Pay attention to the language in “news” reports from the MSM. There is often a rhetorical battle being waged at the level of word choices. Background on the Wisconsin story HERE.
From WaPo:
Planned Parenthood, ACLU sue Wisconsin over abortion law
Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the American Civil Liberties Union are suing Wisconsin to try to block a new law that would require abortion providers to have admitting privileges at local hospitals. [Aside… big business abortion wants to keep their profits high.]
The law, set to take effect Monday, was “rushed” through the legislative process last month, [That’s not a journalist’s bias. Noooo….] the groups said in a complaint filed Friday in federal court in Madison, Wis. The measure would force two of the state’s four abortion providers to shut down, according to the complaint. A fifth clinic is set to close for unrelated reasons, according to the groups.
[…]
The Wisconsin law would force clinics in Milwaukee and Appleton to close and cause Planned Parenthood to cut staff and services at another clinic in Milwaukee, the state’s most populous city. The changes would make the procedure unavailable after 19 weeks of pregnancy and leave much of the state without any abortion providers, according to the complaint.
[…]
See what they are doing?
So, aside from the news item… the ACLU and Planned Parenthood, just one pair of interchangeable horns available to The Hornéd One on a daily basis… we see how language is used to sway opinion about the new.
UPDATE:
If you want to know what is going on between the sheets in the Planned Parenthood/ACLU menage with Ol’Scratch, just listen to what the hired protesters are chanting at the Texas capitol last week when the abortion legislation was debated. You can clearly hear at about 5:15 in the video onward, the chant “Hail, Satan!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OgfAAIpHns&feature=player_embedded
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Satan worshippers in the UK disavowed this use of Satan and tweeted, “Unfortunate to see Satan’s name used in such a diabolical manner. Another example of what ‘Satanism’ doesn’t represent.”
In the past of my hobbies was watching for the rhetorical tricks used by news reporters in the area of environmental reporting. I see it all over the news now on just about any subject. Recognizing this technique is like identifying the regional accent of someone who is speaking (except it leads me to to explore the facts in the situation and the motives of the writer rather than speculate on where a speaker might be from).
And the video…! Do you suppose the hired minions think they are using the “magic” phrase “hail Satan” to weaken the will of the pro-life? The Evil One is laughing at them, too. The people in this country need to view more videos like this, as painful as it is.
Facta Non Verba:
Too diabolical for the Devil? Pretty bad, isn’t it?
That’s too hilarious for St. Hilary.
Also irritating is the fact that those in favor of abortion are usually called by their chosen name, pro-choice, while those opposed to abortion are almost never referred to by their chosen name, pro-life, but anti-abortion. Either journalists should use both groups’ chosen names, pro-choice and pro-life, or be really blunt and use pro-abortion and anti-abortion.
The homicide advocates at PP and the ACLU are attempting to side step the evidence presented at the trial of Gosnell that the facility that he ran did not meet minimum standards for health care. The purpose of this law is to make sure that abortionists will be responsible for their patients if they require hospitalization and that the facilities where abortions are performed will meet the same standards as other outpatient surgical facilities. There is nothing in Roe that obviates the necessity for health care providers to not be minimally qualified.
Thank you Father Z! It continues today!
I have to hope that those chanting “Hail Satan” do not really believe what they say, but are only saying it out of frustration because at some level they know that truth, beauty, and goodness are not on their side. More insidious are those who present abortion as beautiful and good.
To be precise, it should be noted that the word choices Fr. Z emphasizes (e.g., “rushed through”, “force”, etc.) come from the Complaint filed in federal court by the ACLU. Nevertheless, neither the reporter (nor her editors) can avoid Fr. Z’s charge of “a rhetorical battle being waged at the level of word choices.” She chose to write the story by highlighting certain words and allegations from the Complaint. Had she been interested in producing an unbiased news report, she could have done so. Instead, she more or less reformatted the ACLU’s press release and sprinkled in some qualifiers (“according to the groups”, “lawyers for the groups said in the complaint”, “the groups alleged”, “according to the complaint”) at the end of a few paragraphs. Alas, this is what passes for journalism today.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the court overturns this law.
Very sad state of affairs. I think that the people chanting “hail satan” know whom they are chanting to; they just don’t realize how awful he is.
As Archbishop Chaput said at World Youth Day a couple of years ago:
Don’t blame the Planned Parenthood gang for the press. It’s what they do.
But the Catholic Church? The Milwaukee Archdiocese website? Their top story is Chapter 11 reorganization. (Yeah, we know why.) The USCCB website? Crickets. Nothing on the new law in either place.
I think our Church has learned its primary lesson from Christ’s forty days incommunicado rather than anything else He taught. And I’m beginning to look outside our We Be Church to see if somebody has it right.
It brings a chill to the heart to hear the evil chant swell as a counterpoint to someone who speaks to protect the unborn. I feel that to hope or assume the protesters “know not what they do” is wishful thinking. It is imperative to be aware that evil is an active force, and while hope is essential, it is also necessary to be outspoken and proactive in one’s goodness and in one’s convictions in order to keep it at bay. Aggressive evil must be met with prayer, strength, and watchfulness.
UPDATE
”Judge halts abortion law”
Headline in today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (7/9/13).
US District Judge William M. Conley (an Obama appointee…) put a 10-day freeze on the law requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at hospitals near the abortion clinics. The petition was from Planned Parenthood and the ACLU (as expected).
The judge said there would be “irreparable harm” done to those women who would be foreclosed from having an abortion. Nothing about the irreparable harm that would be done to the babies they will abort.
I don’t know if Conley is Catholic, but he did attend a Catholic Elementary school in Rice Lake, Wisconsin…