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Published On: Dec 05, 2005 06:13 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Dec 05, 2005 06:13 PM
A Prescription for Hypocrisy
I have blogged about this before, but it merits
revisiting.
The "this" is the issue of pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions for drugs that
conflict with their beliefs (at least right now it's birth control,
but who knows what else they will object
to).
The issue remains in the news because people continue to do this. First, there was the news that Target (no, not them!) decided to allow their pharmacists to refuse to fill Plan B (and they used the Civil Rights Act to justify it!) (while you're at Americablog reading about Target, check out their latest crusade: nailing Ford for pulling its ads from gay media because some wingers pressured them to do so). Then, there was the good news that Walgreen's is not going to let their employees get away with it, suspending four pharmacists for refusing to fill scrips.
From the fine folks at Pandagon comes this analysis which I hadn't really though of, but which makes perfects sense:
[T]hey are . . . discriminating against customers for their religious/personal belief systems. If someone is taking contraceptive pills, she obviously doesn't have a personal belief that women controlling their own reproduction is wrong. . . . Instead of openly admitting that they want to use any means necessary to force their religious beliefs on women, religious wingnuts instead are pretending that they are actually being oppressed if they are forced by law to respect others' right to their own beliefs.
See, I hadn't really thought about it in this way before, but it crystallizes they hypocrisy of many fundamentalist views: protect my belief system over yours. There is a one-ups-manship about their entire discourse that is obscured by their cries of oppression. Of course this transcends this issue and is really at the base of the "culture wars." As much as I think my belief system is better than that belonging to many people, I am not necessarily going to impose it on anyone else. They don't agree.
The issue remains in the news because people continue to do this. First, there was the news that Target (no, not them!) decided to allow their pharmacists to refuse to fill Plan B (and they used the Civil Rights Act to justify it!) (while you're at Americablog reading about Target, check out their latest crusade: nailing Ford for pulling its ads from gay media because some wingers pressured them to do so). Then, there was the good news that Walgreen's is not going to let their employees get away with it, suspending four pharmacists for refusing to fill scrips.
From the fine folks at Pandagon comes this analysis which I hadn't really though of, but which makes perfects sense:
[T]hey are . . . discriminating against customers for their religious/personal belief systems. If someone is taking contraceptive pills, she obviously doesn't have a personal belief that women controlling their own reproduction is wrong. . . . Instead of openly admitting that they want to use any means necessary to force their religious beliefs on women, religious wingnuts instead are pretending that they are actually being oppressed if they are forced by law to respect others' right to their own beliefs.
See, I hadn't really thought about it in this way before, but it crystallizes they hypocrisy of many fundamentalist views: protect my belief system over yours. There is a one-ups-manship about their entire discourse that is obscured by their cries of oppression. Of course this transcends this issue and is really at the base of the "culture wars." As much as I think my belief system is better than that belonging to many people, I am not necessarily going to impose it on anyone else. They don't agree.
Posted: Mon - December 5, 2005 at 06:13 PM |