Abortion: Is It Really Moral?

          While I am known to many as a person with very liberal views, I take a departure from my liberalism when confronted with the issue of abortion.  Over the years, my position has changed drastically from pro-choice to pro-life.  I believe that you must look at this issue from a moral point of view.  A popular belief is that a person is truly alive when one is born.  Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary defines life and the state of being alive as “human activity; time when something functions; animated; full of life; being in existence.”  People who are pro-choice argue that a person is not deemed alive until they are born, but is a person not alive and functioning when it develops a heart and a brain?  Is it not a living organism?  Is it not full of life and growing into a complete human being?  How can you not say that a human embryo is not alive if it has such traits?  Purposefully killing a human, no matter what form it is in, is cold blooded murder and is immoral.  Shame on those who support the intentional killing of human lives just because they don’t want to be responsible for their actions that may have resulted in the creation of another innocent human life.

If abortion is made legal, it would send a resonating message to our teens that they don’t have to take responsibility for their actions and that it is ok to have unprotected sex because if they were to get pregnant, all they have to do is get an abortion and not be stuck with the task of taking care of a human.  We must make abortion illegal on the federal level because we must send a clear message to our teens, they must take responsibility for their actions.  Don’t do the deed unless you are prepared and ready to pay the price that comes along with it.  Making abortion illegal on the federal level also forces teens to use either contraceptives or condoms to prevent unwanted pregnancy.  This also has an added bonus as it would reduce the number of STD’s that are transmitted each year and it would force teens to have sex responsibly or just not have sex at all.

Im sure many pro-choice people who read this editorial will say that a person cannot be told what they can or cannot do with their bodies, but abortion affects another human being.  While the human organism isn’t fully developed and is inside the mother’s body, there can be no doubt about it that the organism is alive, and to say otherwise is just plain asinine and idiotic.  While it functions independently from the mother, it is not dead, nor is it not full of life.  There is nothing that can justify the argument that an independent functioning organism that has a brain and a heart is not alive.  If it isn’t alive, then what the hell is it?  So, once again I ask the question, is abortion moral?  No it is not, and to say otherwise is iniquitous and immoral in itself.

Making abortion illegal will break out another argument, this time with the females.  They will ask, what if they don’t want the baby because it puts a damper on their dreams and goals?  Well, first of all, I say you shouldn’t have had unprotected sex in the first place if it was consensual.  Getting pregnant is the price you have to pay for taking that action.  That is not to say that their plans for their life ahead are in jeopardy.  If they have to take care of a child, there are plenty of other sources to get money to not only take care of your child, but pay for any schooling that you may want to go after while you have a child.  They come in the form of government grants and loans.  I see no excuse what so ever that a pregnant or teenage mother cant go to college and be able to pay for it and continue with her life plans.  The money is free and it is there, and all they have to do is find it.  Get up, look, and get the money.  Don’t complain to the government or anyone else about your dilemma that you caused by getting pregnant in the first place (unless you were raped, then we can be a lot more lenient).

Bill Cosby Targets African American Community: Telling The Truth Or Throwing Out Flagrant Inflammatory Insults?

Well, Bill Cosby has once again stirred up a national controversy with his latest comments given in a conference on July 2, 2004 with Reverend Jessie Jackson. But were his comments really all that shocking? Not in the least. He attacked black children, and their parents for the lack of moral decency which is evident in today’s generation of African American kids. In addition to that, nearly half of African American kids are illiterate. But why is he being criticized for strongly pointing this out?

What frustrates me is the fact that he is being criticized for stating these things, stating that they simply aren’t true. Now, im no political leader but I am a first hand witness to the behavior of African Americans in general as are thousands of other American elementary, middle, and high school students and they act in the same manner as he described. Kids calling each other n----r’s and using other obscenities. Sure there are those who are successful, who want to learn and carry themselves in a manner that is respectable, admirable, and decent, but for the rest, its far from that. One thing that Mr. Cosby mentioned was the fact that black teenagers are going out and getting pregnant out of wedlock. What is so shocking about that? If you were to go into the urban areas of ANY large city, you would quickly find that there are many mothers with 4, 5, or even 6 or more children. In addition to that, you will find that almost 75% of black families are single parent families, with the mothers as the head of the household. Where are the fathers at? Getting other women pregnant, in jail, and not taking responsibility for their actions. Its sickening and its getting worse. The African American race should be ashamed of itself for allowing this to happen. Where is the pride? The respect for those who have given their lives to give us the freedoms that we have and take part in and take for granted? And where is their sense of self-pride and self-respect? Where is the morality, decency, and pride of living a life where your in and out of jail every month for most of your life, your father of bunches of kids with multiple women, with a high school education and unable to get a good job and make a good living for yourself. Just where is the sense of pride in that?

Mr. Cosby also attacked the white community for also allowing this to happen. This is not an African American problem, this is an American program, and we ALL need to get off our asses and do something to fix it. We are all Americans and we are all in this together. America is disputably the best nation in the history of all mankind, and we cant pull ourselves together and clean up our act to fix our social and cultural problems in a unified effort to make this nation better and live up to the dream and vision of all of those before us that have died to get us the freedoms and privileges that we hold dear today, not just the African American civil rights leaders, but everyone who has fought to preserve America, our way of living, our culture. If this is the way the United States is going and will continue to go for decades more, then the people who have founded this nation, who have fought to preserve this nation, and who have died battling for better civil rights for EVERY race of man in the United states, fought for a lost cause and died in vein. Lets get our act together America, before we fall victim to the very things that we have all fought to preserve.

A statement I added to the debate:

Well see, we should actually be attacking our parents generation. I mean, look at the changes im American society between the 50's and 80's. Increasing violence, sex, drug usage. I dot think its this generations fault at all. It's our parents generations fault. I will agree that American society is getting worse. (example: It was announced on MSNBC yesterday taht Macy Gray will be doing a concert completely nude in a few days or so - to raise money for a charity). We cnnot just blame out generation because we werent the ones who started the trend. Remember that the learning process starts at home, and if children arent taught not to do things or not taught how to present and carry themselves or even act in public or elsewhere, then its not that child's fault. Its the parents fault, however, it cant go without saying that our generation shouldnt be held accountable for its actions. Many teens know what they are doing, know that how they talk, walk, and act arent right. Our generation is brilliant and smart but we just dont care about the values that we should really be embracing and cherrishing.

As for the white people, they arent doing anything not just because they dont want to be labeled as a racist, but because they dont want to carry the burden of doing so, and they are also allowing the African American race and culture to self-destruct because they want to keep their superiority over all other races here in this country. Remember, racism in this country is a lot more abundent than many people think or believe it is. America is also still heavily segregated (schools are a direct representation of that, and the truth is, American schools are more segregated now, than they were ever before in American history).

Has The "Civilized" World Turned Its Back On Africa?

An issue has recently crept into my mind leaving me stunned and wondering. The issue is of how the entire world including America, and the modern developed countries in Europe and in asia have practically turned its back to the issues currently affecting Africa. Now, I know some of you may be thinking that there are initiatives to help the people of Africa, to feed them, give them medical assistance, but we have been doing that for decades, and where how far have we gotten in this endeavour? Not very far. People are dying, there are still civil wars raging, people are dying on a biblical scale, you have mass genocide, and the continent is just in utter chaos.

Not too long ago, I finished reading a great book by Henry Kissenger entitled "Does America Really need a foreign policy," and basically what he did was break down issues effecting each and every region of the world, now when he began talking about Africa, he made a few comments that made me wonder, why is the world, including America, practically giving the African people the cold shoulder. Should we not be doing a lot more than we are to help these people resolve their problems, help them develop their nations so that they too can enjoy life without disease, hunger, famine, and the hardships that they have been going through for literally, centuries? Why have we not put an end to oppressive regimes that purposefully hurt the people and keep them starving and suffering as a scare tactic to get them to do what they want, and to make them acknowledge their power over them?

The United States and the nations of Europe have fought for years in various military conflicts for Freedom from oppression, and to develop and better themselves, and we try to spread our ideals and our freedoms to the rest of the world, but it seems Africa as a whole has missed out on it entirely. Why is that? Sure it will be expensive, time consuming, and full of problems, but what isnt expensive, time consuming, and problem plagued? It is the modern, devleoped, and civilized world's moral obligation to do all that we can to assist these people. To do what we are doing and to continue to give them the minimum amount of assistance is hypocritical and morally wrong. How dare we. How dare the world.