I hesitated to write this...that many might rightfully say, well aren't you part of the problem? However Michele, as usual, is fearless. Her posting on NOW using this henious murder to drive their agenda is not to be missed.
The item that Laci Peterson's murder case is tied to Roe V Wade started here:
The head of the National Organization for Women's Morris County chapter is opposing a double-murder charge in the Laci Peterson case, saying it could provide ammunition to the pro-life lobby.
"If this is murder, well, then any time a late-term fetus is aborted, they could call it murder," Morris County NOW President Mavra Stark said on Saturday.
Michele comments: "It was not Laci Peterson's choice to die. It was not her choice to have her baby die. There's a big difference between laying on operating table willingly and having your late-term baby taken from you - something I cannot comprehend anyhow - and having that child's life forcefully snuffed out.
Whether the killing of Connor Peterson is or is not murder is not the real issue here.
As far as I'm concerned, Mavra Stark and all of her NOW compatriots should learn how to keep their mouths shut once in a while. It was not necessary for them to weigh in on this story at all. Why take someone's tragedy and turn it into a political debate, if not for the publicity?"
Nothing more to add to that...go read the rest.
However the above story was not the subject of my original thoughts on the Peterson story. The phenomena of a news cult has been building in our popular culture for some time. The massive out pouring of grief for Princess Diana was a culmination of her cult of fame and sudden death, not because we knew her.
There is something deeply disturbing about how we as a society have come to revere victims of violent crime...feed upon it...turn it into a mass event that is about really about us...how we feel. The instant shrines on the lawn or murder site...the mounds of flowers, candles and teddy bears...strangers from across California bringing their young children to weep and pray on the Peterson lawn.
There is something un-natural in that we respond to the invasive, exploitive news coverage of a family's worst nightmare by weeping on their lawns...not by turning the channel or looking away. Maybe it is akin to the urge to look at the road accident as you drive by...maybe it is not new after all.
Is selling a political agenda any worse than selling shampoo, beer and rotisseries in between video of distraught parents dodging cameras, tarps covering remains or shrines of teddy bears?
Yes, it is. NOW injected themselves into this story in order to coldly use a murdered fetus to solidify a legal position. NOW seeks to deny the family justice for a life taken because it was taken in utero? An appalling position for an organization that claims to defend women's rights. Sharon Rocha has the right to a trial for her murdered daughter and grandson.
NOW crossed a line, offending many supporters and providing comfort to the enemies of abortion rights.