The Best of the Worst … My List
Let’s be kind and simply say that news coverage of the carnage at Fort Hood wasn’t journalism’s finest moment.
It seems that lamestream journalists had a great deal of trouble uttering the word “terror” or “terrorist” or “Muslim” – even though the gunman is a Muslim terrorist. You’d think that his many jihadist statements might have been a clue. Or the fact he repeatedly wrote to an imam in Yemen who was recruiting for al-Qaeda. But the clincher, you’d think, was when the gunman shouted the Islamic war cry, Allahu Akbar, “God is Great,” right before he opened fire.
Hey, but those are just facts and everyone knows that lots of reporters won’t let the facts get in the way of a good story. And the good story they were putting out – without any evidence to back it up – was that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan probably was suffering from PTSD – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, even though he had never been in combat in his life.
One poll of network evening newscasts found that 85 percent of their stories (in a five day period after the shooting) did not mention the word “terror.” And only 29 percent of the evening news reports mentioned that Maj. Hasan was a Muslim.
I think this allergic reaction to reality has something to do with the human tendency – in this particular case, the human liberal tendency – to try to shape facts to conform with one's own idealistic views of the world. In other words, liberal journalists didn’t want the gunman to be a Muslim terrorist so they didn’t portray him as a Muslim terrorist. Pretty simple, huh?
But not all of the coverage and commentary, of course, was lame; some of it wasn’t that good. Which brings us to the real reason for this column: My top 5 examples of lamestream media gone off the rails.
5. Time magazine cover: Terrified … or Terrorist?
This raises another question: ARE YOU KIDDING?
4, Evan Thomas, editor at large of Newsweek: “I cringe that he’s a Muslim. I mean, because it inflames all the fears. I think he's probably just a nut case. But with that label attached to him, it will get the right wing going….”
So the real danger, in Evan Thomas’s little pretend world, are right-wingers – not Muslim terrorists? And the shooter is “probably just a nut case”? What about that Allahu Akbar, God is Great thing, Evan? You think that might make him more than “just a nut case”?
3. Joe Klein, Time magazine: “There are today several odious attempts by Jewish extremists … to argue that the massacre perpetrated by Nidal Hasan was somehow a direct consequence of his Islamic beliefs….”
But, Joe, the massacre was perpetrated by Nidal Hasan as a direct consequence of his Islamic beliefs! Blaming the Jews, though, is a good one. It always works.
2. Bob Schieffer, CBS News: “And you know, Islam doesn’t have a majority – or the Christian religion has its full … helping of nuts too.”
Call it the moral equivalency argument. But let’s acknowledge that Bob makes a good point. We should all look out for those crazy Christian suicide bombers who are in the news every other day for blowing something or other up and slaughtering as many innocents as they can. Those Christian terrorists pose a real threat to the American people.
1. Chris “I feel a thrill running up my leg” Mathews of MSNBC:
Apparently he tried to contact al-Qaeda. … That’s not a crime to call al-Qaeda, is it?”
Maybe not, Chris, but you are.
That’s my list and I’m sticking to it. I welcome any entries you might have.
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Oh good grief. When are conservatives going to realize that “pro-choice” does not equal “pro-abortion”. Honestly, the vast majority of pro-choice woman I know, would never have an abortion themselves, birth defects or not.
For what it is worth, my son was born with a rare brain malformation and a joint deformity. The brain malformation is not detectable until after birth, but the joint deformity is easily picked up on ultrasound. I was badgered relentlessly and told that my son would die at birth. I refused to abort. That is NOT an option for me. Even if I knew, with 100% certainty, that my son would have been stillborn, I still would have stayed pregnant. Whatever time I get to have with my child is priceless and I would throw that away just to “get it over with”. Today, my son is 4.5. He knows all of colors, letters and their sounds, numbers 1-10, loves animals and drawing. He cannot speak, but signs hundreds of words. He cannot walk, but can take a few steps at a time. And he is absolutely beautiful.
Yes, I am pro-choice. That does not mean that I do not value life or that I agree with abortion. I just believe I have no right to apply my beliefs to someone else. I am not Christian, or “religious”, but again, just because I don’t carry a book that tells me right from wrong, doesn’t mean I can’t figure that out for myself (for the record, I am Pagan).
So maybe you should think things through a bit more before you start making generalized assumptions.
Love to read the comments by the liberals/leftist post. As usual their comments seem to be ad hominem vs any factual support..
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what Bernie was saying. Most liberals are pro-choice and most conservatives are pro-life. You want to talk about Bernie politicizing your kids; he isn’t you are!!!!!!
I think that anything that Bernard Goldberd says or publishes, should be disregarded/burned, because it is all completely close-minded. Pay attention people.
Pretty long debate in here, people. But anyway, just do good deeds with each other, and let’s stay out of trouble. So, be at least less hateful and spread love instead. So people who are not into it, pray for them.
Hey Bernie, Your hate books get people killed, Doesn’t that bother you, I mean just a little bit?
Hey Wil, you’re completely full of crap. Doesn’t that bother you at least a little bit?
Mr. Goldberg:
I chose not to terminate when at 20-weeks gestation we were told that the baby I was carrying had a very large arachnoid cyst taking up nearly the entire left hemisphere of his brain as well as Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum. I also voted for Obama; I believe that everyone is entitled health care and that everyone should have the right to marry. And I’m still pro choice. My husband and I *chose* to keep our son. This decision was not made for us by people who do not know us.
Kindly keep my children out of your politics.
Sometimes in life, things start out as one thing and end up turning into something completely different, taking on a life of it’s own. Half of these comments have nothing to do with Bernie’s column. Your column was very good, by the way, Bernie!
Wow Bernie! You really kicked over the hornet’s nest. And you didn’t even write it here. I am impressed.
I see where you were going with your statement. I doubt most of the people reaming you here actually saw the broadcast because what you said (That a liberal is MORE LIKELY to abort a Downs Syndrome fetus) is being taken out of context and twisted into something it was not.
Guess that’s what happens when you fail to toe the politically correct line in a highly public manner.
Hang in there. I think you were right.
Oh Yeah, I also agree with the article you wrote above. The one that has nothing to do with aborting a Downs Syndorme fetus.
Thanks, Leland … I appreciate the support
Bernie
Leland, what he said was “Liberals wouldn’t let that happen.” Furthermore, there are no facts supporting the supposition that a liberal is more likely to abort a Down Syndrome fetus.
I’m still trying to figure out if Bernie meant that liberals hate Palin because they hate children with Down Syndrome, or because they hate the parents of children with Down Syndrome. He can’t really believe that liberals looked at that child and decided to hate his mother because she allowed him to be born. That is absolutely ridiculous.
When I see a child with special needs, I never think “Those people should have aborted that child,” and I don’t know anyone else who thinks that way. I think about how hard it is to have to deal with those extra challenges. If anything, Trig’s existence made me feel supportive of his mother. I identified with her situation, even as I disagreed with her politics.
Deanna,
I saw the show. I admit being at work at the time, we were not transmitting so I caught the gist of it. While that is not an exact quote (too old to give you verbatim transcripts from memory) it is what I got out of it.
Bernie’s only sin here was to cross a politically correct line. That got on of the countless Politically Correct Goon Squads (PCGS) to declare a politically correct jihad on him. Take a look around the internet forums. You’ll find people raising the alarm, telling lies, demanding action and encouraging their followers to vent here.
As for facts, don’t need them. A study on the matter would be interesting but It is common sense that liberals are less inhibited when it comes to abortion and therefore more likely they would abort under any circumstances, let alone the pressure of a defective child. Conservatives tend to me more church going and conservative in that area.
For the record I am a pro-choice conservative. So I am uninhibited by pro-life platform.
So Deanna, where are your facts and figures to back your disagreement with my common sense observations?
Leland,
If after having read through the comments on this page, you still believe that this is a case of a PC line being crossed, then any further attempts to enlighten you would be fruitless. There are facts given in the comment by Becca. Facts are readily available from countless sources.
I must point out, however, that my child is not “defective,” as you say above. She is different from you and me, she has special needs that you and I do not have, but she is absolutely NOT defective. How very sad that you and others look at my child that way. You are missing out on knowing an incredible person.
Personally, for me, political correctness had nothing to do with it. I have no time or patience for people who think that they can alter their vocabulary to fit some sort of mythical, universal standard of acceptance and compassion and that that’s all they need to do; that their PC language masks their ignorance or their self-consciousness or their prejudice or their WHATEVER.
I would much, much rather somebody come up to me and say, “Hey, I’m sorry, but is your sister retarded?” than to have them talk down to (or, more likely, just not talk at all) to my “mentally challenged” sister. I don’t mind people who are ignorant, or people who want to ask questions, even clumsy ones. What gets me is when people say something off-base, and I call them on it, and they’re unwilling to have a discussion. Or unwilling to open their minds, or to admit that they have questions, or to admit that they were wrong. And that’s what’s going on here. Mr. Goldberg can call my sister a retard for all I care. He can call me a flaming liberal elitist who wants to destroy America, or a cracker, or a feminazi. But when I call him on his inaccuracies, and he remains unwilling to discuss the issue (with ANYBODY on the blog who is dissenting, not just me), THAT’S when I have a problem with him.
In short, it’s all about intent with me. It’s all about compassion. Mr. Goldberg didn’t show a whole lot of either in his appearance on the O’Reilly Factor, in his characterization of liberals or in his characterization of special needs parents.
RE: Bernie’s response to Jon Stewart on O’Reilly — that the religious are more likely to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term… because of some inherent compassion that the less/non-religious/liberal does not posses…
Bernie,
I am no liberal; I also abhor abortion. But I also respect the patient/client privilege and the basic rights a woman has over her body. Those are my biases. I also respect truth…
And the truth — the facts — are completely against you here.
Across the western world, the more religious a country’s population is, the higher its abortion rate. The abortion rate in the US doubles the abortion rate of less-religious European nations. The very Catholic nations to our south have even higher abortion rates than the US.
These patterns persist regardless of location nor of population size: The more-religious states have higher abortion rates than less-religious states. The more-religious countries in Europe have higher abortion rates than their less-religious neighbors.
Access to contraception and eduction are certainly contributing factors… but the one constant correlation is religious adherence.
Jon’s “critique” may have been unwarranted — yet your response was worse — as you came across as joyful in your rebuke… joyfully embracing a canard.
Interesting statements you make there, Harrison. But anyone can write anything they want. Have you got any sources for all your statistics? Perhaps some numbers published in a peer reviewed journal? Maybe numbers from government agencies?
After tonight on O’Reilly Bernie, (11/19/09) I self proclaim myself as your BIGGEST FAN.
Fire your current agent, you should have your own show.
Watching you from the Los Angeles area, you give me assurance that there is some sanity out there. I promise to buy your latest book!
Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Hanukah.
Kevin Cooper
Kevin
A million thanks, my friend.
Bernie
I am a pro-choice, Christian conservative. I have five kids. And my youngest has Down’s Syndrome. (Although, my kids have Biblical names-nothing too “out there”). I was also born and raised in Fairbanks, AK. Sarah Palin is a true Alaskan woman-and I think that is the main reason why the liberals hate her.
I lived in OK for about a year and half, and when ppl learned I came from Alaska, they somehow thought I was some kind of backwards neanderthal. And it was quite shocking to them that I was actually “normal”. Sound like someone you kno?
Who knew that some woman from some small town in Alaska could bring so much out of everyone in America? Love it!!
The thing is, and I suspect you are fully aware of this, parents of kids with disabilities aren’t offended because of your conservative positions. We’re offended, deeply offended, because you have taken our children’s plights, their very LIVES, and you have turned them into talking points. You’ve politicized the most personal and difficult decision a family can face, all in the service of a cheap shot.
Here’s a secret for you, although if you had any experience with or sensitivity toward children with disabilities , it wouldn’t be a secret at all. Most of us who are raising children with disabilities don’t hate Sarah Palin, no matter how liberal our politics might be. We may hate her politics, but she’s part of our club. It’s a club none of us ever asked to join, and it’s a club with a lifetime membership. And for Sarah Palin, as with the rest of us in that club, the politics of disability will be personal for her.
As a non-member of our club, please do us the courtesy of politicizing your own children and leave ours alone. They have enough to worry about as it is.
– Robert R-H
This from “The Rob”. A man whose income is based on how many books about his daughter’s illness he can pimp.
Hey, Johnny. Robert’s daughter has a disability, not an illness. Robert has a job. Robert also has a website that he has put as a link for full disclosure. If you think he’s posting here to sell books rather than advocate for special needs children, you don’t really know anything about him.
Jim Cathey
San Antonio, TX
And what “job” would that be?
Still waiting.
Mr. Friegas:
Perhaps you should read the book before you make such baseless remarks. Mr. Rummel-Hudson is has become the voice for many parents of special needs kids, and he has done a lot to raise awareness for children who literally have no voice. Your comment was extremely unkind and couldn’t be more wrong.
Julia… What part of what I said is not true?
Everything. See my post.
Mr. Friegas:
As Mr. Cathey explained in his response, Mr. Rummel-Hudson has a job outside of writing. So does his wife. He does not “pimp” his daughter’s “illness.” It just seems like a crass and horrible thing to say about a man who has fought (and continues to fight) so hard for his child as well as for countless other voiceless children.
I didn’t say he pimps his daughter’s disability.
He pimps a book about his daughter’s disability.
hey johnny,
why dont you just say, “you know what…..you’re right. I was wrong and i am sorry. I was rather insensitive and i’m sorry.” ?????? try it. its liberating.
Because I’m not.
Rob, could you provide an example “hateful personal attacks on you and your family” by me?
I didn’t think so.
Bernie,
No matter their motivation or your intent, any comments politicizing the plight of children with special needs and their parents are despicable.
This means that your comments were despicable and hurtful.
If you were a genuinely decent person, you wouldn’t argue your points or defend what you said – you would just come out and say you were wrong, that your shouldn’t have said it, and you would UNCONDITIONALLY apologize.
I hope that my daughter, who has down syndrome, doesn’t ever have to hear someone politicizing her condition.
Mike
I suppose that, in your perfect world, you would only politicize stuff that doesn’t matter to anyone then? Lets just ignore reality for the sake of being PC?
You see, I don’t want to live in your perfect world. I want to live in a nation where only the most important things are politicized, and nothing else.
I was heartened to hear you comments this week on Fox news regarding liberals with disabled children. I have always found my parents liberal stance a bit hypocritical considering their decision to allow their disabled child to continue to live. After all how could a couple of empathetic, government health care supporting, weak kneed democrats ever feel anything but resentment and distrust of the mentally ill? For year I have hoped in vain that they would build a time machine of some sort so the might travel back into the past and abort my brother, whose life is an obvious contradiction of parents political ethos. Everyone knows only conservatives who rail against any kind of government program which might support a disabled child are the only ones brave and strong enough to have disabled children while seeking to deny services and help for their children. I applaud this level of cognitive dissonance. I strongly support Sarah Palin’s brave decision not to abort a less than productive citizen, and to funnel all of her hard earned resources to nannies and any other care takers. It’s what every decent American of means should do! Have that child and make sure they spend their days in the company of the best childcare money can buy while you build your political career all the while using that child as a tool to promote your pro-life position!
i just want you to know i have all your books and i think all are very good. when will the next one be comeing out?
No plans Dan … but thanks for asking
Bernie
It was good to see that Chris Matthews finally won something, #1 in the Best of the Worst. If this were Milwaukee, would it be the Best of the Wurst?
Matthews is a burlesque of an actual journalist. If he wants Obama to succeed, he should volunteer to be Press Secretary. Heaven knows they could use one.
You might remember that Chris was all upset when people with a legal right to carry handguns were showing up at Obama rallies this year. What most people don’t know was that the Secret Service pulled him aside at an Obama rally because they thought he had a gun in his pocket. No gun; he was just glad to see the President.
I have found a correlation between Bush 2, and Obama.
Bush had no WMDs.
Obama has no personal documentation.
ted
I dare you to come to my house and tell me to my face that liberals don’t have kids with Down Syndrome! You disgust me. I’ve read through your hateful website, your name calling and your questionable “facts”. What kind of person would make such despicable comments? Liberals don’t have 5 children? Liberals don’t have kids with Down Syndrome? Where did you get your information?
I mean it. Come on over and I’ll introduce you to my child with Down Syndrome. Who receives Medical Assistance, by the way. That’s right – Socialized Medicine. Watch out – your tax dollars are paying for my child’s health care. And her education and therapies, too.
Respond to this, give me an email address where I can send you my address, pack up your cameras (and all the liberal media you can find) and come say that to my face.
You are a hateful little man.
Deanna
Several things. I am not hateful, nor am I little. And since I’m paying for all the things you say I am, perhaps a little civility might be in order. Read my response to another critic, much more civil than you, on this matter. I was not talking about all liberals. But who is more likely to willingly and knowingly decide to have a baby with Down Syndrome: a pro life or pro choice woman? A woman who isn’t religious or one who is? A conservative woman or a liberal woman. Odds are the religious pro choice woman would go ahead with the pregnancy. Personally, I have no say in those decisions. Peoeple do, and should decide such matters any way they want. But I was trying to explain why so many liberals, especially liberal women, hate Sarah Palin. And I think one of the reasons is that she’s so pro choice that she actually went ahead with the pregnancy.
As for your dumb comment on the web site. What about it do you find “hateful’?
Bernie
Liberals don’t hate Palin because she has a child with Down Syndrome, or because she has five kids with goofy names. Liberals in Hollywood give their kids goofy names all the time. Lots of people have more than 2.3 children. As far as the comment about the child with Down Syndrome – Women, women with a lot of money, very little money, married, unmarried, women in their thirties and teenagers, church going women and atheists, liberals and conservatives, have abortions. They all have them for their own reasons. There is quite a bit of information out there about that particular demographic. It was wrong of you to say “She has a child with Down Syndrome. Liberals wouldn’t let that happen.” Pro-choice does not equal anti-special needs.
Liberal women were told that Palin was the conservative answer to Hillary Clinton. As though a woman, any woman, is automatically going to get women’s votes.
Liberals don’t like Palin because she is not very smart. We had eight years of not very smart in the white house with Bush. We don’t dislike her because she is “just an average American.” We don’t want her in the white house for that reason. Our leaders should be intelligent. We need people, like McCain and Obama, who are well spoken, smart, informed, above average. The woman said her foreign policy experience was Russians flying over Alaska! That is not a well informed response.
You owe everyone with a special-needs child an apology for your uninformed, and frankly dumb, comment. That includes Sarah Palin.
“The woman said her foreign policy experience was Russians flying over Alaska! That is not a well informed response.”
Are you confusing Gov. Palin with Tina Fey?
Palin: Crack Down On ‘Iraq’ To Prevent Nuclear Iran
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM7Xhg0WIbU
Sanction Iraq LOL!
She is trying really hard to ‘remember’ her lines, but if you don’t have a solid base of knowledge then it is easy to make stupid mistakes. It’s going to be fun watching her when she starts talking more and more about policy instead of the Oprah type of fluff.
Mr. Goldberg,
According to the New York Times, which may be a bastion of liberal elitist propaganda but still employs fact checkers, an estimated 90% of fetuses diagnosed with Down Syndrome in utero are aborted (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/us/09down.html). Down Syndrome affects approximately 1 in every 1000 babies born (wonder how those stats will change in the future?).
The incidence of Down Syndrome is not a genetic defect that affects one population or demographic more than another. Unlike some conditions, like cystic fibrosis (which recurs most commonly in Caucasian families) or sickle cell anemia (mostly affects Africans/folk of African descent), Down syndrome affects black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Arab, American Indian, Indian Indian, etc etc etc populations equally. And that includes, I am assuming, liberal families and conservative families.
Here’s my point: if NINETY PERCENT of fetuses with Down syndrome are being aborted, it’s not just liberals who “aren’t allowing” children with Down’s (or a myriad other defects diagnosed in utero) to be born. It’s not just women who don’t count themselves as religious, and not just women who count themselves as pro-choice. Unless you’re going to maintain that liberals conceive babies with Down syndrome twice as often as conservatives? Maybe it’s time to entertain the notion that the way our families are born and formed is a far more complicated, difficult, and nuanced decision than you want it to be. Maybe none of us are perfect, maybe all of us–liberal and conservative–are trying to make the best of a very difficult situation. Whatever decision a family makes–to keep a baby with special needs or to abort it–that decision is always, always gutwrenching. Do you know 1,000 people? Or have you met 1,000 people in your lifetime? Look around, and you will see the faces of the people who have been confronted with this–even if they don’t tell you, even if they can’t always explain what went into their decision to your satisfaction (as if it was ever your business to begin with). I have never met anyone who made a decision about a special needs child (born or unborn) lightly.
And my younger sister has Down syndrome. So I’ve known my share of families. I’ve seen both the darkness and the light that accompanies these children through life, and I’ve confronted more than my fair share of people who treat my sister as if she is not a person, or like she’s invisible, or as if she is some kind of abstract political argument to be made. As tempting as it is to simply call you out for making comments that seemed, at best, manipulative, small-minded, ill-informed and grossly over-simplified; I’d really rather you just take a couple of minutes and roll the numbers around in your head: 90%. 1 in 1000 births (for Down’s, other congenital defects obviously have different levels of incidence). And then take a look around at the faces of the people you know, and think to yourself: for every ten people I know, nine of them would not give birth to this child.
And while you do that, I’ll stick close to my crazy liberal parents and their bleeding heart Obama-supporting friends, who treat Meg with the respect she deserves because they’ve taken the time to get to know her. Let us know when you’re ready to stop pretending that you know anything about families with special needs and the people who comprise them, and we may let you get to know some of the more treasured people in our lives. You’ll have to forgive us for being fiercely over-protective and defensive at times: I’ve been fighting my sister’s battles for her all her life, in this cold world that doesn’t give a damn about her, and it’s a hard habit to break. You have to earn your right to speak for special needs kids, and you don’t earn it by making assumptions about us. Any of us.
Thanks for taking the time to read this (admittedly long) comment.
-Becca
Wow. Well said Becca. I imagine Mr. Goldberg is too ashamed to even begin to formulate a response to that.
Well done.
Becca,
Thank you for such an articulate, intelligent response. It means so much to our family and especially to our beautiful 3 year old daughter. She happens to have Down syndrome. And we happen to be liberals.
ya, bernie, i think at this point, after reading Becca’s address, that now would be a good time to step up, and admit you were wrong. Even tell everyone that you changed your mind and take it all back. Because you and me are very ignorant of this subject and have no buisness talking about it. Think befor you speak next time bud. I’m glad you made this mistake, because Becca has enhansed my life by making me a bit more sensitive and aware, so that i dont make the same mistake you did. Thanks Becca.
Becca, I was going to read the NYT article you referenced, but unless I forgot how to click a mouse that link you provided goes nowhere.
Johnny,
I don’t know what to tell you or why the link isn’t working for you because it works for me. Make sure that your computer isn’t reading the parentheses as part of the link. Barring all else, all you have to do is google “down syndrome abortions” and it’s one of the first results that comes up. The article is dated May 9, 2007, so you can also find it at your local library if you’re so inclined. The official title of the article is “Prenatal Test Puts Down Syndrome in Hard Focus” and it’s by Amy Harmon. Hope that helps.
Becca
Becca: “And my younger sister has Down syndrome. So I’ve known my share of families. I’ve seen both the darkness and the light that accompanies these children through life, and I’ve confronted more than my fair share of people who treat my sister as if she is not a person, or like she’s invisible, or as if she is some kind of abstract political argument to be made.”
– so…because some people behave horribly when in the presence of a born person with Down syndrome, the answer is to eliminate the unborn people who have Down syndrome? Why don’t we instead work on changing people’s attitudes, instead of disallowing people from being born because there are those out there who would act like jerks to them?
I think it’s interesting that you think you disagree with me when, to be frank, you don’t. It’s also a little bit odd that you’re calling me out for supposedly being unwilling to try and change people’s attitudes when I’m here, on bernie goldberg’s blog (not to mention every day of my life), trying to do just that.
I know a lot of people who think that everyone should be required to work a crappy retail or food service job for at least one year of their life in order to teach them how to not act crappy towards retail workers and food service workers. Personally, I think that everybody should be exposed to retards in order to lessen their fear and their stereotypes and their WHATEVER IT IS that makes my sister’s life harder than it has to be. I think classes should be integrated as much as they can be, I think people should coach special olympics, I think pee wee sports teams should be integrated. I have never met one person who, after taking the time to get to know my sister, isn’t glad that they did. I know two people who have become special ed teachers because knowing my sister inspired them to take that direction with their lives. My sister challenges me, and my family, and our social circles, every day. She changes people’s lives and attitudes every day. And that’s one of the many reasons why I’m glad she’s in my life. I am not glad that she makes me listen to Britney Spears every day, but hey, that’s what little sisters are for, right?
I think the difference, maybe (and I’m making an assumption here, so correct me if I’m wrong), is that perhaps you are pro-life. Both of us want more retarded people in the world; both of us want there to be less abortions. That’s fine. But if you’re pro-life…then you’re kind of pro-forcing-a-special-needs-child-on-a-family-that-may-or-may-not-be-equipped-to-deal-with-her. I think that a lot of people who COULD handle a child with special needs perhaps choose to have an abortion because they’re afraid that they can’t handle it. And that breaks my heart. And part of me wishes I could introduce all of those people to my sister (while the other part of me is unwilling to make her a poster child in that way). And I think the medical profession could go a long way towards lessening an expectent mother’s fears rather than aggravating them. But you know what? The world isn’t perfect, I can’t introduce my sister to everyone, , and the fact remains that a diagnosis like Down Syndrome can be overwhelming to most expectant parents. What I would NEVER do would be to force a special needs child on a family who really doesn’t want one, doesn’t have the resources to care for one, and will treat that child cruelly, irresponsibly, or neglectfully. Frankly, there are some people out there who don’t deserve the unexpected gift that is a retarded child. More to the point, the retarded child has done nothing to deserve THEM, their unprepared parents. Having a child (or a sibling) with special needs can be hard. And frustrating. They are glorious people in many ways, but they are also more frustrating than typical kids in a lot of ways and also a lot more fragile. So I have to trust that the people who are confronted with me know themselves, and know their situations, better than I do, and make their own choices. After all, I do not have to bear the consequences of their decision. And there are consequences, regardless of what option they choose. I have to trust people. It’s one of the things my sister taught me.
Becca, I found the NYT article. Their source is a European study. I think that casts a whole new light on your response to Bernie.
How so?
Wil Burns says:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
November 19, 2009 at 6:11 pm
I wonder why?
Hi Bernie,
I have always been a huge fan of the work you did on Real Sports. The Lenny Dykstra pieces were some of my favorite interviews I’ve ever seen–growing up as a Mets fan who was 9 years old when they won the 86 Series he was always an idol of mine. Just wondering–how the hell could you make a comment like “Liberals don’t have babies with Down Syndrome”? What the f#$% does that mean and how DARE you make a comment like that? I don’t know how FOX got their hooks into you and what kind of brainwashing/brainstorming/talking point sessions you guys have over there but I have lost all respect for you and now strongly believe that you are a complete piece of garbage.
Bryan
Please see my two responses to criticism like yours. I hope you’re less angry after you read them. Thanks.
Bernie