Memes are the only contribution to civilization for which I think Richard Dawkins deserves a medal.
In 1976, the atheistic biologist coined the term ‘meme’ in his book, “The Selfish Gene”, in reference to something that passes from person to person within a culture. With the rise of social media, though, the term now refers to those witty captioned pictures floating around Facebook. But while many memes are funny, some are conduits for straw men. Straw men, according to one dictionary, are intentionally misrepresented propositions that are set up because they are easier to defeat than an opponent’s real argument. I came across a straw man meme last week. The gist of it was that pro-life people care only about whether a child is born or not, but care nothing at all for the wellbeing of the child or its family after birth. I nearly laughed out loud. Such an argument is so fraught with willful ignorance that it’s a wonder anyone thought it clever enough to share. But, alas, someone —many someones — did spread it around. Were I given the chance to talk with those who find the straw man meme compelling, I’d begin by pointing out that it is, indeed, a straw man. After all, the assertion that pro-life Americans only care about a child before it is born is demonstrably false. Consider that among Christians — those leading the pro-life movement – five percent have adopted, which is more than double that of the rest of the United States’ population. But more importantly, I’d invite them to visit a local pregnancy care center (PCC). There are approximately 2,500 PCCs in the United States, compared to 1,600 abortion clinics. A couple of months ago, I toured a nearby PCC, and I was blown away. Not only was the center clean, bright and welcoming, it was staffed with people giving freely of their time to help families in need. Volunteers stood by to counsel young men and women facing unplanned pregnancies. They were there to listen, to be a shoulder to cry on, and to offer real solutions that did not involve ending the innocent lives of children. But that’s not all. The center also offers prenatal care to women, fatherhood mentoring to young men, and a storehouse of baby clothes, toys, diapers, formula, and even clothing for expectant mothers. And did I mention that after the babies are born, they receive free medical care for the first two years of their lives? What is more amazing is that the center’s director informed me that they receive absolutely no government aid. Rather, the center is funded entirely by donors — you know, those whose only interest is the child inside the womb, not outside. Jan. 22, 2021, marked 48 years since the U.S. Supreme Court handed down Roe v. Wade, the decision that made abortion on-demand legal in all 50 states. Since that time, more than 50 million unborn children have died at the hands of abortionists. Thankfully, many states have passed pieces of legislation that seek to protect human life, and I applaud such measures. But public policy alone can only do so much. The straw man arguments persist. More effective, I think, is a visit to a local pregnancy care center. They are all different and are tailored to meet the needs particular to their communities. But each center is a beacon of hope to parents, who are told by the culture that there is only one option to a crisis pregnancy. The work pregnancy care centers are doing is laudable and heroic. And I suggest, at least when Covid passes, that everyone visit (and make a donation to) one. It would do a lot toward dismantling the culture of death...and to setting aflame those useless straw men.
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AuthorTy Perry is a writer based in metro-Detroit. Archives
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