Exactly what happened on Bill Bennet's radio show
Here's exactly what happened on Bill Bennett's radio show:
Bill Bennett was discussing good vs. bad reasons to oppose abortion, and he was making the case that social and economic reasons were bad reasons to oppose abortion. A caller had said that abortion was bad because if we didn't have abortion, we wouldn't have a problem funding social security. Bennett said that was a terrible reason to oppose abortion, saying that one could make the case for aborting all black babies in the U.S. if one wanted to reduce the crime rate (an argument quite similar to one a left-wing economist had already made); Bennett maintained that such an action would be morally reprehensible and ridiculous, but pointed out that such is the thinking of those who try to relate abortion to economic ills or social benefits.
Then, left wing politicians immediately accused Mr. Bennett of being a racist, a monster, and generally a horrible person, by taking out of context his statement that you could reduce the crime rate by aborting all black babies. To give you an example of how dishonest that was, it would be like me quoting Dr. Walter E. Williams as saying "if a young lady agrees to marry me, and a third party initiates force to prevent the transaction, my rights have been violated" in this column, then concluding that he wants to commit polygamy (since Dr. Williams is already married). The main difference is that calling Dr. Williams a lobbyist for polygamy rights is not on the same level of vile slander as calling Mr. Bennett a racist who lobbies for genocide. Another difference is that I agree with what Dr. Williams was saying in the misquoted article, but leftist politicians disagree with Bennett's opposition to abortion. This makes it rather funny that they accidentally helped his case by calling the hypothetical unborn victims "people." But I digress.
The point is, be careful who you trust to quote people. Go look at the original context whenever possible, and be skeptical when you can't. A lot of people are liars.
SRS
Bill Bennett was discussing good vs. bad reasons to oppose abortion, and he was making the case that social and economic reasons were bad reasons to oppose abortion. A caller had said that abortion was bad because if we didn't have abortion, we wouldn't have a problem funding social security. Bennett said that was a terrible reason to oppose abortion, saying that one could make the case for aborting all black babies in the U.S. if one wanted to reduce the crime rate (an argument quite similar to one a left-wing economist had already made); Bennett maintained that such an action would be morally reprehensible and ridiculous, but pointed out that such is the thinking of those who try to relate abortion to economic ills or social benefits.
Then, left wing politicians immediately accused Mr. Bennett of being a racist, a monster, and generally a horrible person, by taking out of context his statement that you could reduce the crime rate by aborting all black babies. To give you an example of how dishonest that was, it would be like me quoting Dr. Walter E. Williams as saying "if a young lady agrees to marry me, and a third party initiates force to prevent the transaction, my rights have been violated" in this column, then concluding that he wants to commit polygamy (since Dr. Williams is already married). The main difference is that calling Dr. Williams a lobbyist for polygamy rights is not on the same level of vile slander as calling Mr. Bennett a racist who lobbies for genocide. Another difference is that I agree with what Dr. Williams was saying in the misquoted article, but leftist politicians disagree with Bennett's opposition to abortion. This makes it rather funny that they accidentally helped his case by calling the hypothetical unborn victims "people." But I digress.
The point is, be careful who you trust to quote people. Go look at the original context whenever possible, and be skeptical when you can't. A lot of people are liars.
SRS
posted by weblogbob83 at 12:24 PM
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