a sincere question

A 'pro-Life' advocate was interviewed on NPR this morning, expressing her joy in the new member of the Supreme Court. 

I am, once again, struck by her central argument, that everything flows from the central belief (that word is not chosen casually) that, after conception, we are dealing with 'a human life'.

I presume these people have no major concern about the bazillion cows, pigs, sheep, and turkeys that are about to be massacred in the coming weeks, so it's clear that 'pro-Life' is strictly limited in its application.

Therefore, there must be something that places a paramount value on 'human life', vs. a 20-pound turkey's life.  To me, Life is Life (and, I admit, is biochemically pretty cool), whether it's my dog or the big maple tree that is dumping tons of leaves for me to deal with.

To my understanding (correct me if I'm off-base), their thinking of what distinguishes Human life from Animal or Plant life is encapsulated in the (historically-abused for various interests) term 'Divine'.  A Human embryo, containing the Divine spark, is valued far and above a cat embryo (ancient Egyptians would disagree, and rightly so, according to the creature sitting by this keyboard, waiting for breakfast).

So, the anti-Abortion crusaders (that word is not chosen casually) ultimately base it all on a religious argument, that Humans possess a quality generously granted to them by The Divine, and Animals (and plants, bacteria, and, yes, viruses) do not.

Personally, to believe that Humans are NOT Animals is hard to swallow, especially since so many Humans exhibit the traits of immature baboons, but that's an unnecessary slam on baboons.

The point here, is that having a certifiably-religious opinion dictate public policy for everyone, here in We-The-People-land, does seem to violate the very first 10 words of the very first Amendment.  

I hold that truth to be self-evident, but woe be to any Legislator who has the integrity (a sadly depleted resource) to bring it up. 

A few years ago, I saw a bumper-sticker: "Against abortion? Don't have one". Why, oh why, can't Believers accept this? Why can't they see how their Self-Righteousness has poisoned the body politic? 

Why can't they hear the (silent) screams of the turkeys?

Jonas Salk spoiled us

People of a certain age - I always felt that that phrase referred to people OLDER than me, alas - certainly remember the hoopla when the Salk Vaccine arrived in the 50s, and our parents made damn sure that everyone would receive it.  As Mr. Dylan reminded us, 'Things Have Changed', but that's not where I'm going.

A few years later, US taxpayers funded a plan to put two representatives of our species on the Moon.  That was pretty cool. 

Lesson Baby Boomers learned:  Science and Technology work magic that the rest of us enjoy.  

Of course, this didn't start with Jonas Salk - I could have begun with Thomas Edison and, most of all, Edwin Drake.

Fast forward to the Age of COVID, now that that malevolent Genie long ago escaped from its fragile-from-the-start bottle.

To their credit, the people of many countries have done/are doing the right thing, and have kept their economic and public-health devastation to a (relatively) minimal impact.  To these people/cultures, I say, bravo.

Clearly, though, the US and Western Europe are ramping up for a grim winter and the human psychology is clear. Rather than adopting the drastic measures to effectively bring the absolutely-interdependent global economic system to a halt for an unknown period (not to mention restaurants, bars, and Fascist get-togethers), we collectively decided to 'screw THAT'.

Humans detest inconvenience and, after all, the Jonas Salks will save us.  So here we are, hunkering down (well, about 60% of us), having collectively made a bet that we and our various tribes will magically stay healthy until the magic vaccine arrives, after which we can resume normal self-indulgence, and it will be, once again, Christmas 2019 (with "It's a Wonderful Life" reminding us that Clarence is Up There).

We pray to today's pantheon, from Astra to Zeneca (including both Johnsons). Can you hurry it up please, so that we don't have to have another ridiculous World Series like this year? We demand OUR Jonas Salk.

The odds are currently reasonable that many of us will eventually get thru this.  We just have to endure another year or so, and accept the deaths, evictions, poverty, and despair of those who lose the bet. Losers and suckers, don't you know.

Which brings me, as all things must, to Climate Change.  Same psychology.  Same magical thinking.  

We've benefited from (Edwin Drake, again) 160 years of being (as Vonnegut lamented) 'drunk on petroleum'. Faith now means that we believe clever technicians will manage to cool things down and avert the Collapse of the Biosphere, without us having to give up too much ourselves.  

They've saved us before, and all we have to do is sit back, make sure we have toilet paper, flour and yeast (or baking soda, which actually works great if you add something acidic, like apple cider vinegar), and be grateful for Amazon Prime and the USPS.

Thanks, again, Jonas.