So many people, so much ignorance because they allow their feelings to hide the most simple of concepts from their understanding.
Konichiwa (among others) rationalizes the slaughter of a developing human simply for the sake of its appearance: It looks like a gnat, therefore it is nothing more than a gnat.
The simple truth is that, no, a developing human fetus is not a gnat, it will never be a gnat,
and does a fetus really even resemble a gnat?
Throughout history, people have dehumanized those they slaughter to free their conscience of the consequences of their actions: So-called biologists supported the contention that the brain of a black man was smaller than that of the white man, therefore based on the appearance of a smaller brain, a black man wasn't really human. Witches, christians, muslims, pagans, all were burned by their oppressors because they were no longer human, instead controlled by demonic spirits.
Recently a few rabid Bush hating pacifists at this board complained of this truth in the war against Saddam, yet do they now support this tactic when it suits their purposes?
Yes, of course.
Look at what 0roo says:
logic would seem to show that a fetus is NOT a fully developed human being capable of sentient thought and survival in the world.
Well, neither is a newborn child a fully developed human being capable of sentient thought and survival in the world on its own.......yet we don't kill them on a whim (well, unfortunately some people do, but they go to prison).
Maybe a developing human fetus does resemble a gnat, and maybe a newborn human child at the time of birth has a similar mental capacity to that of a dog, but should it be treated as such?
My wife just lost her grandmother this past weekend in our presence. She was 92 years old and had fallen 5 weeks ago and shattered a leg and broke an arm (she didn't take her ostioporosis medication). She was very independent and lived alone, and for that reason, no one was aware that she had fallen until hours had elapsed after her fall. She was comatose when discovered because of the shock. She remained in her catatonic state and after a week past, she finally awoke.
While she was out, she
appeared to be a vegetable. Her relatives had resigned themselves that she would never be herself again. While that supposition was somewhat true, she eventually did regain consciousness and had nearly 4 weeks of quality time to spend with her family.
My wife and I visited her regularly this past month, going over photographs in her old albums, learning about the places she had been and the things in life that she had seen. I was quite impressed and had learned more in the past month than I had in the previous 10 years I had known her.
On her last day, when my wife and I arrived, she smiled, waved, and asked about my parents. Two hours later she drew her last breath. She, I, my wife, and the rest of her family were grateful that no one had treated her like a gnat, even though that was how she "appeared" and was told how she would most likely remain.........