The Culture of Life™

Yesterday, as I was closing out for the day, I got word of a new mass shooting. It was at a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

What were the particulars? Don't know. What were the shooter's motivations? Who cares?

I wish to address this "culture of life" that the right brays about so often, so loudly, so confidently.

What is this "culture of life"?

Is it a culture which enables all citizens to achieve what they want to achieve?

Is it a culture which enables all citizens to be secure in their bodies and property?

Is it a culture which ensures that all citizens, as much as possible, are not exposed to random violence?

No. No. No.

"Culture of life" is a slogan. It's a Madison Avenue ad campaign. It's a meaningless phrase that those who use it do so to absolve themselves of blame for the myriad deaths on their heads.

A culture of life would ensure that everyone received a living wage. A culture of life would ensure that every child had the chance to succeed. A culture of life would ensure that every person had access to healthcare.

This is not what the legions fighting for this culture envision.

Life begins at conception and ends at birth. Life is a cudgel to be used against political opponents. Life is a word shorn of its meaning, as it doesn't mean a meaningful life, a full life, a peaceful life.

I'm tired, friends. I'm soul-tired. Our ancestors didn't fight, bleed, and die for this. This is not the country they envisioned, where any ordinary act of daily living could result in death. 

Do these people who loudly proclaim life's sanctity know what they're saying? Do they notice the glaring intellectual disconnect? Do they think that the way we live our lives now is a good price to pay for "freedom"?

What will they say when it's them in the dock? When their loved ones are laid out on the coroner's slab? What will they tell their children or grandchildren when their loved ones were sacrificed to Moloch?

We are subsumed in death while they talk about "life". The life they hold up as a paragon is nothing but awaiting some random death, a random death which could be avoided by a true dedication to a "culture of life". 

At the last, do us the courtesy of honesty. You care not one whit for "life". You care for power. Admit that, so that we can get to the heart of the matter. But don't insult me with bromides. As the God you so "devoutly" worship says: When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood!

Our hands are full of blood. How can a just God accept prayers?