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Paul Ashton's avatar

“When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body”

Here’s Kurt Vonnegut’s take, equally open to interpretation. And equally just some stuff made up by some guy. Emphasis on “some guy”. From “Cat’s Cradle”.

““God made mud.

God got lonesome.

So God said to some of the mud, "Sit up!"

"See all I've made," said God, "the hills, the sea, the sky, the stars."

And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around.

Lucky me, lucky mud.

I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job God had done.

Nice going, God.

Nobody but you could have done it, God! I certainly couldn't have.

I feel very unimportant compared to You.

The only way I can feel the least bit important is to think of all the mud that didn't even get to sit up and look around.

I got so much, and most mud got so little.

Thank you for the honor!

Now mud lies down again and goes to sleep.

What memories for mud to have!

What interesting other kinds of sitting-up mud I met!

I loved everything I saw!

Good night. I will go to heaven now.””

The patriarchy views the bible as the oppressor’s playbook. I written before that I think religion is a patriarchal conceit. Because of that, over time, I’ve come to feel that arguing over it with an evangelical plays into that conceit (you know, the skyward glances when you bring up science) and in their mind basically concedes the argument. I stopped a long time ago.

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Susan Campbell's avatar

You're healthier than some of us. And thank you for this Vonnegut passage.

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Thomas Dombroski's avatar

I don’t do debates with people who seem to be immune to irony and hypocrisy

I usually just state my case and stand back and wait for them to trip over their weak attempts to explain what they believe

Pointing out to them the irony and hypocrisy that they are oblivious to can be entertaining , frustrating and bewildering all at the same time

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Susan Campbell's avatar

I agree. It's often a losing battle.

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Thomas Dombroski's avatar

Just yesterday one goofball tried to drag transgenders into his abortion argument claiming that because I support transgender rights that somehow I was against women’s rights

Oh the irony

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Sharon Foster (CT)'s avatar

As you suggest, the equally important question is, when does a pregnant human stop becoming an autonomous human being and start becoming a two-legged incubator for the State?

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Susan Campbell's avatar

Conception? Point of entry? Sooner than science or good conscience would allow?

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Mary Ann Dimand's avatar

And of course "life" isn't the or a real criterion: these folks are typically washing living things off their skins all the time, and I expect lots of them who reject medical care with any real or rumored derivation from fetal cells nonetheless eat plants and fungus and often animals as well.

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Susan Campbell's avatar

Excellent point.

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Cynthia Fridlich's avatar

Balestra!!

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Susan Campbell's avatar

Love that. Thank you.

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Cynthia Fridlich's avatar

Yup, glad your back in one piece!

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Susan Campbell's avatar

Me too.

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Sally Bahner's avatar

If you follow any of the forced-birthers, there's a fully formed child in the womb from conception tap dancing in MaryJanes or Buster Browns.

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