Media Use Arrest as Opportunity to
Misrepresent Pro-Life Views
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Subject:
Source: Los Angeles Times; April 3, 2001
Media Use Arrest as Opportunity to Misrepresent Pro-Life Views
by Cal Thomas
The arrest in France of James C. Kopp on charges of
the 1998 murder of
Buffalo, N.Y. abortionist Barnett Slepian has given media champions of
the
procedure an opportunity to again slander pro-lifers.
Last Saturday's New York Times covered Kopp's arrest
at the top of its
front page, an indication of the importance editors attached to the
story.
Inside was a "defending abortion rights" editorial, and should
there be
any doubt where the Times stands on this issue (how could there be?),
the
paper published an op-ed piece by the director of the Boulder (Colorado)
Abortion Clinic, who said he received the news of Kopp's arrest
"just as I
finished performing an abortion for the last patient of the
morning." For
Warren M. Hern it was just another day at the office.
HBO aired a special of its own conception Sunday
night. "Soldiers in
the Army of God" was about the extremist group by that name which
believes
the killing of abortionists is a pro-life act because it reduces by
intimidation and elimination the number of doctors who do the procedure.
The documentary followed "The Sopranos," a
show in which murder is
entertainment. Apparently, HBO believes that a show which favorably
depicts hit men in the Mafia is an appropriate lead-in to another show
which unfavorably depicts executions in "The Army of God."
The HBO script followed the usual line: Pick the most
extreme form of
behavior, do a documentary on it and leave the impression that all
pro-lifers are just a hair trigger away from snuffing out the life of
their local abortionist. The Washington Post 's Megan Rosenfeld got the
intended message. In her review of the show (on the front page of the
widely read Style section) Saturday, March 31, she wrote: " . . .
these
are not just wacky eccentrics flying under First Amendment radar, these
guys are genuinely dangerous."
Rosenfeld sees this documentary as a lesson with
different messages
for each side. "Abortion rights proponents can use it to invigorate
their
troops," she wrote. But for us nasty people who think babies
deserve a
chance at life (and pregnant women should be allowed the same access to
information about the life within them that shoppers get about food at
the
supermarket), Rosenfeld writes, "the antis could use it to assess
what
they have unleashed, and figure out a way to get the discussion back to
principle and away from terrorism . . . "
By this logic, the abolitionists and others in the
anti-slavery
movement were responsible for the violent tactics of John Brown, and
nonviolent anti-Vietnam war protesters must have spawned the violent
Weathermen. In fact, non-violent prolifers (which are the overwhelming
majority) have spoken about principle ever since Roe vs. Wade. However,
most of the media won't carry their thoughts because so many in the
media
oppose any restrictions on abortion, preferring the morally vacuous word
"choice." Most pro-life speakers, no matter what their fame or
reputation,
go largely uncovered by local or national press. When a pro-choice
speaker, even one with little or no reputation, shows up to address a
small audience, he or she gets favorable coverage.
What other conclusion can be reached than that the
media want to
ignore responsible debate and suppress legitimate information of use to
women? Instead, they promote a singular point of view, while
stereotyping
the one with which they disagree.
When the issue was civil rights 40 years ago, most of
the mainstream
media chose to promote the nonviolent ideas of Martin Luther King Jr.
and
treat him as the movement's legitimate leader. Men like Stokely
Carmichael, H. Rap Brown and Malcolm X, all of whom advocated violence
to
achieve their objectives, were eventually marginalized and portrayed as
outside the mainstream, With abortion, it's the reverse. The extremists
are featured and responsible voices are ignored, because extremists help
the pro-choice cause.
The arrest of James Kopp for an unjustifiable act
gives the media and
their pro-choice allies another opportunity to misrepresent responsible
pro-life opinions.
--
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