Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Michael Moore shares thoughts on dealing with Palin

We should respect the privacy of Palin and her daughter:

"One hour after Gustav hit land, the McCain campaign announced that Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's teenage daughter is pregnant. I don't want to say much more beyond this, as I agree with Barack Obama that "people's families are off limits, and people's children are especially off limits."
I do feel very sorry that this minor, this child, now has to have her privacy sacrificed because her mother accepted an offer to run for VP. Obama's right -- the children are off limits. I remember when John McCain cruelly trashed Chelsea Clinton when she was a child in the White House. He told reporters that she was "ugly" "because Janet Reno is her father." Of course, McCain would like us now to accord Palin's daughter the respect he wouldn't give Chelsea."

BUT:

"This does not mean that a discussion about the stupidity of "abstinence-only" sex ed classes is off the table; nor should we not talk about the right of a teenager to terminate a pregnancy (a right that has been essentially eliminated as the Supreme Court believes forcing a child to have a child against its will is not a form a child abuse), or Gov. Palin's desire to make abortion illegal for anyone who is raped, a victim of incest or who may die if they bring the fetus to term. She's "proud" of her daughter's "decision to have her baby." Uh-huh. Ok... "

While all this sounds good for our side, Mike warns us to retstrain ourselves:

"But before everyone gets all smug and self-righteous about the Palin selection, remember where you live. You live in a nation of gun owners and hunters. You live in a country where one out of three girls get pregnant before they are 20. You live in a nation of C students. Knocking Bush for being a C student only endeared him to the nation of C students. Knock Palin for having kids, for having a kid who's having a baby, for anything that is part of her normalness -- a normalness that looks very familiar to so many millions of Americans -- well, you do this at your own peril. Assuming she's still on the ticket two weeks from now, she will be a much tougher opponent than anyone expects. You live in a country that voted for Dan Quayle. "


So, make of this what you will. I once again declare my support for comprehensive sexuality education which talks about all aspects of human sexual life in a medically accurate, unbiased manner. People of all ages should be able to ask questions about the risks of any bodily activity, and they should be taught how to minimize those risks while still enjoying sex to fullest extent possible. We should not hide information, exaggerate dangers, or tell falsehoods just to scare kids into "good behavior". This is evil, and no different than making kids grow up believing that touching a boy will get you pregnant or that a period bleeding is a disorder (I learned in development class that there are women out there that believe this, one of whom was taught these things by her mother).

1 comment:

dotorganic said...

What I find interesting is the spin put on this that it helps reinforce the idea that Palin is "pro-life," when in reality all it means is that her daughter is pro pre-marital unprotected sex. Palins' daughters' reproductive status says little about her fitness as a VP candidate, and what it might be construed to say requires quite a stretch to fit into the Republican party platform.