![\"No](\"https:\/\/scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net\/v\/t1.0-9\/69834453_2454067278142164_7034439373173030912_n.jpg?_nc_cat=104&_nc_eui2=AeHx0HKi0-QnPaLTRFkovR77oxCvtfLg5_d57kHxGo2MoJVh3OTJd1HSM3tL562hVmkUgh6YZdSeMNWzITvImGcwKvtktD6EyC9OeuyOwgzFDg&_nc_oc=AQkMwSvK9jAamwn8X9kr77ZmDBHO79zkx06O9m627z2aJdMmCeKrDojDONtZs02u-98&_nc_ht=scontent-sea1-1.xx&oh=464578227843cab0fdd31f533c9f1efe&oe=5DFACA30\")
<\/p>\nSome time back, I saw an ad for the Flat Earth Society on Facebook which announced, \u201cThe Flat Earth Society has members around the globe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some wag commented, \u201cSay that again, but slower.\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought of that when Planned Parenthood sent this out:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Say that again, but slower<\/em>:<\/p>\n I am reminded again of my favorite pro-life sign, from Atheists for Life: \u201cFor the Embryology Textbook tells me so.\u201d For once, I agree 100% with Planned Parenthood. The size of your body does not determine your worth. And it turns out your tiny fetal body is, in fact, a body and not the formless, featureless \u201cblob of tissue\u201d Planned Parenthood says it is in order to deprive it of all worth as prelude to killing that body. Funny old world, innit?<\/p>\n That said, as a fat guy, the layers of irony here just never end for me Because, as I am reminded by them countless times, \u201cProlife\u201d reactionary Catholics have written to make clear that, as with so much else they say concerning the dignity of human life, it only applies to the unborn. I cannot tell you how many times Good Catholics have written to insult me for being fat and even to suggest that my worth as a person is absolutely determined by it.\u00a0 I\u2019ve even been told this somehow proves I am \u201cnot a Real Catholic[TM]\u201d because Gluttony.\u00a0 Do they know anything of my personal history?\u00a0 Of course not.\u00a0 But they are certain of my mortal sin and hellish destiny nonetheless.<\/p>\n Happily, as a Chestertonian, I have long ago accepted the reality that to be fat is to be laughed at. But the Reactionary Catholic only makes clear by their behavior that, as usual, their supposed veneration for human life extends from conception to birth. They are then astounded when a pro-choice person, who does not even share their Christian faith, sees their rank hypocrisy as they laugh their asses off at President Adonis\u2019 mockery of heavy women as \u201cpigs\u201d and \u201cdogs\u201d and dismisses their alleged \u201ccommitment to the dignity of human life\u201d as the bare-faced lie it is.<\/p>\n One could, of course, try listening to the Church and affirm the dignity of human life from conception to natural death. But that would put you at grave risk of not regarding your culture war enemies as subhuman monsters. It might even open you to the danger of granting them that they are right about fat-shaming so that you can then make your point about the unborn without hypocrisy. And that<\/em> might open you to considering some of the other ways that dirty evil liberal devils in human form might have things to say that comport rather well with the Church\u2019s teaching.<\/p>\n In the Catholic intellectual tradition, that\u2019s called \u201ctesting everything and holding fast to what is good\u201d. It\u2019s also called \u201cbeing all things to all so that I may win some for Christ\u201d, rather like Paul on the Areopagus. It involves the incredible possibility that people are not all black or all white and that the issue is to measure things by the Tradition and not by whether they fit a Manichaean Right Wing Culture War narrative.\u00a0 People who are confident that Jesus guides his Church do this.\u00a0 People who despair of Jesus as Savior believe that the only approach to take is to destroy the enemy by any means necessary, including childishly insulting their weight.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some time back, I saw an ad for the Flat Earth Society on Facebook which announced, \u201cThe Flat Earth Society has members around the globe.\u201d Some wag commented, \u201cSay that again, but slower.\u201d I thought of that when Planned Parenthood sent this out: Say that again, but slower: I am reminded again of my favorite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1101],"class_list":["post-113697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-catholic-intellectual-tradition"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Image](\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/7023\/6691076363_41fc3369de_z.jpg\")
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