May 2, 2009
I’m sorry, I don’t speak retarded.
I ventured out tonight. After months of partying like a rock star, I’ve been trying to lay low. There are a couple of reasons for this. I’m just not trying to get personal, here.
Anyway, I ventured out tonight and was quickly reminded of why I would rather spend a night in, alone.
I was introduced to two women. I typically get along better with men. Every once in a while, my male friends ask me to mingle with other women, and I typically do so obligingly. Then I regret it.
Tonight I met Gina and Rachael. I hope I’m spelling both of those correctly, but who knows?
Either way, they wanted to ask me about my schooling. I’m getting my MA. I didn’t say where (Johns Hopkins), just said I was getting it. I told them I just had to write my thesis. The obvious question followed: what am I writing my thesis on?
I carefully explained that I am writing my thesis on the multi-billion dollar industry that is the abortion industry. That the American public is fooled into thinking that this is about a woman’s right to choose, or a child’s right to life but, realistically, this is about a multi-billion dollar industry.
Little did I realize that I was speaking to a Planned Parenthood supporter. Even as I told her that PP brings in one-third of its profits from abortion (over one billion dollars per year) she couldn’t grasp what I was saying.
“I donate money to them,” she declared. “They are there to help women plan their families. Part of that is getting an abortion. I always write a check to them.”
I tried to correct this. I would say it was like talking to a wall, but a wall can at least give you an echo back.
This is exactly the point of my thesis. People think they are supporting a woman’s right to choose when they are really supporting a money-hungry industry. After several attempts to explain it, here I am at home, alone, blogging.
Maybe this will help me when writing my thesis. I don’t know. I just find it so retarded that people think writing checks to Planned Parenthood helps further anything other than abortion. And, anyone who believes that Planned Parenthood is about planning parenthood is retarded. I just can’t talk to these folks.
7 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Linked you for this afternoon, in the context of Offend a Feminist Week.
Your thesis may be actively read by Real People!
Comment by smitty1e — May 3, 2009 @ 8:56 am
I don’t know how old Gina and Rachael were, but it sounds as though they were young enough to keep badgering you about things you are, understandably, hesitant to elaborate on. Had I been in your group last night, the first thing out of my mouth would’ve been “I can see you’d rather not talk about this further,” and gone on to something else (or bought you another round!).
Comment by Brad S — May 3, 2009 @ 10:29 am
You speak with intelligence, common sense, and morality. I’m not sure if I’m more sad or mad that they lack all three.
WJP
Comment by william john perry — May 3, 2009 @ 3:21 pm
you don’t speak retarded? well, what about ignorant, do you speak that?
who uses the word retarded any more? don’t you have a clue how terrible that word is? don’t you know that when you use the word retarded you offend and demean people with special needs? you’re so busy trying to stop abortions, you should take one minute and give respect to those who are living.
something for you to think about.
Comment by mary — May 3, 2009 @ 5:34 pm
Nice tu quoque there “Mary”. And a non-sequitur to boot.
While we are all “thinking about it”, perhaps you should google “logical fallacy” and click on the first university site you see in the results.
Comment by A Balrog of Morgoth — May 3, 2009 @ 6:30 pm
To mary … interesting diversionary tactic – speaking “retarded.” Thanks for the demonstration.
Now attempt to deal with the subject of the post or go and pretend to be “offended” somewhere else.
Comment by Martin Knight — May 3, 2009 @ 7:27 pm
First off, nice post and a good, fresh point of view.
Second, regarding ‘retarded’ as a descriptor, and the faux diversionary outrage: As a soon to be stepfather of a special needs little boy, I can say people using the word retarded offended me a bit after I’d met him, but then I realized that, since the PC term is now ’special needs,’ retarded moved to ‘extreme stupidity by non special needs people’ and began reacting normally.
See? Simple. Move along concerning that.
Comment by Cheesecake — May 3, 2009 @ 7:54 pm