{"id":200,"date":"2014-12-10T19:13:58","date_gmt":"2014-12-11T00:13:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/?p=200"},"modified":"2014-12-11T11:44:47","modified_gmt":"2014-12-11T16:44:47","slug":"whither-gallantry-brian-gallant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/?p=200","title":{"rendered":"Whither Gallantry, Brian ‘Gallant’?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Brian<\/a>Newly-elected New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant (who bears a passing resemblance to Aaron Ekhart, who played Two-Face in the second Batman movie, also an attorney who does evil thinking he is doing good) as one of his first acts of office, lifted certain restrictions on abortion in the province (having two doctors certify to the necessity of the abortion), to take effect, ironically and tragically, on the First of January, what is celebrated in the Catholic Church as the Solemnity of the Mother of God.\u00a0 So much for motherhood.<\/p>\n

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So much for gallantry also.\u00a0 Ironically, the Premier\u2019s last name means \u2018brave’ or, more to our point, ‘chivalrous\u2019, derived from an old French word for \u2018merry\u2019.\u00a0 I wonder if he\u2019s much fun at parties? \u00a0Is it chivalrous to make abortion even easier to get? \u00a0I suppose if he really thinks abortions are good in some cases, the woman’s desires need not be vetted by two physicians. \u00a0But does he really think most women want abortions, and are not at some level coerced into it, either by men or by society’s expectations of them? \u00a0Should we not at the very least, even if one is ‘pro-abortion’, allow women some time to rethink such a tragic and irrevocable decision?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But then, need it be said, Mr. Gallant is a Liberal, a brand that seems to grow more despicable on a daily basis. \u00a0I will have more to say on them as they grow in power and popularity in this country. \u00a0Not least, as I am wont to point out, that they have usurped and distorted the word \u2018liberal\u2019, which has a glorious history (from the \u2018liberal arts\u2019 to \u2018give me liberty, or give me death\u2019).\u00a0 Yet, they are anything but liberal:\u00a0 Their Dear Leader on the federal level, Mr. Trudeau Jr., in a bout of, what was that again?, \u2018liberty\u2019, has recently decreed that no one in his Party can ever, under pain of excommunication from the otherwise all-inclusive Liberal Tent, question a woman\u2019s \u2018right to choose\u2019.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Even if a Liberal member is all gung-ho on abortion rights, he should remonstrate vociferously against this violation of freedom to vote according to one\u2019s conscience and one\u2019s constituents (the first, first, of course).\u00a0 Any man would demand as much.\u00a0 But, then, where can we find men anymore?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I would appeal to the principles of democracy, but, as another post will point out soon, we don\u2019t really live in a democracy in this country, except perhaps, to some degree, at the municipal level.\u00a0 More on that later.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"jp<\/a>But back to the \u2018right to choose\u2019:\u00a0 The vagueness of modern thought never ceases to amaze me.\u00a0 Choose what<\/em>, we ask?\u00a0 Well, to have her unborn child put to death. \u00a0Is that really a ‘freedom’? \u00a0One may talk of \u2018termination\u2019 or \u2018ending pregnancy\u2019, but Saint John Paul II in his masterful encyclical Evangelium Vitae<\/em><\/a>, has asked us to avoid euphemisms when speaking of something so grave as life and death.\u00a0 Call a spade a spade, a baby a baby, and murder, murder.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But we hesitate in our society to do so, for we all want to get along, and, as Mr. Harper has asked, to \u2018keep the peace\u2019.\u00a0 Why rock the boat?\u00a0 Just repeat the mantra \u2018Peace, peace…\u2019, while sitting cross-legged in lotus position while staring a a maple leaf, and leave it at that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yet, and yet\u2026What if they cry peace and there is no peace? \u00a0To paraphrase Mother Theresa, true peace is impossible in a society that kills its own children.\u00a0 There are of course an untold number of moral problems in our society, and abortion is one amongst them.\u00a0 But before we sweep it under the seamless-garment ‘what about the poor and unwanted children?’ rug, we should recall that, at a purely physical level, abortion is amongst the most grave of evils, for how can one get worse than killing a defenceless child?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I wonder why modern Man, typified by Monsieurs Gallant and Trudeau, encumbered as they are by their modern university miseducation and their steeping too long in ‘Canadian values’, cannot see this evil, one that was recognized by every society in history(even if tolerated in some).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pope John Paul II provides the principal answer:\u00a0 As he writes in Evangelium Vitae<\/em>, abortion is motivated by what he calls the \u2018trivialization of sexuality\u2019 and the related \u2018contraceptive mentality\u2019.\u00a0 In other words, abortion is a means to, and an effect of, illicit sexual relations.\u00a0 It is the last, final form of contraception, when other forms go wrong (or are not used at all).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The modern Man, whether consciously or not, deep down perceives this, and is aware that any limits on abortion are really a limit to one\u2019s sexual \u2018freedom\u2019.\u00a0 \u00a0Without abortion, one would, at least in some cases, be forced to face up to the consequences of sexual licence, as in what used to be called \u2018illegitimate births\u2019, with all that now-quaint term entailed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That, of course, cannot be.\u00a0 Complete, uninhibited sexual freedom is a shibboleth in our society, a sacred totem, untouchable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This makes all the talk of \u2018woman\u2019s rights\u2019, as well as Trudeau Sr.\u2019s famous quip, \u2018keeping the State out of the bedroom of the nation\u2019 something of a red herring.\u00a0 Abortion is about consequence-free sex, a rather sad and tawdry motivation, an attempt to reduce the sexual union to something inconsequential, like a handshake or a prolonged hug (the ethics of \u2018hugging\u2019 may come up later on also).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But, then, as a previous post pointed out, all evil is sad and tawdry at its root, when its mask is removed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The modern world is not far off the mark in the emphasis upon, yes, its fascination with, sex, for the conjugal union is the closest we can get on this earth, in a physical way, to ultimate happiness, that search for complete self-realization.\u00a0 Of course, there are many other higher and more fulfilling spiritual and intellectual means of happiness, but these require some degree of work and effort; anyone with minimal physiological functioning can \u2018have sex\u2019 and feel \u2018fulfilled\u2019, at least temporarily.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

With many of our youth by and large unaware of any of these other higher means to fulfillment, our modern Man is loath to tolerate any restriction on his sexual escapades, whether real or imagined, present or hoped-for in the future.\u00a0 So the State, in the guise of the glib politician, legislator and physician, obliges.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ah, yes, but what of the \u2018right of a woman over her own body\u2019? \u00a0\u00a0Another red herring, for we already have rights over our own bodies (but our society is slowly removing even these), and there is another body there, that is not the woman\u2019s.\u00a0 With the right to do what we want, we also have the duty to accept what happens when we use our bodies a certain way.\u00a0 When we join together in sexual union, many things happen, physically, emotionally, psychologically, socially, and, sometimes, also new life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We try to deny this, but the truth of hard reality always comes back to haunt us.\u00a0 As I wrote on sexual consent, only monogamous marriage fulfills what is fully required (not just consent-wise) for conjugal union.\u00a0 And the fact that babies come into being, even with the \u2018best\u2019 of contraceptives, is also a hard truth.\u00a0 By some estimates, we have now killed 2 billion children by abortion in the past half-century, more than every other catastrophe in the history of the world, combined.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Men, and women, can decide whether or not to \u2018have sex\u2019, a fundamental and momentous choice, but that choice is now, sadly, trivialized.\u00a0 Sex and abortion, however, are anything but trivial. We see the trauma of women both \u2018post-non-marital sex\u2019 and \u2018post-abortion\u2019.\u00a0 The two are related, and both harm women and of course children, most. \u00a0Post-abortion mothers testify to the sad effects of abortion, not only by snuffing out the life of their child, but the long-term psychological damage it does. \u00a0I almost wrote \u2018would-be\u2019 mother, but, then, she is a mother already, and every woman \u2018with child\u2019, without exception, knows that.<\/p>\n

\"Rob<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A final point on the \u2018hard case\u2019 of rape:\u00a0 Of course, here a woman\u2019s fundamental choice is denied her, and such a violation is a grave evil. \u00a0I would quote Liam Neeson as Rob Roy, the Scottish highland hero, who declared in a brogue-ish growl after his own wife had been raped, and conceived a child, by his enemy, \u201cIt\u2019s no\u2019 the child that needs killin\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now, I advocate here neither the movie nor capital punishment, which both have their limitations, but the point stands, that it is not the child who needs punishing.\u00a0 Society should use the full force of law where the force of law is most needed, but, sadly, \u00a0our politicians, with their noses to the wind, realize where their bread and butter lies, and choose to cater to the darker \u00a0side of human nature, and all that implies.\u00a0 We will suffer the consequences until we, and they, wake up.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

December 10, 2014<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Newly-elected New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant (who bears a passing resemblance to Aaron Ekhart, who played Two-Face in the second Batman movie, also an attorney who does evil thinking he is doing good) as one of his first acts of office, lifted certain restrictions on abortion in the province (having two doctors certify to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":[],"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=200"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212,"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200\/revisions\/212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}