It seems that we have come to a place where we are trying to outdo one another in cases of moral madness and ethical idiocy. Daily our media headlines give us shocking new stories of a society going straight down the gurgler. I have no sooner finished writing a piece saying that this story takes the prize, when another sad tale comes along which is even much worse.
The degree of lunacy and moral collapse seems to become greater each passing day. Where it will all end is hard to say, but deviancy and decadence clearly rule. At the risk of saying this new story really does take the cake, here is how the Daily Mail reports this latest outrage:
“A married couple has sparked fury by setting up a website to let the public vote on whether or not they should have an abortion. Pete and Alisha Arnold, both 30, say they launched www.birthornot.com because they are unsure if they want to be parents. They believe the controversial poll so the public could ‘make a difference in the real world’.
“The couple, from Minneapolis, have uploaded regular scan images of the foetus, which is a perfectly-healthy boy they have nicknamed ‘Wiggles’. The subject matter is so provocative that some are questioning whether the site has been set up deliberately to upset anti-abortionists. Alisha is now 17 weeks pregnant and web users have until December 7 to cast their vote – just two days before the 20-week cut-off line for a state-legal abortion.”
The story continues, “The latest results shows a fairly split opinion, with 46.27 per cent voting to keep the baby and 53.73 per cent wanting the couple to have an abortion. The Arnolds launched their blog on September 28 with the news that Mrs Arnold was pregnant. Tests have revealed the fetus is a boy. On the Facebook page for Mrs Arnold, a methodist, it states she is a fan of right-wing commentator Glenn Beck.”
There has been plenty of reaction to this, and rightly so. The executive director of the Chicago-based Pro-life action league Eric Scheidler said: “I am horrified at the depths to which they have sunk and their failure to comprehend the dignity and value of human life. I do not understand how somebody can be so ice-cold and calculated and flippant about the fate of their unborn child. Seeing the images of the baby as it develops just makes things worse. What are they going to tell the child if it is born? How can they parent the baby when they are happy to entrust his fate to utter strangers?”
And Mary Spaulding Balch of National Right to Life said: “This is shocking. The first thing that came to my mind when I heard of this was the Roman Colosseum when the mob picked who lived and who died. They are talking about a baby that is 17 weeks old, it has a beating heart, its brain is working and nerve endings throughout its body. By 20 weeks when the vote is up it will be developed enough to feel excruciating pain. What they are doing is beyond comprehension.”
Quite so. We have now sunk to such depths as a society that we now even have life and death decisions being turned into sport and entertainment. It is not hard to imagine a whole new reality TV series developing out of this. And it won’t be hard to think of new interesting and amusing plots.
How about this one for starters? A family has an elderly granny who is getting to be a bit of a nuisance. Maybe TV viewers can vote on how best to deal with the problem. Lethal injection? Deport her to Cuba? Take her on a long walk on a short plank? The options – and entertainment – could be endless.
Or consider that pesky next door neighbour who has been such a pain for so long. Viewers could vote on a range of fun and creative options. Do we simply send the neighbour a bomb in the mail? How about poisoning the family? Maybe we could just set the house on fire.
Gee, we have just managed to blend two consuming passions of the modern Western world into one neat pastime. We have taken the pro-death culture and welded it to our entertainment-mad culture. It certainly is throwing the Christians to the lions all over again.
We can be cheerily entertained while able to cast the deciding vote as to who should be allowed to live, or how they should die. Why didn’t the folks in Hollywood or the workers in the death mills think of this much sooner? Ah well, better late than never.
Move over Roman Coliseum. Coming soon to an Internet connection near you: Death By Decree – The new fun and entertaining way in which you get to play God and decide who should live and who should die. Back in a moment after this commercial break.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1330860/Should-abortion–decide-U-S-couple-set-website-unborn-child.html
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