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I thought the culture wars were mostly about racism. I don't understand the young white women on the TV celebrating that they don't have the right to an abortion. Why are they happy about it? Are they thinking it won't affect them, because they can afford an out of state abortion, and they're hoping that black women won't have the money?

One is protected in the constitution, one isn't is what it comes down to isn't it?

That may be a terrible interpretation of events

Probably religious nut case who thinks God is now happy

They already have their next targets:

Clarence Thomas, concurring, explicitly calls on the Supreme Court to overrule Griswold (right to contraception), Lawrence (right to same-sex intimacy), and Obergefell (right to same-sex marriage).
https://twitter.com/fordm/status/1540338064324698112

People make the mistake of thinking that progress is permanent, rather than it being a sea wall that needs to be constantly surveyed and attended to, because the tide of reaction and illiberalism that it protects against may ebb but also never stops flowing.
The role of religion in the US cannot be overstated too - it's really one of the fundamental differences with the UK. For many US Christians abortion is a single-issue vote winner ( and being pro-choice is rarely a single-issue vote winner for the other side) so cynical Republicans have given them what they want. Many of those soi-disant Christians voted for Trump for that sole reason. Roe vs Wade is only an element in the fight back against liberalism that has been going on since at least the 60s and there is a great stash of books on the subject. Nancy MacLean's Democracy In Chains is a good starting point to understand just how extreme are the ideas behind much of it.

No such thing as casual abortion. Maybe ask a woman to educate you.

On the other hand, I read a lot about US politics and history and I'm not sure why. It's always striking how important US news is considered to be in the UK. During the Brexit period it was clear that people actually know, and are told, a lot more about the US than about Europe.
For example - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/24/germany-scraps-nazi-era-abortion-law-that-criminalises-doctors
It's not very relevant to British people but then neither is Roe vs Wade.

I don't understand the young white women on the TV celebrating that they don't have the right to an abortion. Why are they happy about it?

Religious fundamentalism.

Thanks, that's pretty succinct.

Norwood

Isle of Thanet or any of the Medway towns make Catford or Norwood look like Portofino.

Fuck this shit. Seriously, fuck it.

So, Question Time last night. The desperate Tory mini minister dismissed any by election reverses as only general elections count as that when the people can have their democratic say.

While I have hope with the Honiton and Tiverton by-election, my MP has a 24k majority so no, you intellectually vacuous prat, I don’t have a meaningful say on this shitshow of a government. Lots of applause for her answer though.

Not sure purpose of this post apart from inarticulate frustration.

I feel like I'm living in a first draft of a really bad mid-century dystopian novel. Any minute now the author is going to re read it and realise that no one is going to believe this shit then somehow things will return to some level of normalcy.

There's a really good series on BBC R4 about the origin of various limbs of the culture wars, I'll see if I can find it.

I don't understand the young white women on the TV celebrating that they don't have the right to an abortion. Why are they happy about it?

No offence, but it might be worth doing some reading on pro life arguments.

Everyone here seems to be making a lot of assumptions.

Hint: it's religion.

I think I'm familiar with the arguments. (I stayed with evangelicals in Florida.) But I was still surprised to see girls partying as if it was the next best thing to spring break.

Jon ronson. sorry too late in the day to remember the name of the series

Wouldn't you be happy if this was your worldview?

What an awful bastard.

What is it that has happened that has led to this reversal of rights, both here and in the US?
Does it all go back to an event that slowly started this? The economic crisis of the 2000s? The gulf wars?

How far back do you want to go? Prez Bush 2 and his group’s corruption and ineptitude leading to an at best misguided ‘war on terror’ that led to a hastened militarisation of US policing. The Bush dynasty and their extended network’s shady dealings and ideology (Prez Bush 1 masterminded the Iran Contra; his dad Prescott Bush was a known white suprematist and political supporter). Reagan and his group’s stupid neoliberal ideology and economics. Nixon and his goddamned southern strategy pitting white working class against black people and foreigners. Ulysses S Grant and his failure as president to rein in the racist southern states he defeated in combat….

I’d strongly recommend the book Confessions of an Economic Hitman, to showcase how powerful corporations and institutions ‘lobby’ politicians and force through legislation in their favour, without care for future impact. Why is it relevant? Because that’s what’s happening now: powerful (read- rich) entities have decided that their best bet to secure political power in the US is to cater to religious conservatives and previously disenfranchised (for good reason) groups, such as racists.

They’ve been chasing after Roe v Wade at the behest of their anti-abortion sponsors for 2.5 generations, and now they’ve delivered so they’ll get even more support.

Trigger warning- discrimination.

Want to know what’s next? IMO: LGBTQI+, starting backwards. Making them taboo in public discourse and education, erasing IQT as concepts, eventually removing equality protections for BGL, potentially even outlawing them.
Women’s rights and people rights to decide on their private sexual lives are going to be a continued battleground because religious fruitcakes are obsessed with controlling what other people do sexually.

And all of this to get the population divided and unable to focus on the policies and legislation that rob them blind and increasingly strip their freedoms.

Amazing that's the headline when the article mentions Heathrow's chief executive got an 85% raise

I don't understand the young white women on the TV celebrating that they don't have the right to an abortion. Why are they happy about it? Are they thinking it won't affect them, because they can afford an out of state abortion, and they're hoping that black women won't have the money?

ITV News tonight

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I was in NOLA the year before Trump got elected, it was amazing the number of black people I spoke to who thought he was the second coming