Friday 24 June 2011

Race and Abortion in Amerika

I have a USian friend who keeps telling me I will never understand US politics or society until I understand how deeply deeply racist the place is.

I think she's right, because I continue to be gobsmacked.

Last year, I blogged on the fetus fetishists' descent into race politics.

They're at it again, focusing on African Americans and Latinos, as having disproportional abortion rates because they are targeted by the abortion 'industry' because the abortion industry is engaged in enthusiastic genocide. (I'm getting sick of the quotes. Take 'em as read.)

These operations usually have an organization or individual belonging to the targeted group as front men. So, natch, they couldn't possibly be racist, could they?

So, how 'bout this new one, fans of equality?



ALCU says:
No matter how you feel about abortion, we should all be able to agree that a black woman who has had an abortion should not be singled out and degraded like this as a means of advancing an ideological agenda. From forced sterilizations to the experiments at Tuskegee, there is a long and disgraceful history in this country of regulating and exploiting black women's and men's bodies and basic dignity. By suggesting that black women and families cannot be trusted, and their decisions about childbearing must be regulated and controlled for their own good, these billboards are a part of the same pattern of denigration and oppression.

Nah. Not racist, atall atall.

Wait. It gets worse. What follows makes NO sense. (Though I'd be grateful if someone hit me with a clue-bat.)

I've been meaning to write about a spate of anti-abortion films, and I may yet, but news of this one is smacking me in the gob again.

It's called 'Gates of Hell' and here's the plot synopsis with a trailer there too.
Three years in the making, "Gates of Hell" is a documentary from the year 2016 that chronicles the crimes of a band of domestic terrorists known as the Zulu 9. Finnish filmmaker Ani Juva travels to the United States to better understand the mysterious black power assassins, the unexpected eugenics conspiracy theory that drove them to commit extreme acts of violence and how America's political landscape was transformed overnight. Blending real history and real public figures with a fictitious (yet plausible) future, it is safe to say that you have never seen a film like "Gates of Hell".

Hell, indeed. I can barely imagine a film like that.

OK. Work with me.

In revenge for the abortion genocide perpetrated on African Americans, a gang of black power assassins targets abortion providers, resulting in extreme acts of violence. Dutifully and graphically portrayed, no doubt.

And this transforms the political landscape 'overnight' and Bingo! Presto! Abortion is ended.

Where to start?

First, has there ever been an African-American anti-abortion terrorist? The ones I know about have all been dweeby, pathetic, white male losers.

Projection, anyone? 'The blacks made me do it'? 'I did it for the black babies'?

Next, the actual dweeby pathetic white male loser assassins are NEVER called assassins by fetus fetishists. They're misguided loners. NOT, NO HOW, NEVER associated with ANY anti-choice group. They are smartly backed away from by the FFs.

But fictional African Americans who do the same thing are assassins. Not just assassins, but black power assassins. They commit crimes. They are domestic terrorists.

Butbutbut, they're good guys. They 'transform' USian society by killing abortion providers, some of whom must be non-African-American.

So. A race war in defense of the pre-born is a Good Thing.

I'm totally lost. There must be dog-whistles here. But they are obviously not aimed at me. Or sane people in general.

ADDED: You GOTTA read commenter Niles's deconstructions in the comments!

10 comments:

Niles said...

They're so cute when they're trying to co-opt minorities but forget to take off the white hood before sticking foot in mouth. Someone should put up a billboard right beside it with quotes about pro-forced pregnancy politicians/celebrities venting about poor women of colour having kids just to get welfare money. 'before' and 'after' as it were.

Considering the film is the latest in a series of forcedpregnancy porn by a white fetus fetishist Daily Nut, you're bringing logic to a gum fight. They're too busy smearing gum in someone's hair to listen to *reason*.

How many mainstream theater screens is this flick expected to hit? Less than or more than the staggering epic 'Atlas Shrugged'? Or is it to be uploaded by torrent?

Presuming a guess from the outline, I would say the message is simple. He wants to indulge a fantasy about killing abortion surgeons. He doesn't want this fantasy to blowback on his cause, what with awkwaaaarrrrd images of evangelical white militants mowing down doctors and collateral damage. He needs a stalking horse.

Voila, he uses "The Scary Black Militant tm" to do his dirty work in his fantasy for him. Lily white hands stay lily white and reap all the benefits while the bad menz are dutifully punished and criminalized and whatever images get out of black men looking militant and scary are...well, lost in the crowd. And if RL black men are energized to actually take up 'the call to arms' in such a manner, fulfilled prayer cookies all around.

Plausible deniability *and* concern trolling *and* racism, except they can't possibly be racist because they want to saaaaave black babies.

He's very desperate to get his 'White conservative's idea of Black Panther' cosplay on if he's willing to cede that the US govt would surrender to internal terrorism from People of Colour and ban abortion.

fern hill said...

OMFG, I almost understand that. ;-)

fern hill said...

Hey, Niles, have a go at deconstructing The Life Zone.

To me, it just makes FF's misogyny totally transparent.

And. Also. It looks really bad. Like, who could sit through that?

Pseudz said...

I guess that it's a good thing that they can only travel back 6000 years - any more and we might still have tails.

Niles said...

Oh fern, the things you ask. And the time I have on my hands.

Shorter opinion? Like the "Left Behind" books/films, of which this is a fellow traveler, the story of the film presupposes several fundigelical myths and assertions to be always and literally true. IE: you'll all be sorry when you're dead and find out I'm right.- *Nelson laugh and point*.

This is nothing more than one of those evangelical Hell Houses, with a budget and weirder lighting; which can be distributed to church basements full of captive teenagers, instead of each community having to risk some kid getting the theater/horror/emo goth bug and parent committees tearing each other apart in egos.

Longer opinion? (warning: about to ramble)

Let's start with the trailer. There is no such unf*cking thing as a 2:42 minutes TRAILER for a film being released in a theater. This is obviously the merciful Coles Notes version of the film, for those viewers that would be sawing their wrists to get out of more than 2:45 worth of the actual flick.

Next up, I find it endlessly interesting that for biblical literalists, these people would be lost for creative damnation without Dante's 'Inferno'...aka biblical fanfiction. Because that's what they're depending on for plot. There ain't nuffin about this stuff in the actual bible. It's all mooning Medieval Florentine poet never allowed to marry the girl he really wanted. Hrm, we're back to emo goths.

Spoilers for those that didn't actually care enough to go look up the plot: the girls are dead from botched legal abortions and are in Purgatory where the Devil is taking personal delight in testing them for GOD, ie: they are forced through the pregnancy (or some holy ghost version of it. Is this divine conception? zombie fetuses? Is God punishing the already dead babies too by making them go through this???) and if they learn to love their preborn child, they acquire a "get out of sin" card and go on to heaven. Two do, one doesn't, she still don't want to be birthin' no babies. She's condemned to be serially pregnant/childbirth for the rest of eternity(see, we're back to 'Groundhog Day preggers forever with WHAT').

Of course, I'm not sure what the difference is between winners and losers since the winners are all supposed to want babies forevah. Is heaven meaning that women are now free of pregnancy? Or no, wait...no nookie..so it's all abstinence all the time, so uhm...if babies are the natural endpoint of being a woman, isn't abstinence denial of god's intent? I mean if unmarried women are having babies, isn't that...uhm...what was the point here again?

Bonus points, the doctor is an infertile woman who is condemned for eternity for uhm..not..having kids I think...even though God would be responsible for her infertility...ow.

The greatest damnation in the film seems to be that anyone caught in this situation loses their ability to act, which might be the result of the only 'method' going through their heads being "I'm getting paid, I'm getting paid, I'm getting paid".

You're likely sorry you asked.

deBeauxOs said...

Niles -please, please be our official Xtian movie critic? I may have cracked a rib, enjoying your review.

Yup. I'm going to hell, I know it.

Niles said...

tch tch tch, fern.

Zombie *fetuses*. You're succumbing to the dark side.

Although given the rigidly bloated beached whales in the 'trailer' at a supposed seven months, I would vote for helium balloons surreptitiously inflated during sleep.

It really is a horror film. Just, not the way the makers think it is. The takeaway is, no matter how a woman gets pregnant, she better pop that puppy out or die trying, or...she'll incur the eternal wrath of (by the motifs/props around, a CATHOLIC god. The Catholics were riiiight the Catholics were riiiiight)

Did I mention the women were all single, white, young, good looking American women with nothing better to do than hang around abortuaries?

Blonde, brunette and auburn. The usual white privilege troika of 'difference', because moving beyond that narrow scope of abortionistas would bring in a whole encyclopedia of awwwwwwwkwaaard moments the plot needed to kill stillborn. Whoopsie, my bad on the phrasing.

Yes, I've got my grumpy snark hat on.

Niles said...

hey, DeB, you're back! Did you ever get my email?

fern hill said...

Eeek. My bad. Yes. 'Zombie fetuses'. I must be hanging around The Dark Sites too much.

deBeauxOs said...

Niles, it would seem not, I just checked. Try this one: saylavie at canada dot com

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