Why
Is It? or Why It Is! As always the culture war, directed by the media demands the strategy of the double standard, to wit: Almost every newscast relating to the gubernatorial recall campaign in California refers to one of the candidates, actor Arnold S., who says "I am a liberal," [and who is married to the liberal Maria Shriver of the Kennedy clan] as a "moderate Republican", meaning pro-abortion, pro-gun control, and pro-homosexuality. Why is it that to be pro-abortion and pro-homosexuality is considered a "moderate position", while the opposing positions are always labeled, either "arch-conservative" or "extreme", as in "extreme right-wing"? This defies logic. After all, if being pro-life is extreme, then surely being pro-abortion must also be extreme or else, one is in the nonsensical position of referring to a middle of the road, to use an analogy, and a right side, while negating the left side. This is an ontological and physical impossibility. If there is no left, there is no right and hence, no middle either. Right is by definition in relation to left and the middle to both and or either one. I suppose a liberal who still pretends to have hold of his senses could argue that the "moderate" or middle position on abortion is for some abortion some of the time, although essentially he would surrender the principle in doing so. If the preborn life in the womb is a person deserving of protection some of the time, he must be all of the time because innocent human life is just that. So any such argument would be tenuous at best. Of course no one arguing for abortion says this in earnest, even if he thinks he means it, and thus this "moderate" position is theoretical only. So this leaves us with the right and the left. Using our road analogy, the only middle is the painted strip that divides the right and left lanes or the double right and left lanes, etc. Any middle lane belongs either to the left side or the right, strictly speaking. So why is it that it is almost always "moderate" and "extreme right"? Why it is is because the culture blitzkrieg against tradition and the natural law cannot be sustained without language manipulation. The liberals, including Arnold the Terminator, know better, but they hope the rest of us won't notice or mind being marginalized. This brief essay is to put them on notice that we do. Now, having exposed the fallacious reasoning of the left, let's examine the idea of extremism. Most standard dictionaries list 5 definitions, the first 2 or most often used are: [1] the farthest from the center, and [2] being in the highest degree (or the best possible state). If we use #1 exclusively as the media does, as we have already pointed out then both sides of the abortion debate are found to be "extreme". Of course this implies that both points of view are normal and equal. Being against the killing of the innocent is not equal to the advocating of killing them although they are polar opposites because the morality involved is disproportionate. Not killing the innocent is the normal, moral human action under the natural law. Another way of putting it is to say the normal is central to society and human morality and to tradition which maintains the boundaries for society. Any advocacy that breaches the boundary is "extreme". Declaring what science knows in this century at last, and the human soul has known for countless centuries void under penumbras of pretense is beyond extreme, it is a declaration of war on humankind itself and the end of any possible society as we have always known it and defended it. The best possible state of human affairs, legally, politically speaking, is justice. The most innocent and the most vulnerable necessarily require the most protection so that their inalienable, God-given rights are not violated either by individuals or the law itself, which must adhere to the natural law which is prior to the law of the state. In other words, the highest degree. Thus, we can conclude that the most normal position is also "extreme" as in extremely just. Since it is normative for a just society, it can also be said to be the "moderate" position as it safely moderates human affairs to afford the maximum protection to the innocent and the vulnerable. So, on all accounts the pro-life position is both moderate and extreme, depending on which of its two aspects one is focusing on at any given moment, while the pro-abortion side is always extreme as in ultra extreme and never, never moderate, period!Contact Us www.catholictradition.org/Life/life-lines2.htm |