The halfway mark I was talking about last night has come and gone. Today marks the first time my work has been published in real, honest-to-goodness outlet. It’s perhaps fitting that this outlet is one of the first Catholic periodicals to become online only after finding its origins in traditional print.
It probably wouldn’t be accurate to call insidecatholic.com “the e-zine formerly known as Crisis“, but they share common roots and continue an ongoing affiliation. What I like about Inside Catholic that makes it a departure from other Catholic publications is that the online-only format gives rise to more editorial freedom. It’s more of a forum than a choir, and each writer’s opinions are expressly his own, not that of the editorial staff. This leaves room for disagreement and opens the door for opinions like mine, which tend to be a bit out of the mainstream when compared to other conservative Catholic writers.
Today, I’m stirring up trouble by giving a brief synopsis of why I’m not a big fan of the March for Life, and I focus on some areas of political reality I think pro-lifers in this country fail to give enough credence to. Inside Catholic has done me the honor of making the piece their cover story, so please check it out if you’re interested. There’s a lot more to my thoughts on the subject than I could fit into the length guideline for the piece (and they still had to do some trimming to get my submission to fit) so I intend to continue the discussion here, hopefully soon.
Now, however, it’s time for me to head off to bed.
Congratulations!
Congrats–a long time coming!
And a good piece, too. One thing I will agree with the critics on (which you have acknowledged in the comments)–don’t underestimate the impact of being with a large group of like-minded folks. Morale is very, very important in long struggles.
Congrats on getting this published, Steve. It was a very thought-provoking article.
I do think marches have their place. Here in California it takes place in San Francisco - the belly of the Beast - and doesn’t have the same kind of “we’re lobbying the Supreme Court” overtones.
That said, there is certainly much more to the fight than politics and marches. I would also like to see pro-lifers converge on the abortion facilities themselves by the thousands. That was Operation Rescue’s approach, and it saved lives. The propaganda war is also hugely important. Keep the issue on the front burner, in the public eye. Never let the pro-aborts get complacent, thinking public opinion is on their side. If abortion is going to be legal, then abortionists ought to be the most despised and marginalized members of the medical community. That kind of thing is already happening. I am told, for example, that none of the OB-GYNs at Chico’s only hospital (which is totally secular) will perform abortions.
Thanks everyone.
Dale, I agree. My original piece made more concessions on the theme of “if you feel you need to go, go, but keep in mind” than the final came out with. As this is my first go at this outside of the student newspaper at Franciscan, where I had pretty much full editorial control of my column, I have to learn how to thread my full meaning throughout these pieces rather than building an argument in layers like I am accustomed to doing.
Jeff, aside from the Supreme Court aspect of this, I can imagine the difference in effect a march in San Fran would have over one here in the protest capital of the world. I have to admit, for Washingtonians, it goes a bit like this:
Commuter 1: Oh, hell, they’ve got Constitution blocked again!
Commuter 2: Yeah, that’s right, some kind of a protest about imported hamster fur or something today. Forgot about that.
Commuter 1: I already skipped the Metro because they were clogging the red line. How the heck am I supposed to get to work?
Commuter 2: I don’t know, but tomorrow, Lentil Beans International is holding their annual legume awareness vigil …
You just kind of become immune after a while to paying any attention to protests.
I also agree that visiting clinics is more effective, and something I haven’t done in ages. When I was in college, we’d regularly get 300 students at the clinic in Pittsburgh, and invariably some women changed their minds.
I like the vilification strategy, but I wonder how to best go about it?