Morning Dose of Irony
Ahh! I love a good dose of irony in morning.
As you all know by now, Dr. Paul Tiller was murdered recently – in church – by someone with anti-abortion sentiments. People oppose abortion for many reasons, some of which are religious. I don’t know yet whether Dr. Tiller’s murderer was motivated by religious beliefs or something else. Regardless, this murder is, in my view, a manifestation of a social issue that needs to be identified and addressed.
(((Billy))) wrote a post in which he detailed several acts of violence against those who have provided abortion services. This is what he recorded:
In 1993, Dr. David Gunn was murdered in Florida and Dr. George Tiller was wounded in Kansas. In 1994, Dr. John Britton and his escort, James Barrett, were killed in Florida; Dr. Garson Romalis was wounded in British Columbia; and Sannon Lowney and Leane Nichols were murdered at two women’s heatlh clinics in Massachusetts. In 1995, Dr. Hugh Short was wounded in Ontario. In 1997, an unnamed physician in New York and Dr. Jack Fainman were both wounded during attempted murders. In 1998, Dr. Bernard Slepian was shot and killed in New York; and Officer Robert Sanderson was killed during a clinic bombing in Alabama.
(((Billy))) suggested, correctly, in my opinion, that Dr. Tiller’s murder should not be regarded as an isolated incident. We should view it as emblematic of a larger culture of violence that is embedded within a segment of the anti-abortion movement.
Given this penchant for extreme measures by some of those who oppose abortion, I find it amusingly ironic that Answers in Genesis (a group I surmise is anti-abortion) is engaged in a campaign that is apparently designed to engender fear of atheists. I will not return the favor by suggesting that atheists and people who support abortion should fear religious believers and anti-abortionists, because such a suggestion would be ridiculous. Most religious believers, and most people on all sides of the abortion issue, are well-adjusted people who do not condone violence. AIG is behaving irresponsibly by posting this ad and I hope the organization will have the good sense to end this campaign quickly.
The first irony of this billboard is the ludicrous implication that atheists are more likely than theists to be killers. That idea simply is not supported by evidence. The second irony of the billboard is that AIG’s aggressive posturing in this ad campaign actually reveals the organization’s weakness. Instead of portraying AIG as a voice of reason in what it views as an increasingly godless, immoral society, the billboard demonstrates that AIG is a voice of unreason in a society that may be less willing than ever before to accept simplistic solutions to complex social and personal dilemmas. As fewer people turn to either the book of Genesis or Answers in Genesis for solutions to their problems, organizations like AIG grow increasingly desperate to win allies and converts. That amuses me immensely.
I love a good dose of irony in the morning.
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NB: One Get-Out-Of-Hell-Free card is awarded to Phillychief for alerting me to the sign.
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Update: The Postman noted (in a comment below) that the AIG campaign may not be running any longer. I hope he’s right.
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Update 2: It appears that Dr. Tiller’s murder was motivated by religion:
Roeder’s family life began unraveling more than a decade ago when he got involved with anti-government groups, and then became “very religious in an Old Testament, eye-for-an-eye way,” his former wife, Lindsey Roeder, told The Associated Press.
I’d say that completes the Irony Circle on this post.
– the chaplain
Chappie,
I may be wrong about this, but I think that AIG discontinued that ad campaign fairly soon after it began. Their mostly-sane employee must have been on vacation while they came up with the idea and put up all the billboards. She was probably thinking, “Dammit! Every time I go on vacation something like this happens.”
I was wondering if they had any up in Wichita.
Perhaps there should be some spoofs, like a picture of a dead Tiller with “Nothing matters as much as pleasing my god”
Postie:
I hope you’re right and the campaign was, for lack of a better word, killed.
I have to ask, does Gawd ever get that feeling when he goes on vacation?
Philly:
Has anyone ever told you that you have a dark imagination?
Personally think someone should have countered that billboard with a picture of a prominent mass murderer, who happened to wear crosses, with nearly the same line, like, “If gods supposed word didn’t matter to him, why would you?” Guaranteed to send the morons are AIG and others into spastic fits. lol
Ha! If only. I think you have to finish your vacation before you can have that feeling.
On a slightly related note, my boss at the day job, (I live in NYC), was on his first vacation in years on 09/11/2001. It wasn’t until this year that he could muster up the courage to take another.
One Get-Out-Of-Hell-Free card is awarded to Phillychief for alerting me to the sign.
What? I was looking forward to meeting him there. You’re ruining my party, Chappie. No more free cards, OK?
I wouldn’t want out. That’s where all the cool people could be.
Kagehi:
I was wondering who would step up and suggest something like that. You and Philly seem to be thinking on the same wavelength.
Lorena & Philly:
Hmm. I guess I could give away Keep-Out-Of-Heaven cards instead. I may need to post a poll and get reader opinions on the matter.
Chappy: Why are you handing out “Keep-Out-Of-Pychotic’s-Imaginary-Places” cards?
I had seen that billboard on another blog (can’t remember where (I really am becoming my father)) and thought it rather frightening. With the assassination of Dr. Tiller, it goes way beyond frightening.
Saw a bumper sticker today: It had crosshairs on a persons head and the text read “One Down, Two to Go: Stop Partial Birth Abortion.” That was quick. And scary.
(((Billy))):
That bumper sticky is beyond scary.
I say that the doc was asking for it by going to church. What is he, fucking stupid?
It is a bit odd, eh Ex? Crutch…. Hmmm….
Of course, I suspect that ‘you’ would matter more to him than god. At least he could have seen you, talked to you, got to know you etc. for real, which would almost certainly have reduced the chances of him wanting to kill you.
It is so tragic when people take law and execution into their own hands, and when people try to win weak arguments with fear.
“(((Billy))) suggested, correctly, in my opinion, that Dr. Tiller’s murder should not be regarded as an isolated incident. We should view it as emblematic of a larger culture of violence that is embedded within a segment of the anti-abortion movement.”
Perhaps, simply, a larger culture of violence.
You are presuming that they are not a total lunatic, and that talking to you wouldn’t be the thing that “convinced” them that you where too atheist, liberal, ungodly, or some other more random thing, “to allow to continue living.” We are not dealing with sane people, we are dealing with nut cases that, apparently, tried to glue the doors of another clinic shut, less than 24 hours prior to the murder, and “got” the information about where the church was, and “possibly” the information that Tiller was actually there, from another insane person at Operation Rescue, who “also” had a track record of things that are “Federal” crimes, and “did” get her jail time the last time it happened.
Ex & Evo:
I thought church was supposed to be a haven of safety and solace for all?
AThinkingMan:
I thought much the same thing. When one can actually make personal connections, barriers can come down and relationships can be built.
Kagehi:
I read about that Operation Rescue lady. Pretty frightening stuff.
Archangel:
You’ve got a point about the general culture of violence that pervades the USA. That larger culture is probably what gives the violent extremists within the anti-abortion movement a sense that they’re not out of the ordinary.
Bravo.
Yes.
Hmmm… smells like Reconstructionist Dominionism to me. How about an odd question: Let’s say we can all presume for the sake of argument that God and Satan exist. I would say Roeder did Satan’s work, not God. Thoughts?
No. Even for the sake of argument, assuming Satan, or just a generic EVIL, doesn’t cut it. There is no Satan, and there is no evil. There are just evil people, evil thoughts, evil actions, evil results. Evil is an adjective, not a noun, except in conceptual discourse. We’re talking reality, and assuming a Satan, or Evil, lets Roeder, and indirectly everybody that supports Roeder, off the hook. It removes responsibility from where it should be laid.
In my mind, primary responsibility is Roeder’s. I think a good case can be had for secondary responsibility for the Bill O’Reillys and the Randall Terrys of the world who would like to have seen Tiller dead, but didn’t have the courage of their convictions to pull the trigger themselves, instead opting to foment the the murder in the weaker minds of compliant individuals, knowing full well some idiot out there would do it.
Alert! Derailment in progress!
Danger, Will Robinson!
SI,
Relax, you completely missed the point of my comment. I wasn’t asking the question to “let Roeder off the hook,” and even if we all assumed Satan existed such still wouldn’t excuse Goeder’s refusal to think critically. In my mind, primary responsibility is Goeder’s, too. And while your claims of secondary responsibility are sure to get a quibble, anyone who “foments murder in the weaker minds of compliant individuals” acts irresponsibly.
Indeed, Philly’s comment was quite prophetic. You took this thing in a completely different direction.
My bad. Continue.