Let’s talk about nuance and hypocrisy. Yeah bro, things are getting heady for 4/20. See, we can think it’s fun to celebrate 4/20 (but also lol at everyone who pretends this is a real holiday and like, calls out from work and stuff, Doreen!), while also realizing that the “War on Drugs” contributed to the racially-biased mass incarceration of people of color and that drug arrests are incredibly racially biased and that for every white guy joking around about smoking SOO much in a movie there’s a black man in prison on felony pot possession charges! Understanding this and fighting to correct it is nuance. It’s how we exist in the world, aware that things are messy and confusing and shitty so much of the time.
Here’s hypocrisy: spending all your effing time fake crying about the rights of the “unborn” and then saying like “Hey hey hey, we don’t want a baby in the Senate, it might be disruptive.” But honestly, we thought the little complaints around Tammy Duckworth were really illustrative of the flaws of the anti-abortion movement at large. Sure, everyone likes the idea of a cute baby, thinks it’s precious: but a lot of (let’s be real, mostly old white men men) don’t want to deal with the mess of a real life baby and child birth. These losers think it’s like, the world’s biggest sin and that you feel terrible if you can’t provide for a baby because your condom broke. Your unplanned pregnancy: def their issue, def a thing they think they get to have a say in. But oh boy, if you ask them to allow you to bring your baby to work so you can DO YOUR FUCKING JOB, then they don’t think babies are so cute and precious. Then they think it’s YOUR issue and you should just have to not go to your job.
Life is messy and terrible sometimes. And that’s something anti-abortion extremists can’t understand. They keep trying to ban D&E abortions (even though these bans are def unconstitutional) and try to shock and disgust voters with the nitty gritty of the procedure. The truth is of course, more nuanced. This detailed, heartbreaking, important essay about a 7-month abortion should be read by everyone, but especially anti-abortion haters. It explains how hurtful their rhetoric can be to people who really, desperately need an abortion.
Another great nuanced piece, if we do say so ourselves, is our dear Moji Alawode-El talking about her experience giving birth for Black Maternal Health Week.
And here’s some more hypocrisy: Arizona saying they’re trying to help people who’ve had abortions by making them fill out a ridiculous questionnaire, but then saying that birth control is “pre-healthcare” and isn’t really what this bill is about. Oh, so… it’s just about shaming people then?
The group SisterSong worked tirelessly recently to make North Carolina change their restraint policy for pregnant inmates. You’d think this would be something Big Brother Anti-Abobo would support, but nope, they weren’t advocating! Nuance is realizing we’re all people, struggling and striving and trying to get by, hypocrisy is only caring about the people who fit your narrow mold of how a person should be (ie billionaires and fetuses).
So happy 420! After you’re done celebrating (or really, while you are celebrating) join the ACLU in the fight against mass incarceration!
