise chose to voluntarily support it, just like any other campus club or association.
“Mea is specifically stating if you don’t choose the route she wants you to walk, you will be choosing non-compassion, incivility and hate. So BS again, joan.”
Let’s momentarily assume that this is true. So what? It still doesn’t cast aspersions on the generic pro-life belief. It merely associates this particular display (and its sponsors) with those things, which is hardly unreasonable.
“Again, I will ask if showing photos of Holocaust and 9/11 victims to college students is uncivilized and non-compassionate as well?”
In an unavoidable and unsolicited public display? Very much so. What if a student or faculty member was personally affected by either of those events? Viewing images from them could trigger unwanted emotions and ruin their day.
“Ah, but not if they are incapable of seeing such behavior in themselves. You serve as a perfect example.”
Trolling is an intentional act. If a “troll” is incapable of recognizing their own behavior as an intentional provocation, then ipso facto, they are not a troll.
“You might want to look up the meaning of the word “rectitude”. And you wonder why everybody here has such a low opinion of your intellectual capacity.”
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rectitude
3 : the quality or state of being correct in judgment or procedure
You’re a stubborn idiot who has now been corrected twice while presuming to correct someone else. You’re also a waste of my time and I will not be giving you any further attention.
Oooh, I think joan’s mad. I’m shaking in my boots!
Trolling is an intentional act. If a “troll” is incapable of recognizing their own behavior as an intentional provocation, then ipso facto, they are not a troll.
Ah, but you didn’t take denial into account. An epidemic among pro-aborts, it seems.
3 : the quality or state of being correct in judgment or procedure
I’m proud of you for looking that up. Now, just learn how to use it correctly in context, and you will be all set!
You’re a stubborn idiot who has now been corrected twice while presuming to correct someone else.
You really should be careful about talking to yourself, joan. People will think there’s something wrong with you. And please don’t call yourself an idiot. That’s so bad for your self-esteem.
You’re also a waste of my time and I will not be giving you any further attention.
Do you promise?
When people tell me abortion photos are fake, I just reply “ok. Then send me a photo of a 10-week-old fetus from an embryology textbook or website, so you can prove it is just a clump of cells and shut me up.” No one has taken me up on this yet!
When I was in elementary school durng the Cuban Missile Crisis, we were taught to ‘duck and cover’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0K_LZDXp0I
The ‘dead babies r us’ folks are taking an archaic technique and attempting to resurrect and implement it in order to avoid unpleasant truths.
It also reminds me of a line from a Ray Stevens song: The Streak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtzoUu7w-YM
“I hollered in there, I said, ‘Dont look Ethyl’!”
“It was too late she’d already been mooned.”
Some humans choose to remain ignorant because they don’t want to jeopardize their bliss.
joan, it’s apparent I have further explaining to do. Many student groups may use the word student in their title meaning students make up that group or committee, etc. However, I don’t see any other group at Southern Maine that claims that they are the whole student body’s response to another group of persons, some of whom are students themselves. Does this make sense? If not, maybe someone else here can put it in simpler terms for you. I know I can get a bit complex at times.
You can find a list of student groups at Southern Maine here (please note that none of these student groups are claiming to speak for all students):http://www.usm.maine.edu/studentlife/studentorgs
I see Mea’s group that does claim to be the response for all students hasn’t quite made the cut yet. Maybe if she renames her little group Some Proabort Planned Parenthood Loving Student Responses to the Genocide Awareness Project it will catch on. I wish her all the best in her attempts at gathering students to paint sheets and act like clowns.
Viewing images from them could trigger unwanted emotions and ruin their day.
Yeah, well I could die from laughing after reading your posts, joan, so I am going to hang up my tie-dyed pillow case over my computer screen now.
C’mon everybody! Go around joan or you are an uneducated, non-compassionate, hater! I’ll meet you by the jugglers next to the face-painting booth! joan might trigger an unwanted emotion!
“However, I don’t see any other group at Southern Maine that claims that they are the whole student body’s response to another group of persons, some of whom are students themselves.”
Show me where Mea’s group claims to speak for the entire student body. Because I can show you where she implicitly makes it clear that she doesn’t speak for the entire student body:
Tavares wrote in a press release on the USM website, “a group of students across faith and political lines has come together to say that, while our opinions about abortion are varied, we agree that the GAP’s tactics of exploiting others’ experiences and causing undue emotional trauma are unacceptable.”
Notice that she did not say “the students of USM” or “the USM student body” or some variation thereof which could be taken to imply that she has appointed herself spokesperson for every student on campus.
“I wish her all the best in her attempts at gathering students to paint sheets and act like clowns.”
Ignoring a provocative display that is meant to offend people and instead channeling any energy one would have spent responding to it into the creation of art is clownish, juvenile behavior in Praxedes’s world. I’m starting to understand why I’m having such a hard time reaching you here.
“Yeah, well I could die from laughing after reading your posts, joan, so I am going to hang up my tie-dyed pillow case over my computer screen now.”
Great. That works out for both of us.
BTW, I’m sure survivors or family members of victims of the Holocaust and 9/11 appreciate you comparing the pain they feel when reminded about their losses to the supposed humor you derive from my posts.
BTW, I’m sure survivors or family members of victims of the Holocaust and 9/11 appreciate you comparing the pain they feel when reminded about their losses to the supposed humor you derive from my posts.
No comparison on my part but on yours. I am empathetic with everyone who has lost a loved one because of the violence of others. I am especially empathetic to children who are selfishly killed by their own mothers, those women who should love them the most in this world.
You and Mea don’t speak for all 9/11 and Holocaust family members and survivors either, joan. Let them speak for themselves as well.
Maybe you’d be better off just walking around with a sheet over yourself instead of trying to protect the whole world from the sad, sad fact that our country legalized the killing of humans by their own moms.
well at least they admit that there’s violence involved now. That’s a big step for the pro-aborts.
A Few Good Men was on tv last night.
Dear Mea,
YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!
:)
I have over 20 years of experience working with college students. I have seen every kind of campus event, but have never seen a “carnival” that can attract more than a few traditional-aged college students (unless it offered a good possibility of acquiring alcohol and/or sex).
I would like to see a few pictures of their so-called “distracting” carnival. If the psycho-color banner is any indicator…then I am sure all 12 members of the women’s studies department were there.
If there’s nothing wrong with the act, there should be nothing wrong with looking at it.
Ken, you have surely dated yourself this time!
From the same period of music, I fondly remember: “I don’t like spiders and snakes and that ain’t what it takes to love me..” LOL! Now, where did I put all my little round record adapters??
If there’s nothing wrong with the act, there should be nothing wrong with looking at it.
Good point. I also hear that abortion is a “difficult decision that no woman takes lightly,” but if there’s nothing in there besides a clump of cells, tissue, a rag, a bone, a hank of hair, then why all the angst?
I also hear that abortion is a “difficult decision that no woman takes lightly,”
It is quite strange. They repeat that line ad nauseum when trying to shame people out of defending the pro-life position. But then they turn around and attach crank amendments to pro-life bills, which effectively imply that deciding to get an abortion is no more significant than deciding to get penis pills.
Pro-“choicers” can pretend to peaceful hippies all they want. The truth, however, is in the Gap ads. The CBR people are the true hippies!! These wannabe hippies need to watch silent scream and stop ignoring the fact that their use of the word “choice” defines and has defined every genocide in history.
RIGHT ROE N.O.W.
Why don’t so called women’s organizations stand up for women who have been wronged by the abortion industry giants??? They all need a mirror held up to their actions–ha, ha, they would literally see Roe V. Wade ‘reversed.’
“BTW, I’m sure survivors or family members of victims of the Holocaust and 9/11 appreciate you comparing the pain they feel when reminded about their losses to the supposed humor you derive from my posts.”
Right. As if you really care about these people or their pain.
People derive humor from your posts because they are ridiculous and nonsensical. I have a little trouble doing the same because your comments are so disturbing in their callousness and lack of respect for innocent human life.
Here’s some advice: If you want to be taken seriously, then stop behaving like the High Queen of all Jackasses!
If abortion doesn’t end the life of a human being, then why are the photos of it so disturbing and traumatizing to those who view them? If women who have had abortions are grieved to see the pictures of mutilated fetuses, maybe it’s because they instinctively realize what it is they have done. :/ And if those who haven’t had abortions are also disturbed by the images, maybe it’s because they’d rather be in denial in case they ever face an unplanned pg. But if women really value the right to choose, shouldn’t that right include being fully informed about the choice to be made? Why do prochoicers so vehemently attempt to hide what abortion really is if there’s nothing wrong with it?
so, I guess as one of the students that watched this project unfold I would like to address a couple things:
1) the GAP shows graphic images of late term abortions (which are only preformed when the live of the mother cannot be saved any other way) labeled as 1st trimester abortions, next to images of not only the holocaust (swastikas included) but images of Rwandan genocide. These images can and do affect our community of immigrants from places in the world where actual genocide is happening, and if they would like to know that these images are posted on giant billboards and avoid them then they should be aware of them.
2) This student response was planned by both pro-life and pro-choice students. It was agreed that the tactics used by the GAP project are beyond what is acceptable, and when a student called the hotline on one of the brochures (offering counseling for women after their abortions) they were horrified and unaware that their numbers were being associated with this group. So even within the pro-life group the GAP are considered extremists.
3) The tarp that “covered” the GAP project from being seen was very short, and from that point on the road one couldn’t have seen the GAP billboards anyway, since they were up over the hill. Also, it was only up for one afternoon, it was taken down very quickly.
4) I ask you all who think that the student response was trying to hide a genocide please look at the definition of genocide: [noncount] : the deliberate killing of people who belong to a particular racial, political, or cultural group (provided by the merriam-webster dictionary)
Thus, abortion cannot be called genocide because it is not demanded that all women from a specific race or cultural/political group, it is a very personal choice that a specific woman makes about her body.
5) Getting off the topic of the student response now, but have any of you actually heard the stories of why a woman had an abortion? Have any of you listened to them recount how they actually felt after the abortion? Most of the women who have abortions do so because they feel that they are unable to care for a child at that point in their life, and don’t want to send their child into the system where so many children are already waiting for forever homes. And after the abortion she has to contend with the hormones that affect the body, and the feeling of loss. But what would be worse? Having to try and support yourself and a child, putting the child into a system that lets so many children fall through the cracks? Or putting your body, emotionally and mentally through something that will prevent another child possibly not finding the love they deserve?
Also! Even before abortion was made legal they still happened, so, say that abortion was made illegal again, and thus women began to have illegal abortions. What do you feel should be the legal repercussions for women who have illegal abortions? If you argue that abortion is murder, then shouldn’t these women who have hypothetical illegal abortions be charged for murder? And would abortions that would save a mother’s life also be illegal?
Just some food for thought.
1. Can’t let you do that, Star Fox. Most of the images the GAP displays are of mid to late first trimester abortions (when most are performed). There’s documentation here, from a practicing gynecologist that used to do abortions, that the photographs are authentic and properly labelled:
http://www.abortionno.org/index.php/abortion_pictures/verifying_photograph_authenticity
If you don’t like the statement he provided, I would recommend taking out a medical textbook with images of embryonic development and comparing it with CBR’s photographs. You might suddenly find it very difficult to argue that they’re deceptive in any way.
Gray’s Anatomy is a great place to start:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gray30.png
Secondly, very few (if any) late term abortions are actually done to save the mother’s life. According to a survey done by the Alan Guttmacher Institute (Planned Parenthood’s de facto research arm), the vast majority of abortions done after 16 weeks are for socio-economic reasons:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_term_abortion#Reasons
Martin Haskell, inventor of the infamous D&X late term procedure (otherwise known as partial birth abortion), said that 80% of partial birth abortions are “purely elective”. Ron Fitzsimmons, then executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, admitted that the vast majority of partial birth abortions are done on healthy mothers with healthy babies:
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/26/us/an-abortion-rights-advocate-says-he-lied-about-procedure.html
Thomas Murphy Goodwin, the director of the largest high-risk pregnancy clinic in the U.S, has noted that many doctors will recommend abortion as the default treatment option for conditions that could have been successfully managed by competent physicians. This is primarily because they cannot be held liable if they tell a woman to get an abortion she doesn’t actually need:
http://www.firstthings.com/article/2007/10/003-medicalizing-abortion-decisions-15
Induced labour and Cesarean sections can be done instead of post-viability abortions, where the pregnancy is terminated but the survival of both mother and child is the aim.
Other public education campaigns, as well as the media, use graphic images that can be disturbing to certain sensitive audiences. Seeing images and footage of the World Trade Center attacks was no doubt painful to families of the victims. If you had lost a loved one to a drunk driver, you probably wouldn’t appreciate seeing a graphic billboard displaying a battered corpse. But in these cases, the benefits of educating the public clearly outweigh the harm.
Be honest here. Would you really be objecting to the Genocide Awareness Project if it completely omitted abortion? If not, then your real concern isn’t that Rwandan immigrants will be reminded of the Rwandan Genocide. Rather, you have a problem with the analogies used (ie abortion is comparable to the Holocaust) and/or the fact that abortion photographs are being displayed.
2. Then that says at least as much about those pro-life students as it does about the GAP. I’m not sure which brochure you consulted, or which post-abortion counselling organization it referred to, or what level of employee answered the phone. But it’s worth pointing out that CBR has a crisis pregnancy centre outreach program designed to help expand the services available. A major focus is on adding medical clinics to the facilities. So it would seem that it’s a far more mainstream pro-life organization than you’re willing to acknowledge.
3. I wasn’t there, so there isn’t much I can say about the accuracy of your account. Though “very short” isn’t exactly how I’d describe the tarp pictured above…
4. There is more than one definition of genocide. Some scholars would say that any state sanctioned killing of innocent, defenceless human beings with a sufficient death toll is genocide. If you don’t want to use that term, I could instead say that the student response was trying to hide and deemphasize the state sanctioned killing of 1.3 million human beings per year.
[Abortion] is a very personal choice that a specific woman makes about her body.
No, it’s a choice to destroy a separate, genetically distinct person’s body.
5. I have heard personal testimonies of women who have had abortions. Many express deep regret, even decades afterward. It’s quite insulting that you would dismiss their suffering as purely hormonal.
Abortion is psychologically, but not morally, complex. Should it be legal for parents to kill their born children if they don’t feel capable of caring for them? Wouldn’t it be wrong to kill born children who are expensive to take care of, unwanted by their parents, impoverished, or living in foster care? If so, why is it acceptable to kill an unborn child for any of these reasons? Violence is clearly not the superior choice. It must also be pointed out that there are thousands of crisis pregnancy centres across North America, which help women meet their financial and emotional needs before and after the baby is born. They also arrange for adoption, if the mother chooses. When help is needed, help can be found.
The punishment for illegal abortions would depend on many factors. Firstly, all of the 50,000,000+ legal abortions that have been done since Roe v. Wade would not be punished retroactively. That would be illegal and unconstitutional. Immediately after the law changes, I think it would be reasonable to punish only the abortionist and not the woman. This would be consistent with enforcement of other criminal laws, as he/she is the greater danger to society and the system has limited resources. It was also how abortion laws were generally enforced before Roe, and the political realities would make it impossible to immediately include a legal punishment for the woman. As society adapts to the new law, the incidence of abortion gradually declines, and more abortion cases go before the courts, the punishment for women would gradually become more defined. As with any murder trial, intent, state of mind, coercion, and other things must be taken into account. There are different degrees of murder, none of which has a flat punishment.
Abortions that save a mother’s life would not be illegal. Existing bans on late-term abortions in America and Europe always have an exception for life endangerment. In Ireland, one of the few developed nations that legally protects all human beings before and after birth, abortion is legal when the mother’s life is in danger (and only when her life is in danger). Just as it’s legal to use deadly force if it’s necessary to save your life, abortion would be legal to save the mother’s life.