Take this blog and watch it–

I ain’t workin’ here no more!!!…

Actually, I love my job. But right now I’m up to my ears in work, and Blogger is flipping, so, uh, yeah. Here’s some stuff to read, assuming this post ever gets published.

The Chickpea Eater has more bashing of Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand. I especially recommend the bit about redefining words.

The Old Oligarch is reviewing books, rambling, ranting, etc.

Don’t Be A Shamed: Get into the groove, boy, you’ve got to prove your Constitutionality to me…; bomber stricken by conscience.

Dappled Things: Personal memories of the new archbishop of Milwaukee. One can only hope this guy is as good as Fr. Tucker says. He’s got a lot to do.

The Lord Mage of Good replies to my post below (“A Cruel Pro-Life Stance”). All I can say is, look. I agree that people need to take responsibility for their lives. I agree that duty, honor, etc. are great things that are often denigrated and certainly not adequately fostered by contemporary society. I understand that many people who say “You do the crime, you do the time” or variants thereof aren’t trying to be jerks. But just look at what’s in fact being said. Ask yourself whether that kind of rhetoric is effective, or even accurate; what it means when heard by women with unwanted pregnancies; whether there’s a more compassionate, hopeful, and pro-child way to promote responsibility; and whether this style of rhetoric is more likely to produce a) responsible, pro-life responses in the women being discussed, b) “whoa, hadn’t thought of that, maybe you pro-lifers aren’t all woman-hating $#@!s” on the part of legal-abortion supporters, or c) self-righteousness on the part of people who didn’t “do the crime.” (And again, I’m not trying to say that everyone who’s ever said this is self-righteous, etc., just that I think this catchphrase is more likely to foster self-righteousness than not.)

I also noticed, thinking about this, that the equation of abortion with responsibility isn’t just confined to some random women I counsel. Even Lauryn Hill’s inspiring pro-life song “To Zion” includes the lyrics, They said Lauryn baby, use your head, But instead I chose to use my heart. (The people telling her to “use her head” were encouraging her to abort her son Zion.) The song itself certainly doesn’t present abortion as “the responsible thing to do,” but it does make clear that the people around Hill were pressuring her to take responsibility by aborting. So again, think about what will be heard as vs. what you intended to say.

The LMOG is right, though, to point out that women say this too, though I personally have only ever heard guys say it. (Once at a pro-life rally at Yale. Not helpful.)