Green Room - Week 25 - Day 7

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Fortunately, I waited to mention LJ's newest promotion until Hitler was brought into it. You know you are having a good, informative discussion on an important issue when someone brings up Hitler!

Hitler is the Ceiling Cat of Internet fights, he sees all and he solves every problem! When you have nothing else in your argument tank, just pull out "This is just like Hitler" and things will magically make sense again.

A close second (IMO - YMMV) is slavery. Comparing an privately owned company's decision to donate to a charitable organization is exactly like them supporting slavery. (If I have to point out that I'm being sarcastic here, I am going to take away your right to be on the internet card. Don't make me come down there and do that. I can turn this car around right now, and then no one will get ice cream!)

Then again, when the charitable organization is Planned Parenthood and the privately owned company is Livejournal, you had to know there were going to be some "interesting" responses.

I imagine the same people upset with this due to Planned Parenthood's involvement with abortions will soon be moving on to protest Wal-Mart for selling electronics. Because it's about the same share of the business.

There are certainly important issues involved with the "Pro-Choice and Pro-Life" debates, and I doubt that people will come to any real agreement any time soon on the "when does life begin" conversation. Just from today, it seems that it turned into "baby murdering Hitlers" on one side to "the founding fathers were racists" on the other. Where any of this fits into the discussion about women's reproductive health makes as much sense to me as why there is a conversation going on about women's reproductive health in the first place, seems like a no-brainer to give as much access as possible to as much as is needed. *shrug* What do I know?

What I DO know is that Livejournal is having a donation drive: http://theljstaff.livejournal.com/5366.html
I know that a LOT of the people reading this already know about it, because I saw it on our Friends List first, and figured it was something important enough to comment on.

I also know that given all of the hits that LJ has taken over the last couple of years, supporting an issue that has such wide support among the general base (even if it might alienate some people in the process, who don't like that organization) is a great PR move. Kudos to whoever came up with the idea, From a PR standpoint, it gets people reposting your branding and in some cases, your actual post. Which is never a bad thing from a marketing perspective.

Most of all though, I know that LJ IDOL is endorsing one thing, and one thing only - the current poll, which is closing later today: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/562742.html

If someone that you love needs extra care, don't take it to Planned Parenthood, they will just look at you like you've gone crazy - instead, let people know if they are missing out on a hidden gem of an entry!!

Comments

[notodette.livejournal.com]

I thought the supportive comments really outdid the other side, which is why I really liked them.

The other side is looking...frantic and not too good right now. (At least to me.)

[kickthehobbit.livejournal.com]

I got caught up in it briefly earlier today (I was the one who pointed out that one of the main really awful people is a guy, and thus really doesn't get any say in the abortion debate!), and it was pretty bad. I'm glad to hear that it's gotten better.

[notodette.livejournal.com]

They're so vile, and they're louder and more wordy. But the support for this is clearly there. I'll be honest, I didn't expand most of the ragey HOW DARE YOU SUPPORT THE LIBERAL AGENDA threads. They started on an ignorant premise and I learned a long time ago that those people are not going to change their minds because I talk at them. I hope, someday, though, something does. If not to be pro-choice, well, at least to be able to read statistics and understand the issue is about women's health, not abortion.

[kickthehobbit.livejournal.com]

considering that the particular person in question is over ten years older than I am and has yet to figure out that loudly repeating the same thing over and over again is not a valid argument strategy...I don't think he'll ever get it. :/

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

They've moved to the LJ facebook account. ;)

[butterbuns.livejournal.com]

Oh they didn't move there. The comments on FB were ongoing by the time there were 5 comments on the ljstaff post.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

I can have an opinion on what you are having for dinner, but if I'm not cooking it, the decision isn't mine.

[beldarzfixon.livejournal.com]

*looks for "like" button*

[kickthehobbit.livejournal.com]

ah, but I DO ask my partner for input on that...

I liken it more to being like, "Oh, my roommate is making stir-fry for dinner, I hate stir-fry, I'm going to ban them from making it/eating it!" ...when you've already eaten, you're not going to be eating it, and it really largely doesn't affect you*.

*With the obvious exception of things like food allergies, but those don't really fit, so I'm ignoring them in this analogy. :P

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

If you have someone who is going to be involved in actually sitting down to dinner and eating, including them in the decision is a good idea. Not everyone is going to do it, but it's still a good idea. The ultimate decision is going to be in the hands of the cook, but getting input from people directly affected tends to be a good thing.

It's more of someone walking by your house deciding that they don't like stir fry, so no one should be able to make it ever again.

[similiesslip.livejournal.com]

I like this analogy..of someone walking by deciding no one should ever make it again. I need to use that analogy with some people. Thanks!

[kickthehobbit.livejournal.com]

Oh, definitely—and you should start asking what people want for dinner before you start to cook! I believe that you should talk with your partner prior to engaging in any activity that could end in pregnancy, and make sure that you know where you stand re: what would happen if, through some twist of fate, pregnancy happened.

Maybe it's because I am a woman, but it's a conversation I've had to have with everyone I've thought about sleeping with: "just so you know, I'm not at a point in my life where I'm ready to have children, and if I find myself accidentally pregnant, I will be terminating." It's stopped me from sleeping with at least one person, who made it fairly clear that he felt that abortion was 'murder' and how dare I kill our hypothetical child...

I don't know. It's weird territory to navigate. There have been some people I've had the conversation with who have gone, "oh thank God, I was about to open it up with you!" and some who have stared at me as though I've grown a second head, because oh my God, who talks about this before having sex? At the same time, I can't imagine sleeping with someone and not doing that preliminary check—what would we do if we ended up pregnant? It goes up there with disclosing if you have any STIs.

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

I think you're awesome for having that conversation ahead of time.

People who think abortion is murder should abstain from sex unless they are intentionally trying to procreate.

Did you hear about the state (Oklahoma?) where a proposed law was amended to make masturbation illegal? It got pulled before the vote.

[kickthehobbit.livejournal.com]

thanks.

Agreed, honestly—if you feel that abortion is murder, don't have sex unless you are absolutely prepared to deal with the consequences! Ideally, that's how it would work—but there are always going to be people who are raised to believe that it's wrong without questioning that (just as there are people who are raised to believe that women are inferior to men and never bother to question that).

I heard about that, yeah. :D Still kind of sad it got pulled, it would have made getting that passed impossible, which would have been nice.

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

Agreed, honestly—if you feel that abortion is murder, don't have sex unless you are absolutely prepared to deal with the consequences!

Exactly!

The good thing about having that discussion up-front was that you found a guy who clearly needed to be 'eliminated as a candidate' for boyfriend. Saved both time and grief!

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

" It got pulled before the vote."

*insert snare drum here*

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you'll not be surprised I saw it and left it there on purpose. :)

[butterbuns.livejournal.com]

I am really glad you pointed out that they were a guy, because after that I really realized there was no point in continuing too much with such a dolt.

[kickthehobbit.livejournal.com]

It stopped me from taking him seriously (that and the fact that I recognized his name, looked at his profile and went, "ah yes, you belong to therightfangirl, you were saying some truly atrocious things about women back in 2008, I don't have to take you seriously anymore")—figured I would pass the word on.