June 4, 2009 1:51 PM
Claire "Terror in the Heartlands" Howorth says no
For those of you expressed your eagerness to sit down and have a heart-to-heart with Claire Howorth, who used her Vanity Fair column Monday to foment hostility towards those of us who engage in pro-life writing or activities, then conducted a campaign under the name "prochoiceperson" leaving the link to her story at many different pro-life sites - Ms. Howorth has politely declined. She likes the way things stand and the way she does things just fine, thank you very much:
We Respectfully Decline Your Inclination
by Claire Howorth
June 3, 2009, 11:16 AMabortion-debate-image.jpgIn an opinion post on Monday, I expressed horror at the murder of Dr. George Tiller and drew a parallel between the scare tactics of certain antiabortion groups and those of the terrorists we fight overseas. The post was intended to provoke thought, which it apparently did--an antiabortion blog has publicly invited me to visit the Heartland to see that not all pro-lifers are terrorists.
Read entire articles here.
Note that Ms. Howorth referred to me as "an antiabortion blog." This underscores several points I have made before about leftist tactics:
1) Dehumanization: I am not a multidimensional woman, but a blog.
2) Disrespect: Not only am I a blog, but I am "an antiabortion blog" - as opposed to a "pro-life blog." Isn't it interesting that every other political group in the US is privileged to to pick its own nomenclature and the MSM bows and scrapes to honor it, but those of us who refer to ourselves as pro-life are called anti-abortion.
3) Marginalization: Out of 3972 entries at MommyLife (check my categories), 276 are categorized "pro-life" - and I am religious about categorizing. In other words, 94% of the writing at MommyLife has to do with Mothering, Montessori, Art, Music, Inspiration, Homeschooling, Movies, Cultural Commentary, and so on.
It hardly seems like accurate journalism to call a blog by a professional writer with a 6% segment of pro-life entries "an anti-abortion blog."
But Howorth has a tendency to play loose with the facts. Which I wouldn't have minded - after all, we all make mistakes though some of us admit them - except she obviously is more comfortable cherry-picking news and massaging facts to make her commentary fit her preconceived stereotypes. As wrong as racism
Take this sensationalistic sentence from her response:
When a man, incited by his organization's bombastic rhetoric, guns down a medical practicioner at church--a sanctuary--and leaves the dead man's wife screaming in the vestibule and the parishioners in shock, I cannot really think of a more apt word than "terror."
And what organization might that be, Ms. Howorth? It has as much to do with the pro-life movement as Leftists claim Al-Quaida has to do with peaceful Muslims. You are the one who is ratcheting up the hostility. And then declining sincere invitations to begin building bridges and modeling some real dialogue.
Ms. Howarth mentioned in her email to me that she had linked to my blog to drive back traffic. I thought I'd wait a day before posting this to see how much traffic a piec at Vanity Fair might amount to. 28 hours later, there've been 23 visits - and 1 of them is mine :)
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See also The Left Tries to Smear 'Christianists' as akin to Islamic Extremists
Posted in Media Bias, Pro-Life Issues | Permalink
Comments
I just think it's again important to note that the man who killed George Tiller was a schizophrenic who was not taking medication.
I'd really love someone to explain to me how we are supposed to be accountable for the actions of a man who delusional.
Posted by: Lauren | June 4, 2009 2:57 PM
barbara,
the venom oozes from their words...(both the author's and her commenter.) keep your head up high.
julie
Posted by: julie | June 4, 2009 4:09 PM
Funny how some need to stay in their hermetically sealed Zip-Lock of logic to stay intellectually "fresh".
At least we have to give credit to those who are self aware enough to understand their logic can't stand up to a good airing out.
I'm so happy my daughter won't have to live this way.
I wish Ms. Howorth all the best.
Posted by: kelly | June 4, 2009 5:39 PM
Maybe we should refer to pro-choicers as "anti-life".
The left also does the same thing to homeschoolers--one family is charged with child neglect, the focus is on the fact that the family homeschools their children, and then homeschooling is then associated with child neglect/abuse.
Posted by: Jessica | June 4, 2009 7:57 PM
Claire Howorth doesn't have much courage, does she?
Posted by: Sue from Buffalo | June 5, 2009 8:23 AM
Keep up the good fight!
Posted by: Jill | June 5, 2009 1:45 PM
