So on Friday the Supreme Court officially struck down Roe v. Wade, the decision that legalized abortion in the United States. We all knew it was coming, but even so, I took it as a real punch in the gut. I wrote about the leaked draft twice in May and none of my thinking on it has changed.
It’s probably time for me to give a pep talk about what needs to be done, eyes on the prize, how hope is important. But I don’t feel hopeful right now and I am afraid of what is coming. Happily Rebecca Traister wrote a great essay about it and you can read it here.
I have SO MANY THOUGHTS and I am still processing them. I’ll have more to say on Wednesday at my usual time. Here’s the stuff I’ve been thinking about over the last day or two.
Let’s start with the attempts on social media to redirect liberal and Democratic anger against Democrats instead of against Republicans. The most notable attempt was the viral video of House Democrats singing “God Bless America” on the Capitol steps. A Washington Post reporter tweeted about it with the wrong context and took 6 hours to clarify her tweet. By then the damage was done. And here’s the thing: it was a bunch of House Democrats who were about to go in and vote on the historic gun bill and before that they sang holding photos of victims of gun violence. It immediately became fodder for the Republican disinformation machine. Nothing matters.
The next thing people aren’t thinking clearly about is Mitt Romney’s lie about Obama having a Senate super-majority and not codifying Roe. Well, I hate to break it to some of you, but Obama never had a working Senate super-majority. You can read about it here, but since it’s not true it’s not worth any more words from me. Besides, nothing matters.
There’s also the idea floating around that if Congress had codified Roe we wouldn’t be in this situation right now. Well, I hate to continually intrude with facts and context, but if Roe had been codified and everything else were the same, the extremists on the Supreme Court would have struck down that law because—and say it with me—it was based on Roe. And even if the law didn’t reference Roe, it would have still be struck down because the extremist justices just don’t care because NOTHING MATTERS.
Also it’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s fault that she didn’t know the future and quit so a new justice who could have never gotten sick and died or had to retire early could be named in her place because nothing matters.
Feel free to substitute “facts” for “nothing” if that makes more sense–but it won’t make you feel any better. See you Wednesday.
Kurt and the boys know what I’m talking about.
