thinking from emotion, rather than facts

What started out to be a posting on people wigging out over Marco Rubio questioning why there seems more outrage over Cecil the Lion than at Planned Parenthood as heartless.took an unexpected turn.  

Oh, I am still astonished at people dumping on Sen. Rubio - the man believes that abortion is full-scale murder, so his outrage at the lack of fury make sense.  He is sharing one of his deepest beliefs, not simply playing to his base.  But looking at Business Insider's reporting of his comments, I realized that there is much more here.  There is a perfectly calibrated example of thinking from our emotions, instead of our brains.  And that is what we have been set up to do.

The article notes that videos showing distressing aspects of how Planned Parenthood disposes of aborted fetuses, shot by members of an anti-abortion group posing as representatives of a fetal DONATION company, "display a Planned Parenthood employee sipping wine and eating cheese while appearing to speak about abortion procedures that doctors use to preserve tissue for research."

It's completely understandable why anyone who believes abortion is murder would be in arms.  It's understandable why any human would feel disturbed by the casualness with which the disposal of a "pre-born" is discussed.  Absolutely understandable.  

A few comments.  First - that's why the anti-abortion group shot & edited the video.  Opponents of abortion took a long time to realize they need to appeal to emotions, rather than indignation.  They took a long time, but are now masters. For all those folks who looking for Planned Parenthood's hide because of how someone talked over lunch with people she thought were on the up & up - never listen in on a lunchtime conversation between physicians or lawyers, because it can get shockingly cavalier.

Second, Sen. Rubio joins a host of Republicans calling for the government to defund Planned Parenthood.  Based on the videos.  Because...?  They are disgusting?  They are.  That's what they are edited to do - to disgust anyone who has a feeling heart, pro-life or pro-choice.  But that isn't cause to defund a group that is far more than the political organization that Mitch McConnell describes.   All the videos portray is how the organization disposes of fetal remains - the unedited version is clear they are not trying to make money out of heartbreak.  What is the basis for defunding Planned Parenthood, at the state or federal level?  That they donate fetal tissue to scientific research? 

Sen. Rubio's condemnation is understandable.  Majority Leader McConnell's is about as political as it gets.  And by the way, Sen. McConnell -  abortion is only a political issue because the GOP makes what it currently the law of the land into a political football.  How many times does he state that defunding Planned Parenthood will protect women's health?  Leader McConnell - I believe you meant the fetus' health.  And I have no problem with that, as many people believe that a fetus should be protected, at all costs, including a woman's life, that it should have equal rights with its carrier female. If it was about a woman's health, every bill banning abortions would include exclusions for incest & when the mother's life is at jeopardy.  

Last, let's look at the call for a Department of Justice inquiry - how does the DOJ launch an inquiry when donating fetal material for scientific research has been legal since 1993?  Yes, the woman from Planned Parenthood talked about being paid certain amounts - that is also covered under the law, as long as it is covering only the costs of processing & shipping.  It sounds hard cold unfeeling to say "shipping & handling," but that's what's being discussed.  

Talk about playing politics - Sen. Rubio knows that everything described on the video recordings are legal.  He might be in total disagreement with them, but that doesn't make them illegal.  What Planned Parenthood does with the fetuses is stomach-turning - but it's not illegal. 

People of every political stripe might find abortion on demand to be unethical & immoral.  I am one of them, believing that the process we call LIFE begins with the fertilization of the egg by the sperm.  That is my belief.  And I believe that abortion - as a permission - is acceptable in cases of incest & when a mother's health - certainly her life - is in danger.

But believing that isn't cause to defund Planned Parenthood, just as them doing something icky isn't cause to have them investigated by the DOJ.

It took conservatives a long time to learn, but they have mastered the emotional assault.  It brought down ACORN, which was defunded & destroyed based on similarly heavily edited videos that went straight to our sense of outrage, bypassing our brain.  

It's interesting that Sen. Rubio compared Cecil the Lion to Planned Parenthood because he - and his fellow conservatives - are as out for the organization's hide as Walter Palmer was for the beloved lion's.  They know they'll never get it through reason - Planned Parenthood provides too many essential health services - so get it the same way they got ACORN's.  Just lie, but lie in a way that touches our hearts & inflames our minds.