The response to my viral article yesterday has been outrage, appreciation, and a bizarre demonization of Islam and Muslims — here's what's wrong with that picture
It's safer to be pregnant in Iran than America. Iranian mothers and their babies have healthier pregnancies and better outcomes than American mothers and American babies. America has the highest maternal mortality rate of all the developed countries in the entire world. A pregnant woman is safer in Muslim countries than in America. They don't let pregnant women die of tooth infections. America does. It's actually illegal to save the mothers life in some states. Google the house bills American male politicians wrote on forcing drs to attempt to re-implant ectopic pregnancies and the mandatory life sentence for homicide if an ER dr doesn't attempt to re-implant a non viable ectopic pregnancy- while that woman is screaming in pain and actively bleeding to death internally from a ruptured fallopian tube. Senator Hamilton of Oklahoma "I just don't see why we should support the murder of a child who happens to have unfortunate circumstance of being ectopic". That really happened. Google it. And then go hug your daughters, sisters, mothers and wives. We're all rly scared and it feels like no one hears us screaming into the abyss of abject depravity when we hear people like Lindsay Graham demanding pro life Christians must kill every woman who attempts to survive a non viable pregnancy. They're coming for birth control too btw. Same dumbasses like Lindsay Graham think birth control is the same thing as an abortion and women with iuds are murderers. I need a cigarette.
I used to be a Muslim, so I thank you for this. I'm also tired of the ubiquitous misuse of the term "jihad" to construe religious-based violence. That is not the meaning of the word, which means to strive or try to overcome oppression for the sake of Allah.
Thank you for this Mr Rashid! For anyone interested in keeping their finger on the pulse of what’s happening on the ground in all of these states, I recommend taking a look at Jessica Valenti’s work “Abortion Every Day”, here on Substack. Let’s work to take care of each-other and for equitable and comprehensive healthcare.
Wow. What a contentious subject. The impetus for this article comes from the massive issues surrounding this subject. The subject, of course, is much bigger than just abortion. It is about denying women any choice about whether or not they carry any pregnancy to term. It has been described correctly as forced birth.
The big question that is neither being asked nor being answered is this, Who benefits from forcing women to have babies they don’t want and cannot afford?? Also, who benefits from families being forced to have children that they can’t afford forcing them into poverty? There is an old adage, when you want to know why something is happening, follow the money.
The push to ban abortion is part of a much larger effort to increase human population. That includes the push to ban contraceptives, birth control, eliminate family planning, and education related to same. That trend is solidly in place. Rather obvious. But why? We know that it is a fact that our massively increasing population drives massive consumption, is driving the greatest extinction of life since the dinosaurs, and is driving climate change putting human and all other life seriously at risk. It doesn’t make any sense until you dig deeper to understand the rest of the story.
How much deeper? Well, the main players who don’t want you to know or understand that are religions, large corporations needing cheap labor, and the military who needs soldiers to make the world safe for our corporations to exploit (that is cynical but true).
Let’s look at religions first.
Those who oppose abortion claim they are pro-life (and in a sense they are), HOWEVER, if their concern is for the life of that newborn baby and the sanctity of life you might be forgiven for thinking that the concern would extend to the mother who must care for that child and to the entirety of that child’s life. But it does not. Judging from the stark reality that after birth those “pro-lifers” don’t seem to give a damn about the quality of that child’s life much less that of her/his mother who is likely trying provide for herself and the child while being systematically discriminated against by pretty much our entire society. Where are the living wage jobs, child care, affordable education and favorable tax treatment? Pro-life? Not so much. This is rampant hypocrisy! What’s the real reason? Church memberships and attendance have been dropping for decades (there is a good reason for that). Religions (I am talking about church leaders not well meaning followers) want more than anything for there to be more bodies filling those pews, more children they can indoctrinate with their particular religious dogma, and, especially, more people coughing up tithes every Sunday to pay for their salaries, their buildings, and, frequently, all sorts of luxuries. Impacts to those people, their communities and impacts to the ability of nature to provide an environment where life can continue be damned, fill those pews and keep the cash flowing in.
Now, lets look at large corporations.
Why are corporations active in this issue? They desperately need (they think) a cheap, desperate labor pool (industrial agriculture, food processing and big box retail stores come immediately to mind). The government even has policies designed to maintain a certain level of unemployment adding to that desperation.
The definition of ‘professional management” is the use (that’s a euphemism -usually exploitation) of labor and resources to generate wealth (for the few). It is an absolute truth to these folks that labor is a “cost burden” on wealth generation (taking money directly out of their pockets) to be minimized or eliminated at the earliest opportunity. That is why so much attention has been given to AI and robotics. Robots don’t unionize and keep making unreasonable demands like wanting a living wage or safe working conditions. Of course, you whose jobs are being eliminated are paying for this. The question for industry has been where can they find a pool of cheap labor that won’t complain and will just do what they are told to do? For many decades that pool of labor was immigrants - preferably in the country illegally. Weak and ineffective border control became unofficial nation policy supported by Republicans and corporate Democrats - of course, they deny anything of the sort. And, now? OMG, those 11 million people might actually gain a path to citizenship and then they could vote. OMG, the sky is falling. What to do? The answer, unfortunately, was to team up with certain Religions and easily bought politicians and try to force women to have more babies, increasing the population and the pool of poor, desperate people looking for work, and willing to take whatever is offered, regardless of crappy pay, difficult working conditions, no benefits, and/or unsafe working conditions - just like illegal immigrants. Another aspect of their strategy is to simply deny many of our citizens the right to vote. E Pluribus Unum. Out of Many One. NO, no, no, Out of many a few to control and exploit the rest. Rather
un- American, I’d say.
And finally, let’s address the military.
What I have to say here in no way casts aspersions on anyone in the military. They do a difficult job in an honorable way. In an era where our military is staffed with volunteers, there has to be some incentive for people to sign their lives away to serve Uncle Sam. There are, of course, other reasons to serve, many of them noble. However, no one can deny that the very real lack of opportunities for education and livelihood that many of our citizen experience and the resultant poverty they experience as a result drive many to enlist.
Apparently, a few powerful men defining women as 2nd class citizens, denying more than ½ the entire population the right to control their own bodies, forcing them to carry pregnancies to term (regardless) and being driven further into poverty, is OK with these self serving ______- sorry there are just too many negative adjectives to describe these guys.
We have a national election coming up soon. The major task facing all Americans is demanding accountability of those Republicans and Democrats that engaged in an insurrection against the democracy of the American people. They committed and continue to commit treason. Part of that treason included packing the Supreme Count with lying, right wing, religious and political fanatics that have no clue what the constitution is about- who among other misunderstandings -have failed to keep church and state separate, committing yet another act of treason.
What else?
How about rampant misogyny? Many males don’t like having to compete with women in the marketplace, they don’t think women should be expecting to be treated as equals, men should be in charge, women should be at home serving the husbands and having children (i.e “tradwifes”). There is nothing wrong with the traditional wife role, but it should NEVER be mandatory or because there are no other options. And the thought that a woman should be forced to stay with an abusive man is an obscenity that should have everyone around him questioning his manhood and his humanity.
I'm grateful we live in Illinois and that Pritzker is our governor. He needs to run for a third term. If he chooses not to run again, Stratton must run.
So well said and beautifully illustrating the disentangled religiosity the extremists hide their patriarchal agendas behind. I’m super sad that the quality of education and the practice of self reflection have become so poor and devalued, respectively, in this country that the masses sought a hate filled misogynist to lead their causes. I struggle daily as I consider humanity.
Wow! I was horrified (but not surprised) by the hateful actions of the SC lawmakers. But just as much, shocked and disappointed that some people reacted with racist comparisons. You said it loud and clear, brother! You are still speaking with the clarity and compassion that attracted my attention when you were running for Congress in Virginia. I am so happy to support your reasonable, frank words with my subscription.
I don't think with these abortion bans or extreme misogyny that we can point to any religion, either. I've said this since Trump ran for office and the Nazis and Klansmen were emboldened to come out of the closet -- it's the last dying breath of the Confederacy. Since they can't own people by color code anymore, they decided to own an entire gender. Why? Because they think they can. It's the need to control someone, anyone; otherwise the losers cannot feel powerful. They have nothing to offer anyone: no talent, no skills, no education, no intelligence, so this is how they embolden themselves and feel superior to others. It has nothing to do with Christianity or any other religion: it has to do with the will to power. Clearly when one discusses the death penalty all reverence for life is just a sham. They have no interest in life, in children, in babies, in anything other than power. And they're not going to get it, either. I never think of religion -- any religion -- when I hear of these restrictive laws or proposals, because I'm so many decades past anyone daring to call themselves "religious" when "nasty," "vile," and "violent" are what they are. I haven't been fooled by the use of words related to religion since elementary school. I refuse to refer to these folks as "Christian" or "nationalists" either. They the furthest thing from Christian or American (as proposed by the ideals of the northern Founding Fathers). I think it is up to all of us to refuse to refer to them as Christians, too. Call them fascists. Keep all religion out of it.
Ugh. It never once for a second occurred to me that the legislation introduced by these "Christians" in South Carolina was in any way, shape, or form akin to any tenet of Islam or belief of Muslims. It is so distressing that this is where people went.
The actions of the Taliban in Afghanistan should not be confused with Islam any more than the actions of our Christian Nationalists and others who pervert western religious beliefs for monetary or political gain instead of taking its lessons to help others.
Unfortunately, religion is used all too much as an excuse to hate and even kill.
My other point is Donald Trump is not truly responsible for the abortion bans. That honor goes to the American people.
Lets be honest with how we got here. It did not happen overnight. There is no easy or quick fix. The only way out of this is to organize behind courageous leaders who are willing to throw away the playbook that has failed time and time again.
Mr Rashid, I am appalled to read the comments you received that demonize Islam and Muslims. This would never have been considered Christian behavior when I was growing up; not to mention the lies in the statements themselves. Thank you for your articles both yesterday and today and to those in the comments below who have articulated with more depth than I their outrage with the religious discrimination responses you received.
It's safer to be pregnant in Iran than America. Iranian mothers and their babies have healthier pregnancies and better outcomes than American mothers and American babies. America has the highest maternal mortality rate of all the developed countries in the entire world. A pregnant woman is safer in Muslim countries than in America. They don't let pregnant women die of tooth infections. America does. It's actually illegal to save the mothers life in some states. Google the house bills American male politicians wrote on forcing drs to attempt to re-implant ectopic pregnancies and the mandatory life sentence for homicide if an ER dr doesn't attempt to re-implant a non viable ectopic pregnancy- while that woman is screaming in pain and actively bleeding to death internally from a ruptured fallopian tube. Senator Hamilton of Oklahoma "I just don't see why we should support the murder of a child who happens to have unfortunate circumstance of being ectopic". That really happened. Google it. And then go hug your daughters, sisters, mothers and wives. We're all rly scared and it feels like no one hears us screaming into the abyss of abject depravity when we hear people like Lindsay Graham demanding pro life Christians must kill every woman who attempts to survive a non viable pregnancy. They're coming for birth control too btw. Same dumbasses like Lindsay Graham think birth control is the same thing as an abortion and women with iuds are murderers. I need a cigarette.
I used to be a Muslim, so I thank you for this. I'm also tired of the ubiquitous misuse of the term "jihad" to construe religious-based violence. That is not the meaning of the word, which means to strive or try to overcome oppression for the sake of Allah.
Thank you for this Mr Rashid! For anyone interested in keeping their finger on the pulse of what’s happening on the ground in all of these states, I recommend taking a look at Jessica Valenti’s work “Abortion Every Day”, here on Substack. Let’s work to take care of each-other and for equitable and comprehensive healthcare.
I’m guilty. Totally right!
sorry that this long. but it is relevant.
Thinking Out Loud
Abortion
By Jon R. Schulz jonrschulz@aol.com 970 778 7275
November 4, 2022
Wow. What a contentious subject. The impetus for this article comes from the massive issues surrounding this subject. The subject, of course, is much bigger than just abortion. It is about denying women any choice about whether or not they carry any pregnancy to term. It has been described correctly as forced birth.
The big question that is neither being asked nor being answered is this, Who benefits from forcing women to have babies they don’t want and cannot afford?? Also, who benefits from families being forced to have children that they can’t afford forcing them into poverty? There is an old adage, when you want to know why something is happening, follow the money.
The push to ban abortion is part of a much larger effort to increase human population. That includes the push to ban contraceptives, birth control, eliminate family planning, and education related to same. That trend is solidly in place. Rather obvious. But why? We know that it is a fact that our massively increasing population drives massive consumption, is driving the greatest extinction of life since the dinosaurs, and is driving climate change putting human and all other life seriously at risk. It doesn’t make any sense until you dig deeper to understand the rest of the story.
How much deeper? Well, the main players who don’t want you to know or understand that are religions, large corporations needing cheap labor, and the military who needs soldiers to make the world safe for our corporations to exploit (that is cynical but true).
Let’s look at religions first.
Those who oppose abortion claim they are pro-life (and in a sense they are), HOWEVER, if their concern is for the life of that newborn baby and the sanctity of life you might be forgiven for thinking that the concern would extend to the mother who must care for that child and to the entirety of that child’s life. But it does not. Judging from the stark reality that after birth those “pro-lifers” don’t seem to give a damn about the quality of that child’s life much less that of her/his mother who is likely trying provide for herself and the child while being systematically discriminated against by pretty much our entire society. Where are the living wage jobs, child care, affordable education and favorable tax treatment? Pro-life? Not so much. This is rampant hypocrisy! What’s the real reason? Church memberships and attendance have been dropping for decades (there is a good reason for that). Religions (I am talking about church leaders not well meaning followers) want more than anything for there to be more bodies filling those pews, more children they can indoctrinate with their particular religious dogma, and, especially, more people coughing up tithes every Sunday to pay for their salaries, their buildings, and, frequently, all sorts of luxuries. Impacts to those people, their communities and impacts to the ability of nature to provide an environment where life can continue be damned, fill those pews and keep the cash flowing in.
Now, lets look at large corporations.
Why are corporations active in this issue? They desperately need (they think) a cheap, desperate labor pool (industrial agriculture, food processing and big box retail stores come immediately to mind). The government even has policies designed to maintain a certain level of unemployment adding to that desperation.
The definition of ‘professional management” is the use (that’s a euphemism -usually exploitation) of labor and resources to generate wealth (for the few). It is an absolute truth to these folks that labor is a “cost burden” on wealth generation (taking money directly out of their pockets) to be minimized or eliminated at the earliest opportunity. That is why so much attention has been given to AI and robotics. Robots don’t unionize and keep making unreasonable demands like wanting a living wage or safe working conditions. Of course, you whose jobs are being eliminated are paying for this. The question for industry has been where can they find a pool of cheap labor that won’t complain and will just do what they are told to do? For many decades that pool of labor was immigrants - preferably in the country illegally. Weak and ineffective border control became unofficial nation policy supported by Republicans and corporate Democrats - of course, they deny anything of the sort. And, now? OMG, those 11 million people might actually gain a path to citizenship and then they could vote. OMG, the sky is falling. What to do? The answer, unfortunately, was to team up with certain Religions and easily bought politicians and try to force women to have more babies, increasing the population and the pool of poor, desperate people looking for work, and willing to take whatever is offered, regardless of crappy pay, difficult working conditions, no benefits, and/or unsafe working conditions - just like illegal immigrants. Another aspect of their strategy is to simply deny many of our citizens the right to vote. E Pluribus Unum. Out of Many One. NO, no, no, Out of many a few to control and exploit the rest. Rather
un- American, I’d say.
And finally, let’s address the military.
What I have to say here in no way casts aspersions on anyone in the military. They do a difficult job in an honorable way. In an era where our military is staffed with volunteers, there has to be some incentive for people to sign their lives away to serve Uncle Sam. There are, of course, other reasons to serve, many of them noble. However, no one can deny that the very real lack of opportunities for education and livelihood that many of our citizen experience and the resultant poverty they experience as a result drive many to enlist.
Apparently, a few powerful men defining women as 2nd class citizens, denying more than ½ the entire population the right to control their own bodies, forcing them to carry pregnancies to term (regardless) and being driven further into poverty, is OK with these self serving ______- sorry there are just too many negative adjectives to describe these guys.
We have a national election coming up soon. The major task facing all Americans is demanding accountability of those Republicans and Democrats that engaged in an insurrection against the democracy of the American people. They committed and continue to commit treason. Part of that treason included packing the Supreme Count with lying, right wing, religious and political fanatics that have no clue what the constitution is about- who among other misunderstandings -have failed to keep church and state separate, committing yet another act of treason.
What else?
How about rampant misogyny? Many males don’t like having to compete with women in the marketplace, they don’t think women should be expecting to be treated as equals, men should be in charge, women should be at home serving the husbands and having children (i.e “tradwifes”). There is nothing wrong with the traditional wife role, but it should NEVER be mandatory or because there are no other options. And the thought that a woman should be forced to stay with an abusive man is an obscenity that should have everyone around him questioning his manhood and his humanity.
Thank you for your hard work and insights Qasim. Peace.
As I wrote in a previous Substack post, stupid people are dangerous.
I'm grateful we live in Illinois and that Pritzker is our governor. He needs to run for a third term. If he chooses not to run again, Stratton must run.
So well said and beautifully illustrating the disentangled religiosity the extremists hide their patriarchal agendas behind. I’m super sad that the quality of education and the practice of self reflection have become so poor and devalued, respectively, in this country that the masses sought a hate filled misogynist to lead their causes. I struggle daily as I consider humanity.
Wow! I was horrified (but not surprised) by the hateful actions of the SC lawmakers. But just as much, shocked and disappointed that some people reacted with racist comparisons. You said it loud and clear, brother! You are still speaking with the clarity and compassion that attracted my attention when you were running for Congress in Virginia. I am so happy to support your reasonable, frank words with my subscription.
Well said!
I don't think with these abortion bans or extreme misogyny that we can point to any religion, either. I've said this since Trump ran for office and the Nazis and Klansmen were emboldened to come out of the closet -- it's the last dying breath of the Confederacy. Since they can't own people by color code anymore, they decided to own an entire gender. Why? Because they think they can. It's the need to control someone, anyone; otherwise the losers cannot feel powerful. They have nothing to offer anyone: no talent, no skills, no education, no intelligence, so this is how they embolden themselves and feel superior to others. It has nothing to do with Christianity or any other religion: it has to do with the will to power. Clearly when one discusses the death penalty all reverence for life is just a sham. They have no interest in life, in children, in babies, in anything other than power. And they're not going to get it, either. I never think of religion -- any religion -- when I hear of these restrictive laws or proposals, because I'm so many decades past anyone daring to call themselves "religious" when "nasty," "vile," and "violent" are what they are. I haven't been fooled by the use of words related to religion since elementary school. I refuse to refer to these folks as "Christian" or "nationalists" either. They the furthest thing from Christian or American (as proposed by the ideals of the northern Founding Fathers). I think it is up to all of us to refuse to refer to them as Christians, too. Call them fascists. Keep all religion out of it.
But democrats are blowing up Muslim countries. democrats are killing Muslims...mind you, Muslims are killing Muslims too.
Ugh. It never once for a second occurred to me that the legislation introduced by these "Christians" in South Carolina was in any way, shape, or form akin to any tenet of Islam or belief of Muslims. It is so distressing that this is where people went.
The actions of the Taliban in Afghanistan should not be confused with Islam any more than the actions of our Christian Nationalists and others who pervert western religious beliefs for monetary or political gain instead of taking its lessons to help others.
Unfortunately, religion is used all too much as an excuse to hate and even kill.
My other point is Donald Trump is not truly responsible for the abortion bans. That honor goes to the American people.
Lets be honest with how we got here. It did not happen overnight. There is no easy or quick fix. The only way out of this is to organize behind courageous leaders who are willing to throw away the playbook that has failed time and time again.
Great article I’m a day ahead. I need to read yesterday’s article now☮️
Mr Rashid, I am appalled to read the comments you received that demonize Islam and Muslims. This would never have been considered Christian behavior when I was growing up; not to mention the lies in the statements themselves. Thank you for your articles both yesterday and today and to those in the comments below who have articulated with more depth than I their outrage with the religious discrimination responses you received.