From: sbooth@lonestar.utsa.edu (Simon E. Booth)
Newsgroups: talk.abortion
Subject: Re: Simon Booth's *Great* American Novel (was Re: Walking down to the student center last night
Date: 15 Oct 92 23:32:35 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of Texas at San Antonio

In article <1992Oct14.173508.8316@eco.twg.com> chall@eco.twg.com (Charles Don Hall) writes:
>In <1992Oct14.005553.23460@ringer.cs.utsa.edu> sbooth@lonestar.utsa.edu (Simon E. Booth) writes:
>>In article <1992Oct13.182343.23647@eco.twg.com> chall@eco.twg.com (Charles Don Hall) writes:
>
>>[...]
>>
>>Well, actually the attacks on pro-choice people are a part of the larger
>>overall picture.  My aim is to demonstrate that extremeism only breeds extreme-
>>ism from the other side.  Like I said, extreme liberalism runs rampart, there's
>>the prospect of the people electing anyone out of desparation, without thinking
>>about what that candidate represents. Remember Germany 1933?? I am not a Nazi!
>
>OK, I see now. In your novel, there is such a thing as a "pro-choice
>extremist". That's almost an oxymoron, but I think I can picture it.
>Presumably, these pro-choice extremists kidnapped pregnant women,
>and forced them to decide for themselves whether they wanted to
>carry their pregnancies to term or not. If a woman refused to decide
>for herself, and demanded that someone tell her what to think,
>then she would be tortured to death. Angered at these terroristic
>techniques, pro-lifers countered with equally extreme measures,
>culminating in the use of white phosphorus by police officers.
>
>Now, I've met plenty of pro-life extremists, who think that women
>should be forced to carry pregnancies to term whether they want to
>or not.  I've heard about pro-abortion extremists, who think that women
>should be forced to have abortions whether they want to or not. But
>I can't say that I know any pro-choice extremists. It sounds a bit
>silly, don't you think?
>
>I don't think that the abortion issue makes a good centerpiece for
>your proposed novel. Perhaps you should pick a different issue...one
>that liberals really do have extreme positions on. Perhaps racism
>or sexism? I think we can agree that the world would be a better
>place if there were fewer racists (and fewer abortions), but
>extremists can propose half-baked legislation that does more
>harm than good. Abominations like the Michigan "Hate Speech" law,
>recently overturned on 1st Amendment grounds, could potentially lead
>to the kind of violent scenario you describe. There are better ways
>to deal with racism.
>
Abortion is only a small part of the shole story, in fact, you hit tehe
nail on the head in your above paragraph, I plan to illustrate how
the PC movement might make the people angry enough to elect such a system,
not knowng what that party really was until it was too late.  One element
of the story is that normally decent people become cynical towards civil
rights because PC has "corrupted" it.  BTW, the "New Order Party" won't
be depicted as racist.  What will be depicted, basically is that if liberalism
runs amok, there might be a political "fight fire with fire" approach from the
opposition.  The problem can get so bad that the people eventually won't care
HOW it is dealt with, just that is is dealt with, and they might be driven
towards electing a fascist party based on this.  If I recall my history
lessons right, the people who voted for Hitler didn't know what the Nazis
really stood for.         BTW, I'm looking for better software so I can edit.