False Choice

Personally, I am against abortion for any reason. Rape and incest are lame excuses - the camel nose under the tent - an attempt to find common ground and get you to agree that abortion is acceptable in some circumstances. Same argument as "saving the life of the mother." Because if you agree to any exception, what is the NEXT concession you will make? 

Fact is, if those three reasons were the ONLY allowable justifications for abortion, there would be merely hundreds performed, not millions. 

Lies, all of it. So I make no exceptions.

HOWEVER, making abortion universally illegal as an elective surgical procedure is not the answer. It must be an option, a woman's choice, with God as her judge, not me. 

So, abortion should be kept safe and legal by the secular government.

That is not to diminish the formidable moral side of the choice. Whether or not to murder one's child is to be left to a girl or woman who must find the spiritual maturity to recognize her immortal soul's peril before acting against herself. Reconciliation of this spiritual crisis is between the mother and her Creator.

On the other hand (I am an octopus, here), murder of an adult is illegal and the secular government does not give anyone - woman or otherwise - a choice whether to obey that law. Government does not grant an exception to elect to exercise an alternative for any reason - murder is universally prohibited. 

Now, before you raise the exception of "self defense," don't be disingenuous. That is NOT murder. It may be killing and results in terminating a life, but murder is a deliberate act of aggression against another, not self-protection from the aggression of another.

I think I just came a full 180 degrees! Abortion can be made illegal because it terminates the life of an unborn human, just like shooting, strangling, or stabbing terminates the life of a born human. 

So... abortion is murder, and the government can prohibit it. I didn't expect that stark a revelation. There is no constitutional right that blocks government from acting against abortion as murder. We just need the courage to speak the truth. No additional religious argument needed. On secular grounds, abortion is not different from murder. 

Abortion is murder.

Far Left, Middle ("The 80%"), or Far Right?

 

Wow - looking at this chart, I cannot believe I would have to claim the "Far Right" (which I DO consider "just normal"). 

Here is the issue with what "The 80%" middlers believe: there is a steep price to pay for each of those policies and most middlers are blind to the cost, or unwilling to recognize they are the ones to pay, preferring or assuming someone else will do it.

Great example: "Help for those who need it." Wonderful! How much help? For how long? Up to what cost? What is the role of real charities (supported purely by individuals, not taxes)? 

"Strong Public Services" is another satisfying soundbite but what does that mean? Public means it must be paid by the public. Is there a limit to the expenditures? Who defines "strong"? And what exactly is a service? If paid by the public, it should be rather narrowly defined, right?

The statements on the right are unequivocal, IMO. No mushy compromise, just clear direction.

Why Are People Like That? Explore Bonhoeffer’s “Theory of Stupidity”

 

I seriously wonder what is wrong with people. 

What motivates a woman with a young child to drive her SUV into law enforcement officers - only to be shot to death for her stupidity? Renee Good did no good, changed nothing, except leave behind a 6 year old orphan (his dad died in 2023).

 

What motivates a man to kick the back end of a law enforcement vehicle, breaking the tail light, sustain a injured rib, then return to the site of protests a week later and then insert himself into an altercation between law enforcement and a woman - have his concealed weapon discovered, and get shot to death for his stupidity? Alex Pretti's shooting is not pretty. Circumstances are still under investigation, but his persistent protest against ICE and against the rightful deportation of illegal aliens displays very poor decision making. And he is a nurse? 

 

WHY? While this has haunted my mind for weeks and months (long before Good and Pretti), I "coincidentally" ran across a Facebook reel that mentioned Bonhoeffer's Theory of Stupidity and how it relates to evil. There is no such thing as coincidence. 

 

German Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer's theory defines stupidity not as a lack of intelligence but as a moral failing, a lack of independent thinking that makes people susceptible to evil, especially under totalitarianism, where they become tools for evil by embracing simplistic, self-serving narratives, losing their critical capacity, and abandoning responsibility, effectively becoming instruments of evil rather than simply unintelligent people. 

 

Eureka! For decades, I avoided calling a person "stupid." I might call an action or situation stupid, but I refrained from using that term against a person because I thought it was so demeaning. Until recently. Behavior has become so unhinged and illogical to me, I find myself characterizing people and politicians as "stupid" more and more. 

 

Turns out I am right. And there is a reason for it.  

 

An amazing answer penned in the 1940s (!) by Bonhoeffer as he observed behavior of people during his 18 months imprisoned in Nazi camps and in the years before, during the rise of the Nazi regime. He saw seemingly normal people become complicit in horrific acts through mental laziness and a desire to belong or get ahead.

 

It unquestionably explains everything going on today, regardless of party, although in my view at this time, it seems more virulent in leftist democrats. 

 

(Interesting point: I found the graphic below on a site of an anti-ICE minister, so he is apparently calling out right-wing conservatives as stupid. This is how the world spins right now.)  

 

Key Aspects of Bonhoeffer's Theory of Stupidity:

• Not Innate Lack of Intellect:

  True stupidity, for Bonhoeffer, isn't about low IQ; it's a choice or condition where individuals stop thinking critically and become receptive to simplistic, often malicious, propaganda.
Moral, Not Intellectual:
It's a failure of will and character, a "stupidity of the soul" that makes people turn away from truth and responsibility.
Tool of Power:
In an age of mass movements and dictatorships (like Nazism), people willingly surrender their minds, becoming easily manipulated by those in power, making them "instruments of evil".
Loss of Critical Thinking:
Stupidity involves an abdication of personal judgment, allowing external forces (propaganda, ideology) to dictate thoughts and actions, as seen in the German populace during the Nazi era.
Contagious:
Like a disease, this form of stupidity spreads, making it harder for thoughtful individuals to resist.

In essence, Bonhoeffer saw stupidity as a dangerous force that enabled evil by creating passive, unthinking followers, making it a central concern in his ethics and resistance.

 

So, what is the solution to less stupidity? Before the next civil war starts would be nice! 

 

Here is another good article Bonhoeffer’s “theory of stupidity”: We have more to fear from stupid people than evil ones 

 

(source: Google searches and cross referencing sources)