A New Old Terrorist Threat
Dr. George Tiller died on May 31, 2009, as a result of the first fatal act of religious terrorism since 9-11. The loss of Dr. Tiller is recognized as a great blow to the pro-choice movement, but more importantly, it is a blow to the basic freedoms all Americans believe they enjoy. We like to think of ourselves as much different than Muslim Iran, Pakistan or Afghanistan. We look at them as a people burdened with extreme religious fanaticism and the resultant harsh and brutal restrictive lifestyle that comes with rules of government crafted from religious interpretations. Dr. Tiller’s death reminds us that we live somewhere in the fragile and ever-changing balance between freedom and tyranny. Just as the Muslim religious fanatics have their supporters, both vocal and silent, so do the Christian extremists in the United States. The ripple of, “We didn't’t do it! It’s not our fault!” that immediately followed Dr. Tiller’s murder does not demonstrate innocence as much as it does an understanding responsibility. While there is a gunman, it is the religious fanatics who own the blame for this disaster. A little time cruising so-called conservative blogs makes it clear that there is an undercurrent of fanaticism supporting terrorism as a means to forcing the will of the extreme religious right wing on all U.S. citizens.
Who Really Gets The Blame
So, where do we find the list of people to blame for Dr. Tiller’s death? There is of course the freak of society who actually pulled the trigger. He is to the anti-abortion movement what the suicide bomber is to the anti-western fanatics of the Middle East. Oh how we do despise those horrid Muslims for their intolerance and religious fanaticism. They are such a threat to our democracy. Unfortunately for us, the anti-abortion fanatics have the same goals as those hated Muslim extremists. They want to force their beliefs on America. The difference is that the anti-abortion fanatics are our extremists. The blame for Dr. Tiller’s murder doesn’t just belong to the vocal anti-abortion fanatics we see intimidating women in front of abortion clinics. There is plenty of blame to be shared by neo-conservative talk radio and television hosts from Hannity to O’Riely. These are the folks who keep the uninformed, uninformed and fan the flames of hatred in the name of their brand of conservative politics. They feel free to spread their opinions as if they were speaking the truth. No, they are not true conservatives any more than the extreme anti-American Muslims backing the Taliban are true Muslims. There is also plenty of blame to be shared by anti-abortion groups and the churches that preach that their beliefs should supersede the bounds of the Constitution.
A Question of Free Speech
We accept legions of carefully trained zombie-like characters who assemble with grossly inaccurate representations of the results of abortion as examples of the exercise of free speech. They come armed with venomous speech, exaggerated claims, deadly threats and vicious intent. With great pride in themselves, they hurl their insults and threats at the women whom they know are struggling emotionally and force them through a gauntlet of verbal assaults brewed in hatred and served up the emotional force only a crowd of bullies can muster. They are hoping to break these women emotionally, destroying their will to resist the religious onslaught and leaving them unable to continue to manage their own life decisions. We tolerate this focused attack on innocent women and their medical providers because we are a people who value freedom of expression.
Would we tolerate protesters screaming at pregnant Christian mothers-to-be as they go seeking pre-natal care? What if those screaming people were environmentalists concerned with the worldwide shortages of food caused by overpopulation? What if they harassed women by screaming at them, calling them murderers and showing them pictures of poor people and children dying of malnutrition? Tens of thousands of people die worldwide of malnutrition as a result of what many believe stems from overpopulation. With so many deaths resulting from overpopulation, shouldn't pregnant women be shown the consequences of their actions? This may sound absurd, but the argument is based more soundly in facts than that of the anti-choice terrorists. So, what if protesters did harass pregnant women? What if the pregnant women were harassed to the point that they were reluctant to get any medical care at all and simply had their children at home? Would we tolerate that in the name of free speech? I don’t think any reasonable person would tolerate it, because we all know that pregnant women need, and have a right to, good medical care. If we take the anti-abortion rhetoric out of the issue and ask the question, “Do women have a right to medical care without emotional and physical harassment?” the answer is simple, they do. Continued harassment of others is not a free speech issue, it is a crime. As long as we continue to allow religious zealots to harass people seeking medical care and condone the characterization of women seeking abortions and their doctors as murderers, we will be inviting more brutal acts of religious terrorism and more innocent victims like Dr. George Tiller. Our nation will be a lesser place for it.
We Can Stop This
Dr. George Tiller, as others have before him, gave his life for freedoms already guaranteed by the Constitution. Conservatives (other than talk radio neo-conservatives) value the individual rights our constitution sets forth in the Bill of Rights. It starts with free speech and continues with a list of guarantees that fundamentally do one thing, it sets aside for the individual, freedom from the burden of restrictive infringement from a majority (government) or a powerful minority (religious fanatics) so as to allow individuals basic freedoms to establish their own destiny and live with beliefs not dictated by the state or others. These freedoms are untenable to anti-choice fanatics, but they are the fundamental basis of a free society. We are supposed to be a nation of laws and we (particularly we conservatives) are supposed to be a people who respect democracy and our Constitution, especially those individual freedoms. What the needless death of Dr. George Tiller has shown is that we are a nation that tolerates religious intolerance and terrorism through the coddling of those who lay the groundwork for, and justify, whatever it takes to force their religious beliefs upon others. It is time to openly recognize that their disrespect for the Constitution and the rest of America is disgusting and the tactics they employ to force their beliefs on the rest of society are criminal. Will we now have the courage and wisdom to bring this to a halt?
Return to Main Page
The terrorist in sheeps clothing is the terrorist we see on the streets of America. - Jenny Jerrome
