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The Circle Of Life

Certain self-appointed lecturers of conservatives and the pro-life movement have charged that by switching the discussion back to Planned Parenthood in the midst of the outrage over Cecil the Lion, we are deflecting. You get this charge a lot with other things, if you point out the selective outrage of the Left. I admit that the gaping hole in their moral vision angers me, not least because moral superiority is the means by which they shift the discussion in their favor in other contexts. Here's my personal key: Do I actually care about the other things, or do I just want the shaming to stop?

No; I actually care about innocent, dead babies, dead lions killed by trophy hunters, sub-standard wages, criminal justice reform, and dozens of other things. If we're talking about structural racism and violence in policing, it is deflection to yell out, "All lives matter!" just to make yourself less uncomfortable. I actually agree with that.

But I don't grant to a certain kind of progressive his assumption that he cares more than I do. In fact, my argument is, "What a pity, that the correctness of your moral stance, and the passion with which you express it here, cannot also be applied elsewhere!"

You bet I get angry about the self-righteous hectoring of people who can't even see the evil of killing children, and, rather than condemn this monstrosity of Planned Parenthood, want to fret about where people will be screened for ovarian cancer, while calling me an "anti-choice zealot," whatever that means. This is like pointing out that Ted Bundy put up a lemonade stand once. That is deflection.

Not only should we not do evil that good may result, we shouldn't assume that Justice is a balanced scale. It's not, with respect to good and evil. God will never write like a Times columnist: "His was a complicated legacy..."

I think otherwise decent people who support and work at Planned Parenthood are disquieted by being compared to a serial killer. Good; the moral force of that needs to be felt by everyone. It's the truth.

The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help us God.

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