I Heat for Beat

I woke up this morning what I'd like to call "music horny." I desperately needed and was instantly satisfied by pretty much any music that hit my hear. It was a marvelous trainride, listening to "Big Spender," "Big Ten Inch Record," "Big Yellow Taxi," and "When I Kissed the Teacher" (guess when I went out of order). All were exceedingly satisfying. Even the mediocre oldies playing at Barnes and Noble got me excited. I was ready to rock, and rock I did. The emotion left for a while but now has returned. I just finished belting out Miller's Son (best Sondheim everrrrrrr) by the piano. The only problem is I have a wannabe migraine from trying to match the orientation of scans of near-symmetrical art with the originals. Ouch. At least it's fading.

So let's talk (Sc)Alito. Actually, let's dive right in and talk abortion. Lots of democrats are pissed as hell, because this guy's clearly pro-life (or at least very pro-states rights). But I'm not sure that I understand the rationale for the vast majority of pro-choicers. Pro-lifers are easy: life begins at conception; a human life is infinitely valuable; killing it is super-wrong. Great! Simple. Logical. In my opinion, utterly mistaken, but at least it's consistent. A lot of pro-choicers, on the other hand, aren't completely areligious. Many of them believe in the soul. When does the soul enter, then? Is that what defines a person? If so, who is the law to dictate when that happens? Shouldn't we just be safe and never abort anyone?

I, however, am completely radical in my thinking. I believe that a person is entirely defined by his or her nervous system. I believe a person without thoughts or feelings, who's never had any thoughts or feelings, is no person at all. Take it farther? Sure! People incapable of human emotions are less human than those who are. I've said it before, and it's exactly why I'll never be elected to any office...ever. Severely autistic people? People with other serious emotional incapabilities? Yup. Worth less than other people. I haven't been hit by a bolt of lightening yet. But if you were stranded and had to kill an cannibalize someone, and one member of your group didn't feel fear or dread or sadness...wouldn't you eat that person? I know I would. Why? Because it's not a full person.

So, yes, I believe that a fetus, until it develops a nervous system, is totally worthless. Until it has all of it's functions, it's worth less than any person, and for a while it's worth less than many animals. I know there's one major intellectual who argues for legalizing infanticide. I don't know enough about development to weigh in on this one, but I wouldn't say just from the physical form of a baby that he's wrong. But given how quickly young children pick up language and how responsive they are to others, he probably is.

So I'm a little out there...saying that all human lives are not of equal and infinite worth. Unless other pro-choicers are with me, I'm curious as to their justifications. When does a fetus become human? Is it instant or transitional? Where does the law get to come in and potentially kill people, potentially stop women from helping themselves while doing no harm to others?

EDIT [9:37 pm]: I just want to clarify that relationships with other people are an aspect of being human, and probably the only aspect where the "burden" doesn't fall on ther person in question. If someone loves someone as a person, that is a huge mark in favor of that being being human. The longer and more substantial these relationships are, the larger that mark is. This is a big reason, in my opinion, why severely disabled (and I do mean severely...I'm not talking about any folks with minor disability or autism...they have more than enough there to achieve maximum humanity) people are still much more valuable than animals or fetuses. Just by virtue of being viewed as human by others, they gain a lot of human value. OK...I'll have more foot for my mouth later and in response to any comments, I'm sure.