Devastating OpEd by Alexandra Petri: When Life Begins and Ends

[Sparkly]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/05/17/when-life-begins-ends/?utm_term=.4ec470a9a54d

There is a timeline. Somewhere between conception and when you perish at age 26 after rationing your insulin, or at 27 after undergoing an unwanted Caesarean section, or at 32 in your car during a traffic stop, the moment comes. After that moment, preserving your heartbeat is a matter of total indifference. We must identify this moment. We must study it. We must see how long we can delay this moment’s unfortunate arrival.

When, exactly, do you stop being worth protecting? Is it when you turn 18 but before you can quite graduate when your life starts to weigh less than a gun? Or does your life cease to be worth protecting at 12, when on the playground you can be shot by a police officer?

Must read.

[corbettkroehler]

1. Devastatingly Poignant!

Thanks for sharing!

[Freddie]

2. Brilliant, thank you!

Just shared on FB

[pansypoo53219]

3. if i could.

[renate]

4. I like the first two paragraphs a lot, especially the second

"We should be able to view this scientifically. Science is very good these days. We can identify the species that human activity is driving to extinction with more accuracy than ever before.

"So it must be possible for us to identify the precise moment somewhere after conception when your life ceases to be of any interest to the legislator who holds it so, so dear before it leaves the womb. I think it is important to identify that point so we may more efficiently legislate around it."

Italics mine.

It's just so damn true. There really does come a point at which the GOP (or their politicians, anyway) literally couldn't care less about you if you're anything other than rich, Christian, and white. Their base just doesn't realize it.

[canetoad]

5. Kick

Important reading.