With Contraception, Are People Majoring on the Minor?
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling on Hobby Lobby and the HHS contraception mandate, there has been a social media firestorm. In the hours after the ruling, many came out and stated that the Justices had “turned back the clock for women’s rights.” This is an idea that will surely be promulgated as election season gets into full swring (for both the November Midterms and the 2016 Presidential election).
If nothing else politics is a game of perception. If you can create the appearance of something, then you have created a reality; especially in a society, culture, and generation that typically believes what they hear and never reads past a headline. The constant propaganda of a “war on women,” the political correctness to the point that the NFL and paint companies are having to change names, the idea that corporations are evil for making money, and insinuating that conservatives hate everyone just because they have differing views from the mainstream media are just a few examples of the things that inundate American media on a daily basis. What is alarming is that while these types of stories, and the debates that coincide with them, continue to make headlines the real issues of this nation and world quietly pass by.
While issues of free contraception, LGBT rights, and NFL names are debated by the government, here is a list of some issues that truly demand and deserve attention:
- In the U.S.:
With gas prices nearing $4/gallon in most of the US, it has been 2113 days since the White House took action on the Keystone pipeline. - While the DOL reports unemployment at 6% (the percentage of people collecting unemployment benefits), the real unemployment number is double that at 12%.
- There are 65,000 women and children in makeshift refugee camps in states across the US-Mexico border, with more coming each day; it is a crisis of epic proportions.
- Estimates indicate that over 9,000 foreign fighters (US and other western nations) have joined the fighting in Syria and other ISIL battle grounds.
- Ongoing investigations (with no results to date) into Fast and Furious, Benghazi, the IRS, and the VA.
Around the World:
- Three Israeli teens, Eyal Yifrah, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frenkel, were kidnapped and murdered on Monday, and Palestinian teen Mohammad Abu Khdeir was killed a day later in what is believed to be retaliation as violence continues to escalate in the West Bank.
- Since June 6th, 30 civilians have been killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo as instability and armed conflict continues to ravage the region.
- France’s ban on face covering burqas is upheld by the EU Court of Human Rights (talk about turning back the clock on women’s rights, now the government can tell you what you can/can’t wear?).
- Russia tightens grip on free speech by requiring anyone with a blog or social media profile that has 3,000 visitors or more a day to register with the government.
- IED attacks have increased 70% in the last three years killing 60,000 people in over 60 countries.
It’s not that issues of contraception, LGBT rights, and potential racism do not have their place; it is simply that these issues are used to create noise and thereby detract from the real issues of today. When one hears about these issues (and nothing else), it seems that they are the major factors in society. However, if you compare these “discriminations” to the issues facing so many around the world, and to the state of the economy here in the US, they pale in comparison. “There is a time and place for everything under heaven” and now is the time to move past the propaganda and into the promise of a better future for all.
Photo Credit: USA Today
