Over the past few weeks, Representative Todd Akin of Missouri has been the target of a full-fledged public hate-fest over a supposedly “unforgivable” series of remarks he made during an interview with a local FOX news station. The fashionable thing for anybody even remotely involved in politics was to disown the man, save for a few pro-life organizations and devout religionists who rallied to his cause. And, what precisely, made the collective beehive that is mainstream journalism and the Washington elites transform into beastly, fire-breathing, groupthink dragoons ready to snuff out anybody who would dare pounce to the beleaguered congressman’s defense?
If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. If pregnancy does occur, I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment should be on the rapist, and not attacking the child.
Taken at face value, this is crazy talk. How could any person who isn’t a cold, calculating tin-man justify sexual assault of any sort as “legitimate?” Was he really taking his cues from stone-age patriarchs of yore who blamed the victim for enticing her assailant?
If the talking heads and pundits who rushed to condemn Akin to the pits of Hell actually took the time to chew this quote over, maybe they would realize how insanely unreasonable it is to paint this family man, God-fearing Christian, and humble Flanders archetype as some kind of sadistic, woman-hating monster. To automatically assume that Akin – whose pastors, ministers, neighbors, and friends describe him as one of the most sincere, warmhearted individuals to ever grace the face of the earth – as some knuckle-dragging swine unfit for political office is more absurd than the phrase “legitimate rape,” clipped and edited for maximum “shock” value, could ever be. Continue reading
Confessions of An Evil American Capitalist 