Do you ever see something and just get wowed by what you saw? That happened to me at least a half-dozen times in the last half hour.
This video is long (about 33 minutes). But it's worth it. You're probably going to watch at least an hour of TV this week. Make some time for me and watch this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y2KsU_dhwI
You don't have to agree. Just see the connections and think it through. That's all I'm asking.
That was a 180 degree turn in the middle of that movie. So, aptly named. (Scaring people with Hell at the end was over the top and off-topic, imho. A 90 degree turn in another direction. Is this Baptist or something?)
ReplyDeleteHere is the question that follows upon the original comparison.
There is no doubt that the violence of war was completely justified in order to stop the Holocaust. That it was necessary to take up arms and march against Germany, kill the soldiers involved, kill those in charge of concentration camps in order to free the Jews. To organize weapons and soldiers, intelligence and spies, guns and planes and bombs and all the trappings of war.
Yet we roundly condemn those who bomb abortion clinics and kill abortion doctors and take the same kind of extreme measures against those who participate in this modern American Holocaust. Why? If there is anything close to a 1:1 comparison between the Holocaust and abortion, shouldn't we be much more militant?
Unless you advocate complete pacifism in all cases, including WWII, I don't see how you can make this comparison but reconcile the two ideas. I know I cannot... there are so many subtle layers to root through in order to understand the evil of abortion and its effects.
It is a discussion that needs to be had.
The major difference I see is that we have a non-violent way to end abortion, whereas non-Germans in WWII did not. Diplomacy was tried, if I recall correctly, but proved powerless to stop Hitler.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Hitler showed aggression toward the Allied nations, so the war was partly in self-defense. As I see it (which admittedly is pretty much the Catholic party line on killing), there is only one acceptable reason to kill a human being: to defend yourself or someone else from violent aggression when no other way exists to do so. This can apply to individuals or to nations. Strictly speaking, this is the only justification for war that I can see.
I do think that Germans in WWII who objected to Hitler's mass killings would have been wrong to immediately take up arms without attempting a non-violent solution. If they could have peaceably removed Hitler from power, that would have been the way to go, in my opinion. As long as we still have democracy in America, I do not think militant action to stop abortion would be right.
I do think that if abortion is made illegal but some people still provide it, force would be justified to stop it. But that force would, I think, have the same moral limitations as forcibly stopping any other violent crime (using deadly force only as a last resort, leaving use of force up to police as professionals whenever possible, et cetera).
Ultimately, I see the issue of killing abortion doctors to save lives as rephrasing the question of when it is acceptable to kill a human being. I think we have other options today such that it is not acceptable to do so, whereas the Allied nations did not have any other recourse to oppose Hitler.
There are probably other, more subtle differences between abortion and the Holocaust. I, personally, disagree with the video if/when it claims that the two issues are completely identical. But the claim that much of the same moral thought applies to both is worth attention, I think.
I agree with you that the Hell part at the end is bizarre and rude; the video would be much stronger without it, I think.
I'm always glad when you comment; you're always so thoughtful and intelligent. I hope you're doing well!