Maddow, Vance, and Abortion

“The object of the open mind, as that of the open mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.” (GKC)

I have been on a long journey to attempt even-handedness in all discussion, political or otherwise. This is hard because I am more opinionated than average (I think). And I easily forget, for example, that opinions are to be shared, not imposed through various juvenile rhetorical techniques.

This journey toward openness and even-handedness means I try to avoid the following:

• Intensity of speech – aka yelling – as if that alters truth or lack of it.

• The all-to-common ad hominem – ridiculing the person, name-calling or some such.

• The also ever-present whataboutism where we set aside the question at hand to find inconsistencies in the other person's argument.

• Another ever-present ditch of dismissing an idea because you dislike the one speaking it, rather than considering it on its merits.

• Ridicule or incredulity – reactions that often masquerade as argument but are nothing of the sort.

• Reductionist dismissal as in, “You only think that because you're an atheist.” No they may actually think it to be objectively true.

• Equivocation – fancy word for adjusting the meaning of terms to serve your argument.

• And, among others and closely related to the last, I try to avoid bearing down on an argument when the terms and definitions are not clear or not mutually agreed upon.

This is a tall order, most of us fail in various ways. Often we may find it best to avoid argument all together. Indeed, I am learning to avoid argument, seeking to find clarity and term definition rather than press forward with my pre-assumed point. And I won't say where I got that insight because the one who said it is disliked by many and so they can't hear it, true or not. Ugh!

But perhaps there is an illustration of what I am trying to learn, as well as an additional lesson. I am trying to learn to be clear with what seems true and not simply dismiss it because others disagree. This doesn't mean I do not listen. But it does mean I try to be clear in what I think -- and be willing to say so.

I had this in mind when I heard Rachel Maddow's direct take-down of the GOP Vice Presidential nominee, J. D. Vance. Among other presumed extreme ideas, Vance has been found to say, “I certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally.” Maddow was not coy about her dismay over such a position.

But I found myself thinking, “OK, with the slightest of nuance in questions of legal application – hardly a minor detail I will grant – I am agreed with Vance. Why? Because I think abortion, in principle, is immoral. I think the argument, “My body my choice” is literally non-rational because it ignores a major piece of data, i.e., it ignores the fact that there is another body (to say nothing of the father).

Further, I believe abortion, in principle, is immoral because it precludes responsibility for a life created. I believe neither father or mother has the right to avoid responsibility for the life they created within the womb. I believe when we allow man and woman to avoid this responsibility we undo one of the most basic of human obligations and sow seeds for the undoing of civilization itself.

Underlying this belief is the crucial but seemingly oft-denied idea that the world really is a certain way and we violate this to our peril. I think abortion fundamentally violates the way the world is designed to be, and is therefore immoral.

Was I even-handed in my effort to discuss the issue? I don't know. It is just what I think to be true. And I have lived long enough to hear opposing views at great length. I have even read some of the better academic efforts to support the right to abortion, but I just can't go there.

I do want to be open. But as Chesterton said, “The object of the open mind, as that of the open mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.” That seems right to me, and so I am seeking for that which is solid, for that which corresponds to truth no matter how difficult it may be. I do not say I achieve this flawlessly – who does? But I am trying.

I hope you are, too.