You know the show Family Guy. It’s essentially a funny/distasteful half hour animated sitcom made to make you cringe and laugh. I’ve never seen a whole episode. But, recently Fox refused to air an abortion themed episode of the animated series and that, of course, has given the show sudden attention from the media.
Family Guy creator Seth Macfarlane was incensed enough by the censorship that he held a stage reading of the script, ironically at the Ricardo Montalban Theater. (Montalban was a pro-life Catholic.)
Here’s essentially what takes place in the episode, according to the Washington Post:
Peter asking a couple unable to conceive, “Which one of you has something horribly wrong with you?”; an antiabortion advertisement implying that if abortion didn’t exist, the Three Stooges might have found a fourth; and some Hitler and Osama bin Laden attention-getters.
The episode, in which Griffin matriarch Lois becomes a surrogate mom for a college friend and her husband, really focuses on the “will she/won’t she” abortion question only in the third act, after the couple dies in a car accident. What follows is a trip to a family-planning center, where Peter, initially encouraging his wife to end the pregnancy (and thus avoid her crazy-while-pregnant phase), is stopped by a group of antiabortion activists who try to change his mind with a video featuring Ziggy the Zygote, who just wants a hug.
A rousing family debate takes place, including baby Stewie and dog Brian. Lois makes an impassioned speech about the importance of bringing children into the world no matter the circumstances, and Peter abruptly cuts her off with, “We had the abortion.” Cue credits.
The whole thing seems like a p.r. attempt to me as they’ll likely include the episode in the season’s DVD set giving people a reason to go out and buy it.
But here’s the thing. I wish Fox would’ve shown it. I want them to show it. Why not? Make a movie about it. And then come out with a Blu-Ray DVD with extras. Make a spin-off sitcom about three wacky nurses who work at an abortion clinic.
I think for too long we’ve been told that abortion is too incendiary to discuss. It’s too hot a topic. Can you think of any other issue where Hollywood says this is “too hot a topic” to exploit for profit? The reason for the silence is not capitalistic. It’s ideology.
Big Abortion alone is allowed to stay behind the curtain away from public scrutiny.
I say we should talk about abortion. Heck, show one on television. You want America to become a pro-life nation overnight, show a live late term abortion. Don’t do it when kids are watching and put warnings up beforehand. But do it.
Right now, pro-lifers can hardly even get an ad on television showing cute babies. The logic of the left is priceless. Follow if you will: the fetus is a meaningless blob of tissue that we think it’s OK to rip apart and kill thousands of them per day. But if you show a picture of what we actually kill you’re some kind of sicko who should be on Homeland Security’s watch list.
Why can’t we show aborted fetuses on television? If it’s just a meaningless blob of tissue, what’s the problem with showing it? It’s because they’re afraid that the American people will see a baby and not the blob of tissue they’ve been told about.
Pro-abortion types want to keep the womb off limits from technology and abortion off the public’s radar. That’s why the ordinary ministers of the media don’t cover pro-life marches. Why would they? Big Abortion is a multi-million dollar industry that heavily supports their chosen political party.
One of the liberal mantras is always ‘we need to bring sunlight” to every issue. They “spotlight” racism. They “highlight” the extreme protesters at townhalls. But no light is ever allowed to shine on the abortion industry. It is allowed to operate in the dark unseen, unnoticed and unchecked. They like it that way. They need it that way.
August 14, 2009 at 6:24 pm
"Big Abortion alone is allowed to stay behind the curtain away from public scrutiny."
Isn't that the truth…everyone knows in their hearts that abortion is nothing less than murder and that there is no evil in the whole world proportionate to the evil of abortion…killing 50,000,000 innocent defenseless little boys and girls every year worldwide and the current policies of the United States intend to greatly increase that number. For ever single one of those 50 million children there are a mother and a father who have witnessed/experienced the deat of their child…the child in the womb who depends most on their parents, especially their mother, for protection, food and air. Yet, mankind as a whole chooses to ignore this greatest of evils and slaughter the least of our brethren with the greatest of ease. Pray, to end the killing.
August 14, 2009 at 6:50 pm
As an "adult-swim" kinda guy, I used to like Family Guy back in the late 90's. While Seth has always billed himself as a "recovering Catholic" he has since outted himself as an atheist and his humor has gone further and futher south in favor of shock value.
Personally, I don't think abortion should be a topic discussed on primetime (when children are watching) at all. Granted, I don't let my kids watch Family Guy (they're too young to understand anyway) but I think the issue of abortion is the same as sex ed. It's something we as parents need to discuss with our children as opposed to having it thrust in their face at all turns by the media.
August 14, 2009 at 7:40 pm
This is the reality of late term abortion. It's not something people do for fun, or because they change their mind.
You are absolutely right that we need to have open, honest discussion about abortion, but that is only possible if both sides stop painting the other as evil. It's called "assuming good will". I would assume that you are not a woman-hating fiend, and you would assume that I am not a baby-hating fiend, and move from there.
Incendiary "they're all out to kill the booful babeeeeeez!!!!" posts don't really add anything to the discussion.
August 14, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Personal failure is right.
I cannot assume (nor even comprehend) goodwill in people who make huge dollars tearing defenseless human beings limb from limb.
August 14, 2009 at 7:52 pm
After checking out that article, I couldn't be more disgusted. So-called quality of life does not equal value of life. Abortion is, at its very root, a failure to love–an unwillingness to expend the blood, sweat and–above all–tears that come with special needs children.
This is love: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th6Njr-qkq0&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fhome.php&feature=player_embedded
August 14, 2009 at 8:04 pm
PF – I agree with you. The more rational and scientific the argument, the more grounded and strong our case is. Showing pictures of cooing babies gives us a nice "awwwwwwe" feeling, but it does NOTHING to further our cause, since the other side is solely built on emotion. It is sheer emotion and annecdote which allows them the "right" to kill a late-term baby; not science, not reason, not logic.
August 14, 2009 at 8:10 pm
"..Can you think of any other issue where Hollywood says this is "too hot a topic" to exploit for profit?"
Islamofascism
August 14, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Personal failure,
I've known families where the prognosis was the same as that in the article you linked to. That is, that the baby would never live, that it would be in constant pain, etc..
However, those families embraced the human life that was there, because they knew that child was there for a reason. In one case, the mother gave birth to the baby and held the baby for 45 minutes, at which point the little one died naturally. Was this hard? Of course. Did they ever, ever regret the decision to do their best for their child? Absolutely not.
Do you wonder how Gretchen's story might have been different if she had seen her baby live, even if only for a few minutes? I do.
And Matthew's point is the same as yours: make public stories like that and let the public decide based on the real in-your-face information. The powers that be won't allow pro-life messages with palatable subject matter (cute babies). Far less so will they allow anything more graphic or personal.
You've clearly made your choice based on the knowledge that you've found. Would you deny that choice to others?
August 14, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Recently there was a horrific massacre of horses, in some southern state I think. The report admitted that the pictures were brutal but, the reporter said, "It's important that people see this, so they know how horrible the crime was." Then they showed film of horses which had been butchered for meat. There was no attempt to block the gore from sight. As a country, we got serious about civil rights when we saw pictures of cops turning dogs and fire hoses on people. Network news essentially snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in Viet Nam by showing the dead on both sides. We believe what we see, otherwise, for many, it is just theoretical. Pro-aborts know this. That is why they scream such outrage when aborted babies are shown and reject any honest description of what happens in an abortion or to women after. A "pro-choice" nursing school classmate of mine even objected to learning fetal development in anatomy class because "it might lead some people to think there is really a baby in there." Terentia
August 14, 2009 at 9:25 pm
So true about liberals. Yes, to them an unborn child is meaningless. They are not "misguided" or "uninformed." They are not ignorant of the matter. They know exactly what they are doing and why they refuse to allow anything to the contrary to be discussed or portrayed because they know they are wrong and that it would actually undercut their ruthlessness, their absolute obsession with abortion. They know the evils of abortion and what results from it, both near and long-term.
This is why they have a campaign against pro-lifers and Conservatives who know better and can see their through their charades of words of hate and social whining, etc.
John Paul II said twenty years the time is coming when the world will make what is evil to be good, and what is good to be evil. That time is already here, evident in the very discussions we are having, the vilification of those who stand for Truth, and removal of Catholicism and Christianity from the public square.
Matt
August 14, 2009 at 9:29 pm
If the nation will be moved by video but the major networks will not air them, then grassroots can still make it happen with their Youtube posts & blogs and distribute them to their personal networks in facebook etc… The unborn still has a chance and it rests on our hands (fingers really). Onward Christian bloggers …
August 14, 2009 at 9:29 pm
If the nation will be moved by video but the major networks will not air them, then grassroots can still make it happen with their Youtube posts & blogs and distribute them to their personal networks in facebook etc… The unborn still has a chance and it rests on our hands (fingers really). Onward Christian bloggers …
August 15, 2009 at 12:29 am
Looks like PersonalFailure has a fitting blog: http://foreverinhell.blogspot.com/
where she mocks the Minority Report on a repeated basis. If she's so intent on hijacking comments, I believe we should do the same on her blog…
August 15, 2009 at 12:59 am
Personal Failure,
As a pediatric nurse practitioner, I've personally cared for dozens of children with severe spina bifida. Even many children with severe defects have shunts to relieve the hydrocephalus. They are charming and verbally precocious in general. Of paramount reality, they are human, like you and me. Unless you admit this, you will have no peace at the murder of your child.
August 15, 2009 at 2:41 am
And the light shines in the darkness…
August 15, 2009 at 3:10 am
I just read about Marxism: There, in Marxism, is only one absolute truth, and that is that everything is relative.
"Blob of tissue", "lump of cells", … and so forth – "it" is never a human being. Relativism!
Yes, by all means, show everything around the abortion industry – show those babies that Fr. Pavone digs out of dumpsters, show those pictures of aborted babies the size of a coin, show them, and let the world see who it is we murder everyday.
At the same time we have to work our fingers to the bone to give desperate, frightened women a chance, love and support.
The article made me both sick and angry. What is with this quality of life thing? In my parish is a man who is severely handicapped. We had a car wash for him to finance a service dog. Any idea how much a yellow lab for a service dog is? $30,000!!!!
This man has no quality of life? Then, by golly, give him quality of life! With all the money floating around people like him cannot have quality of life? That is ridiculous and so profoundly sad as this man is in a fortunate situation to have family and friends who love him. My own children chat with him and make him and his dog Christmas gifts!
The saddest part, however, is that Gretchen thinks she had her baby murdered out of love! She does not realize how she cut off herself, her husband and her family from Love! And the fact that she agonizes so tremendously over it just proves my point.
Mercy!
Mum26
August 15, 2009 at 4:54 am
Well said, Mum26.
Guys, I think we should all say a prayer for Gretchen, who was forced to choose "Science" over Love.
And I'm sorry if this reveals me to be Catholic (a super shock, I know), but all babies are beautiful, no matter what they look like, act like when born. I don't care if they live 45 minutes or 450 years. God bless all the parents willing to bring life into this world, and, again, let's pray for Gretchen and her husband.
August 15, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Good editorial. You are dead right about the pro-abortion hypocrisy. Lord have mercy on us.
August 15, 2009 at 4:03 pm
We have to shout it from the roof tops that there is such a thing as Absolute Truth!
The fact that life is sacred under all and every circumstance is an Absolute Truth.
The challenge is not how we twist and turn to make it not so in cases of extreme situations. The challenge is to love all the more!!!!
As Louis Armstrong said in one version I have here of my all time favorite "What a wonderful world": "love, baby, love, that's the secret; if lot's more people loved each other, we'd solve lots more problems." :-)))
The Absolute Truth will serve as a straw that one can firmly hold on to in times of hardship.
Mercy!
Mum26
August 15, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Oiy… that article is sad. On so many levels. The false sense of compassion is what is utilized to justify someone taking the life of their child based off scientific results of tests. Since when do we have that right to tell another individual they don't have a right to life?
And why do people that write articles such as this always have to inject that someone close to them is a Catholic or Republican? Suddenly that justifies it?
Makes me really sick knowing so many women walk around with this justified idea, but their hearts are truly breaking and they don't want to admit it. (many post abortive women actually do this too, so it's not just ones that have late term abortions). But I have to apologize, while I feel a sense of sadness for anyone that has lost a child, I bristle at those that chose to deliberately "lose" that child. I can't seem to find any compassion for them. They wouldn't have lost that child had they not chosen to kill it.
May God have mercy on Gretchen and her family.