#2: Turnabout is Not Fair Play

I am a firm pro-choice advocate, but absolutely no victory was won Friday in the debate to maintain women's rights.

Outspoken pro-life advocate Jim Pouillon (pictured in red) was killed Friday (in front of a host of schoolchildren, no less) by a man who is also accused of killing another man earlier in the day. Police seem to believe that Pouillon was a deliberate target, though there is no known connection between the victims.

This post isn't to score points about when life begins, where women's rights end, how abstinance is/isn't attainable among the unmarried, how far activists on each side are warranted to go in their respective crusades, or what have you.

I want to concentrate on a facet of this story that will no doubt be eclipsed by the tragedy at large. It concerns a comment made by a 16-year old boy to a reporter.

“I can see someone spitting on him or punching him, but shooting him is pretty stupid."

There was a time when I couldn't have seen any of these things. Where all of these actions would be "stupid". Yet, here is a teenager who can "see" other forms of disrespect being more...appropriate?... and seem to be somewhat nonchalant about the suggestion.

Could this comment have been made for this particular case only (because the issue surrounding the crime is so divisive)? Or is this more of a blanket statement because youth are accustomed to seeing disputes resolved through physical assaults?

Without speaking for the teen, I think it is more the latter. Too often, issues that are supported and opposed by proportional segments of the population (i.e. abortion, 2nd amendment rights), are perceived as "all or nothing" by each side.

To me, this is similar to why some people go to message boards and pollute threads with hatred, threats of violence, and inappropriate/insensitive comments - they are distant from those they're addressing.

With two sides so far apart, it's as if they don't know each other, and are, therefore, less likely to be sympathtic to the other's views.

My observations lead me to believe that people are more likely to respectfully disagree with someone (as opposed to verbally and physically assault someone) they know reasonably well (family, neighbor, coworker) than when they meet on opposite sides of a picket line.

And with youth being more likely to learn things they are shown rather than things they are told, we may be setting them down a more precarious path than we ourselves travelled.

Suffice it to say, there is more than one sad story coming from Mr. Pouillon's death.

What are your thoughts?