Shenanigans, Sir.

Ok, I can to some extent understand the willingness to remain ignorant on a particular subject. Additionally, I can comprehend the fact that some people are possessed of such naiveté that they are surprised by the reactions of people to the expression of certain opinions or views. Fine, I’m sure it happens to farmboys and people from isolated communities all the time.

But, I find it hard to believe and accept that, if you are equating a woman’s legal right to choose what happens to her body to the fucking holocaust, and you are surprised that some people take offense, I’m sorry, you are one dumb mutherfucker.

Let me regroup for a moment. Jojo Ruba, a representative of the pro-life group the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform, was scheduled to give a lecture on Thursday evening at Saint Mary’s University. According to the published report, Ruba was invited by the SMU pro-life group to deliver a talk entitled “Echoes of the Holocaust”. His lecture, however, was interrupted by the Coalition for Choice, who chanted over Ruba’s speech and blocked his overhead slides. The event was shut down, and Mr. Ruba was escorted from the room.  A short video of the incident was posted on YouTube on Feb. 6:

Wow, those are some clever chants, there. I particularly like the “When you get pregnant, let us know”.  It is totally weird watching this happen in a room in which I have sat on many occasions.

According to the video’s description:

A smaller number of students and media were able to make their way to a second location where the presentation and question period concluded peacefully.

So if this statement is in fact true, he did deliver his message. This is important to keep in mind as we continue down this slippery slope.

To indicate, even in jest, that making the association between women choosing to access a legal medical treatment and the systematic slaughter of millions of individuals would not elicit a negative reaction is to display a level of denial somewhere between Dick Cheney and Steve Harper. The organization has encountered trouble before, so why does this come as a surprise?

Look, my views on this are abundantly clear: I am pro-choice, and that’s that. To try to elicit sympathy is idiotic at least, and coldly calculating at most. I take issue with the way the Chronically Horrid has semantically constructed their story to make Ruba the aggrieved party, while (if true) the fact that he got to continue his talk was left out. The way the story, and the accompanying video are contructed, the protesters are unequivocally the villains – remember when the white supremacist guy came to town and tried to do the same thing? Fortunately, he failed. This guy might not.

So, we know what my opinion is, but let me throw you a curve: while admiring the dedication and passion exhibited by the protesters, and my agreement with their overall message, I believe the protesters have probably set their cause back rather than enhancing it by disrupting Mr. Ruba’s presentation. What would have worked better was an attempt to involve him in a reasoned debate in which he would discuss, objectively, the premise of his abhorrent association. He would only be able to make assertions based on faith, or that had no basis in fact but in doctrine, and you, young, energetic, chant-composing protesters would have proven that your university has prepared you to meet all comers and dispel all superstition by engaging in rational discourse.

Which is what you should have done, instead of reinforcing his view of pro-choice activists, and the view of everyone who agrees with him. Check the label on the YouTube video – not a lot of admiration or sympathy in

SAINT MARY’S STUDENTS ASSAULTED BY PRO-ABORTION MOB

Is there?

The best thing to do, in my opinion, is to let people talk, talk, talk until they hang themselves with their words. Sooner or later a ‘crusader’ who goes around spouting offensive nonsense like this will get his just reward, and it ain’t gonna be heaven, brother. Once they stop, ask them questions, demand they prove what they say is true, and remember not to rise to the bait of trying to prove it isn’t true – that’s not your job, it’s the claimant who always has the burden of proof. Once you have confronted superstition with logic, fear with reason, and willful blindness with a clarity of vision, people like that will have no choice but to scurry under the big crucifix-shaped refrigerator they scurried out from under in the first place. The louder you shout, the louder others shout to be heard, and so on and so on. Let your words and your education be your weapons of choice – and in this case, I do decidedly mean ‘choice’.