From 1789 to 2019, America just can't decide what a "person" is

In January 2019, on the 46th anniversary of Roe V Wade, New York passed a new abortion law that allowed abortions of up to full-term babies. I'm not going to state the specifics of the bill, because that's not the point of this blog. While everyone is focusing on the terms of the bill and the implications, the key to what is going on here is in a simple statement found within the bill.

Section 5, lines 19-20 state the following, ""Person," when referring to the victim of a homicide,  means  a (20) human being who has been born and is alive."

Person.

From the ratification of the Constitution, which originally stated that people could own other people (slaves counted as 3/5th of a person), we've been defining what a person is in order to justify whatever we want to do to them.

During the slave era, a slave fell outside the definition of a "person." Therefore, the nation could justify buying and selling them, keeping them in chains, forcing them to work, because, you see, they weren't "people." Deny people their humanity, and then do whatever you want to them.

Now, states like New York have decided that a "person" is someone who has already been born and is alive. Therefore, the unborn child (even at 39 weeks) is not a person. Therefore, we can justify doing whatever we want to them. Deny the unborn their humanity, and then do whatever you want to them.

I'm not the first person to draw the correlation between abortion and slavery. Many people have. However, the KEY to this bill, the KEY to this line of thinking, is in the definition of a person. New York HAD to make a statement about what the definition of a person is in order to justify this bill. They wanted full unrestricted abortion. They wanted the ability to do whatever they wanted with this life growing inside them.

They knew they couldn't just enable it. They knew that the vast majority of Americans wouldn't put up with a law saying that a full-term baby could be killed at any point. So they had to backtrack and define what a person was. Ah! Let's just state that a person's humanity, a person's real self, the person himself or herself, only happens when the person is outside the mother! Then, because the unborn is not a person, the unborn is not entitled to any protection or rights or even civility or mercy.

The Bible tells us something radically different. The Bible tells us that we are made in God's image. The Bible tells us that we were known by God as people BEFORE we were born, that we had a name, that God spent time "knitting us together" (quite the understatement when you consider God's creation, but I digress) and that we had dignity and personhood while in utero (Jeremiah 1:5, Psalm 139:1-24).

Oh, the arrogance demonstrated by New York yesterday.

See, the biggest problem isn't the enabling of abortion. That's simply the symptom.

The biggest problem is that human beings, from the beginning of our nation, believe they have the right to decide who is a person and who isn't. Slave owners and New York legislators believe that they have the sovereign right to decide who is a human and who isn't, and therefore have the right to decide who has civil rights and who doesn't.

The arrogance.

The outright arrogance to look at another person and say, "You aren't a person."

The outright arrogance of slave owners to look at their slaves and say, "You aren't a person, therefore I can do whatever I want to you."

The outright arrogance of abortionists to look at the unborn and say, "You aren't a person, therefore I can do whatever I want to you."

Why? Why would a person be so arrogant as to do that? The answer to that is simple. It's the answer that's driven humanity from the beginning. It's the answer that drove slavery back in the day and drives abortion now- MONEY.

Slavery was an economic system. It was incredibly profitable. Therefore, in order to make money, people denied the slaves their humanity.

Abortion is an economic system. It is a multi-billion dollar racket. Planned Parenthood gets $500 million in taxpayer subsidies alone. There is so much money to be made in the abortion industry. So, in order to make money, we redefine who is a person and who isn't, and my my my does the money come rolling in.

To put the icing on the cake, to show the absolute ridiculousness of this law and the utter hypocrisy of abortionists in New York (and elsewhere), I leave you with this. In the state of New York (and all over America), the U.S Fish and Wildlife states that:

"The bald eagle will continue to be protected by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act even though it has been delisted under the Endangered Species Act. This law, originally passed in 1940, provides for the protection of the bald eagle and the golden eagle (as amended in 1962) by prohibiting the take, possession, sale, purchase, barter, offer to sell, purchase or barter, transport, export or import, of any bald or golden eagle, alive or dead, including any part, nest, or egg, unless allowed by permit."

Did you catch that? The Bald Eagle is an endangered species, and it is a crime to kill one. It is ALSO a crime to destroy a Bald Eagle EGG. Why? Simple. The law states that the egg has the potential to become a bald eagle. Therefore, a person who kills a bald eagle and a person who destroys a bald eagle egg receive the same punishment- $5000 fine and one year in jail for first offense.

The utter hypocrisy on display here is astounding. The bald eagle and its eggs have the same protection, because the law doesn't see any difference between a bald eagle and a POTENTIAL bald eagle. However, the law does not extend the same reasoning to human beings.

So which is it, America? If we allow abortion because a person is not a "person" until outside the womb and alive, have at those bald eagle eggs. Cook em up and eat them for breakfast. Throw them against the wall and make them splatter. After all, they aren't REALLY alive until they hatch, right?

At least that's what New York would say. God help us all.

America's Decreasing Ability to Think Critically on Full Display This Past Weekend

This past weekend, a video of a Native American veteran and some boys from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky went viral. All over Facebook, all over Twitter, all over the MSM was the confrontation showing a Native American man beating a drum face to face with a teenager. You've probably seen the viral picture.

The amount of sharing on Facebook was incredible. Every other person on my news feed had posted it- condemning the teenager wearing the MAGA hat, hating on Covington Catholic, saying, "What's wrong with teenagers today," condemning the hat, asking why they were wearing a MAGA hat and why the school would allow such a symbol, etc. It went on and on.

The kids from Covington Catholic and their families went into hiding. They had death threats. The parents were threatened professionally. Kathy Griffin demanded names, addresses, and locations of the teens, wanting to dox them to her followers. In a period of a few hours, the Covington Catholic teens were the most hated people in America.

How quick the people of this nation were to share it.

Then, something happened.

New video surfaced. New testimonies surfaced. Turns out that things weren't as they first appeared. Video surfaced of the Native American veteran approaching the teens, starting the conflict. Video of another group of protestors surfaced, hurling racial and homophobic slurs at the Covington Catholic teens. New statements from eyewitnesses came forward, showing that America had been lied to, manipulated by the news media pushing a narrative.

The silence on social media the next day was deafening.

People who had called for the heads of the teens were quiet. The outrage subsided. People who had been quick to share the story wrote retractions. As the truth came out, the people who had shared the story looked foolish.

This showed me one incredibly alarming thing. America has increasingly lost its ability to think critically.

Critical thinking has left the building. In its place is emotional reaction. Instead of showing patience, wisdom, maturity in the face of a piece of news, instead of waiting for facts (because they always come out later), instead of thinking of the consequences of sharing a viral story that could possibly destroy the lives of people, America unthinkingly went ballistic.

We have become a people without gravity, without logic, without the ability to think beyond what we are being shown on a screen. Without the ability to think critically about a story or a piece of news, we become a nation that is easily duped. Easily manipulated. Easily deceived. That's what we are now.

Instead of developing the ability to look at pieces of news with skepticism, we instead have developed the ability to jump on the bandwagon and direct our scorn, derision, and hate towards anyone the media tells to direct it towards.

America today reminds me of a bird that lived in my backyard when I was a kid. We had a glassed-in porch, and one day this bird flew smack into the window. It dropped to the ground, floundered around for a minute, and then flew into the window again. Same thing. A few minutes later, it did it again. The stupid bird not only kept flying into the window- it kept flying into the SAME window.

That's exactly what America is today. News story after news story has come out provoking outrage, with stories going viral, people up in arms, calling for the heads of whoever happens to be the whipping boy of the day. Then, the next day, more information comes out and everyone feels sheepish that they got duped so easily. Then the next day or week, it happens again- some news story inflames passions and everyone gets fired up and the internet heats up with shares and likes and debates. Then the next day, new information comes out and everyone retreats. The next day, same thing. WE NEVER LEARN.

I believe this is the most scary thing that can ever happen to a society.

When a society loses the ability to think critically, it becomes one easily controlled. It becomes one easily duped. An easily controlled society is one that is capable of extreme acts of evil. Or, at least will tolerate leaders who will commit acts of extreme evil. All societies in history that have committed horrendous atrocities have leaders who controlled information, duping the people.

America needs to return to a society that looks with skepticism on everything. Whenever the internet is rushing to dogpile on someone or something, back away. Refuse to speak or comment. Withhold judgment until more facts come out. Wait a few days before commenting. Resist the urge to share juicy morsels of breaking news.

The reason people were so quick to share this story is because of a phenomenon psychologists refer to as "confirmation bias." Confirmation bias simply means that we believe stories that go along with what we already believe to be true.

Confirmation bias was seen in this instance because the people sharing this story already believed some things to be true: that people wearing MAGA hats are racist, that pro-life conservatives were bigots, etc. Because of those preconceived notions, when they saw white kids in conflict with a Native American, it was no problem convincing them that the white kids were aggressors, that they were in the wrong, and that their actions were based on racism.

A psychologist could make a career out of what happened Saturday. Confirmation bias is present in anyone and everyone. Everyone has preconceived beliefs and notions, and if we aren't careful, if we don't think critically, we simply go along with any news story or any SLANT to a news story that goes along with what we already believe. That's why critical thinking is so very important. It takes wisdom and gravity and maturity to realize your own confirmation bias and refuse to take that path until all the facts are in. This is what has disappeared from America, and this is why we are so easily duped and controlled.

Confirmation bias can be summed up this way- "People don't want to know what is true. They only want to know that what they ALREADY BELIEVE is true."

I have a policy- I don't believe anything people say. I don't believe anything I read or hear. It's not that I don't trust people or have a problem with people, it's just that people never tell the whole story. I think it's a natural thing to do- we tell stories in a way that makes us look innocent or moral or whatever. We leave out details, we leave out context, and we leave out key things that are usually brought forward by another person, hence the cliche, "There are always two sides to every story."

News stories are the same. Don't believe anything you read or hear. Let that be your default mode when encountering a story. The default mode of an intelligent, critically-thinking individual is "That probably didn't happen, at least in the way that it's being presented." 

Realize that you're never being told the entire story.

Realize that you're being told just enough information to provoke maximum outrage and gain maximum interest. The media's job is to get your attention. They can only do that through likes and shares and outrage, so they give you what will provide the maximum amount of likes and shares and outrage. We are being played, people, and it seems like fewer and fewer people are able to see it.

Stop letting emotions dictate your reaction. Mark Twain said it best- "Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect, because very rarely does the majority ever do the right thing."

There are very dark days ahead for America, because we've lost the ability to think critically. Instead, we are a nation dictated by emotion, easily duped, and therefore easily controlled. How foolish America looked this past weekend. How quick America was to believe the story dangled in front of us by the media. How unintelligent we looked. Unless America is able to regain its sense of critical thinking, we won't last long as a nation.