I don't know who first said (or wrote) "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention," but that would be a nice summary of Nat Hentoff's still-ongoing journalistic career. As memories of the American Republic and its Constitution recede ever further into the past, a great number of his columns on cato.org end with something very much like, "I keep repeating: Is this still America? And if not, who on earth are we?" And for this, he is to be ceaselessly praised.
The marvelously titled "Not Only Did Obama Lose (Hooray Constitution), but so Did Abortion," is not simply a celebration of the recent election results; in it, Hentoff explains how he came to "the most controversial position he has ever taken" (and the one which, the cynical amongst us are wont to suspect, was the real reason he was laid off by The now-disgraced Village Voice). He read some books on prenatal biology, and came to the inescapable conclusion that a fetus is a human person.
I bring this up (again) because I know what reasonable people think about people like me. To save time, I've begun explaining to those outside our ecclesiastical circles that "We're not the nice presbyterians; we're the reactionary, knuckle-dragging kind." (Yes, I literally say that. With a smile, though.) That's why I feel compelled to point out that our crazy views on the beginning of human life do not orginate in an irrational leap of faith, but rather in observation and an application of the scientific method. Indeed, the true irrationality is to suppress all reason and conclude, contrary to all evidence, that a person is not a person simply because said person is in the womb.
In other words: if you're not outraged, you're not paying attention.
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