How the Rhetoric of “Life” and “Choice” Enables Killing and Authoritarianism
By Sam Husseini
Sep 11, 2024
In January 1991, as the now revered George H.W. Bush put the world on a deadline for war, he issued a proclamation for “National Sanctity of Life Day”: “I call on all Americans to reflect on the sanctity of human life in all its stages and to gather in homes and places of worship to give thanks for the gift of life and to reaffirm our commitment to respect the life and the dignity of every human being.”
It’s a regular thing, at least with Republican presidents, but I distinctly recall it got more media that year, I had never heard of it before, thus allowing Bush to pose as “pro-life” as he began a slaughter.
As protests against the war were being held under the banner of the legacy of peace from Martin Luther King, Jr., Bush declared: “In his efforts to end legal segregation in America, Dr. King believed that achieving peace and goodwill among all peoples depends on obedience to the will of God and the affirmation of the sacredness of all human life. ‘Every man is somebody,’ Dr. King said, ‘because he is a child of God’.”
Dehumanized Iraqis were no-bodies, not children of God. They were then the great “other”.
Bush had televangelist Billy Graham by his side as the bombs began raining down. The camera-hungry preacher declared that the war was a “fight for peace” which will result in “a new world order”.
And it did. The 1991 attack on Iraq helped crush the back of Arab Nationalism, possibly the last major defense against Israeli domination, helping to revive a global colonialism adhered to by the duopoly as we see today with Gaza. (The 1996 “Securing the Realm” document gave a glimpse into this mindset.)
The issue of abortion continues to be the lynchpin of keeping the duopoly in place.
Among other things, it allows genocidal politicians — pledging to pose as being concerned about human life.
ABC’s Linsey Davis rebutted Trump: “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born.” But collectively these United States are slaughtering babies by the busload. Abortion access reporter Amy Littlefield noted that as images of carnage against babies and children come out of Gaza daily, often hidden by the squeamish, the only talk of a dead baby at the “debate” was “out of Trump’s imagination”.
After all, Harris declared amid dueling accusations of “weakness”: “We have the respect that we so rightly deserve including respecting our military and ensuring we have the most lethal fighting force in the world.”
And amid the plethora of lies and distortions of last night’s “debate” — actually a joint, managed media appearance — with Trump and Harris, the duo posed as being in various proportions both “pro-life” and “pro-choice”.
Harris proclaimed: “And one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government, and Donald Trump certainly, should not be telling a woman what to do with her body.” As if she took seriously moral precepts by people while she sends more tons of weapons to Israel.
No chance was taken that a member of the public would expose this charade at the “National Constitution Center”. There’s been no audience at the Trump-Biden and Trump-Harris “debates”. The establishment is petrified that someone might stand up and call out the genocide that they both support.
Harris added: “And I pledge to you when Congress passes a bill to put back in place the protections of Roe v. Wade as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law.”
It’s a pledge past Democratic presidents have made, but they don’t expend the political capital to deliver on it because doing so could endanger the hold of the duopoly. If abortion were a settled issue, the “lesser evil” hold of the genocidal establishment parties would weaken.
Amid Trump’s ranting, he referred to the “Arab population” — notably not using the word “Palestinian”. It’s been a colonial trope that “there is no such thing as a Palestinian people”. And in the last debate, Trump used the word “Palestinian” as a pejorative, see my piece “No Debate: The Architecture of the Duopoly Empire’s Lies”.
My solution for the “lesser evil” hold of the duopoly is as regular readers will know, is VotePact — “A would-be Trump voter and a would-be Harris voter should pair up and both vote for other candidates who better reflect their values: Greens, Libertarians, whoever. So, instead of you and a friend canceling out each other’s votes, you both get to strategically vote for candidates you like best.”
In a recent interview about VotePact, I addressed the question of abortion in another way. With genetic engineering, long term, the establishment will redefine “life” and “choice”. While the public polarizes about abortion, the establishment will undermine their alleged core beliefs. “Human life” will mean something else. Just as Iraqis or Palestinians joined the ranks of those dehumanized, so will others as determined by a twisted “science”. And “choice” will be redefined. We got a taste of that during the pandemic as people declaring fealty to respecting “my body, my choice” embraced a form of authoritarianism; including silencing those attempting to honestly determine the origin of Covid.
The author graciously has granted this website permission to reprint selected articles.
The views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect those of APS Radio News or of its affiliate, APS Radio
