WARNING! The following list of non-negotiable Fran Porretto stances will strike many as “extreme.” (You know, like the Knights of Columbus.) And in my supreme arrogance as:
- A man – i.e., a male human being;
- A Catholic Christian;
- And a Certified Galactic Intellect;
...I shall unabashedly commend them to you all as worthy of unembarrassed, unswerving defense against all comers in this Year of Our Lord 2019.
Read on if you dare.
Human life is sacred. It is not to be mucked around with before or after conception. On the subject of abortion, nothing more need be said. On the seemingly unrelated subjects of genetic engineering and cloning, I’ll allow one of my characters to say it for me:
“I’ve been turning it over in my head,” Sokoloff murmured after a moment, “and I can’t think of one morally acceptable reason to clone someone. Living or dead doesn’t matter.” He swept his gaze around the group. “Can anyone else?”
No one spoke.
“The people who did this,” he said, “did it to turn out a sex slave. Probably by request and to specification, and I’d bet my house that if they haven’t done it before, they’re trying to do it again right now. For that I’m going to send them all to hell. But think about it. Let’s say they were to clone me—produce a baby version of me. That baby would have no parents or other relatives. The people who produced him would have no reason to care for him, or about him, and only they would know he existed. He would be a product for sale. Why would anyone make that product? Why would anyone want that product? Apart from pure altruism?”
“Altruism?” Trish said.
“Yeah,” he said. “The kind that makes people take in stray dogs and cats. Think that’s likely?”
Well, you did it.
“The only reason to clone someone, other than the motives Fountain’s creators had, would be to replace him,” he said. “Or parts of him. And that means either murder, or enslavement, or cannibalism by surgeon. It’s evil no matter how you slice it.”
“That’s if clones were granted the status and rights of people born the...regular way,” Juliette said. “What if they weren’t?”
Sokoloff gestured at Fountain. Six pairs of eyes swung toward her. She remained still and silent.
“That’s worse, isn’t it?” he said.
Trish slid over next to Fountain and took her hand.
“A lot worse,” she said.
“Yeah,” Juliette said.[From Innocents]
The same goes for “manufacturing” a child from bits of “selected” DNA.
Men are free by natural right. He who desires to coerce you, regardless of his reasons, is evil. In his soul he harbors the embryo of a murderer, for all coercion has its endpoint in the willingness to kill to enforce one’s will.
Beware do-gooders who demand government action, especially the sort who screech that “we have to act now, there’s no time to lose!” They don’t want you to think: about costs, about incentives, about consequences, or about the high probability that they’re wrong. Most people, after all, are wrong about most things. “Opinions are like assholes; everybody’s gotta have one.”
Each individual is responsible for himself and his actions. The modern attempt to shift the burden of individual responsibility onto that eternal chimera “society” is a fraud of the first water. Indeed, it’s a fraud potent enough to bring down a nation. Have a look at any socialist hellhole for evidence.
Responsibility for a crime lies on the criminal. Responsibility for a murder lies on the man who wielded it, not on his weapon or its maker. Responsibility for a man’s well-being lies on him and no one else – and yes, that includes children. With few exceptions, American children can best ensure their own well-being by listening to their parents and doing as they’re told, when and where they’re told to do it. Contrary to beliefs popular among the young, your parents know more than you about the ways of the world. Besides, they pay the bills.
You cannot win agreement through vilification or condemnation. Your adversary in debate is entitled to his convictions, regardless of what you think of them. Only a spineless worm would cow before your epithets...and spineless worms make useless henchmen. Besides, disagreement need not be disagreeable; a pleasantly expressed difference of opinion can get people thinking.
This “should” be “obvious.” Yet a hefty fraction of the nation acts as if it were a mystery like unto the Trinity: impenetrable by mortal minds. It’s best to distance oneself from such persons, as all they can contribute to your life is agita.
Last and most important of all, Christ is the answer. The gentle, undemanding moral-ethical system proclaimed by Jesus of Nazareth during His years of ministry in Judea, were it to be accepted widely, would reduce any purely human problem to triviality.
Don’t confuse His New Covenant with the excrescences layered upon it by mortal men. Stick to what He told the “rich young man:”
And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. [Matthew19:16-19]
For these are perfectly consistent with the Two Great Commandments:
But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. [Matthew 22:34-40]
And no “commandment” uttered by a man meets that standard.
There’s nothing new in the above, is there? It’s all stuff you’ve heard before, from me or from others. But that’s part of its beauty: with all their stormy rage, the gates of Hell and collectivism have not prevailed against it. They shall not. Consider them mantras for 2019.
Happy New Year.
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