694 - Peace & Life: Satire! / Referendums / Seminar - January 5, 2024
Satire
This new video from Live Action – one of a continuing series of satire videos - has no subtlety whatsoever. But it definitely fits with the consistent life approach:
Since the focus is on directly killing innocent individuals as a problem-solver, it doesn’t include the death penalty nor the random killing of war. But in addition to abortion and euthanasia, the impact of poverty and homelessness and bigotry against those with disabilities is clearly portrayed.
Other videos in the series that use the insights of pro-life feminism are Pro Choice Bosses - and Pro Choice Men.
Due to a recent grant, Live Action is about to run a $20,000 ad campaign with these videos on late-night comedians Youtube clips – the kind of audience that needs to be given something more to think about, and is more likely to think about it with this approach.
Referendums
Our project website: Peace and Life Referendums
This new year is a busy election year in the United States. Unfortunately, the biggest trend is in undoing Dobbs by making abortion a “right” in state constitutions. The trend of finally ending slavery by removing state constitution’s exception for those convicted of a crime is thankfully also continuing.
Among the many others we’re tracking, two 2024 measures have a good idea: better language in official channels for describing people with disabilities. Some badly outdated language is dehumanizing, and it’s time to be more sensitive. Lives can depend on seeing people clearly as people.
We mainly find new referendums through Ballotpedia, but that only covers state-wide measures. There may be some good local ones we also want to track. Additionally, some of the state-wide measures may not be immediately obvious when wading through a set of them – as with the change to better language just mentioned – and we’d like those brought to our attention. Anyone who sees a good one we don’t have and should add, please send information on it to referendums@consistent-life.org
Seminar
In its ongoing series of seminars with an online option, Georgetown University offers:
It’s on Tuesday, January 16, 2024, from 12:30 to 1:30 Eastern time. It’s free, but registration is required to get the link.
Our Latest Blog Post
Taking note that sometimes depicting violence turns people against it, and other times it’s a way of glorying in it and promoting it, Ms. Boomer-ang considers many illustrations in Depicting Fatal Violence: A Double-Edged Sword.
Quotation of the Week
Pope Francis
Joy of the Gospel, Paragraph 53
Just as the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say “thou shalt not” to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills. How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?