In his final book of thought, "Last Words," the late George Carlin talks about audience response to controversial material. Of course the "A" word came up.
Carlin said, "They may not agree with everything I say, but I rarely get vocal dissent from the audience. The "Abortion" piece in the Next HBO show in 1996, "Back in Town" -- at least during that period of testing and building -- was one of the few. There were often walkouts. Never heckling. People quietly got up, turned around and walked out...
The satirical method was to focus on the meaning of the term "pro-life." What's pro-life about being obsessed with the unborn and then, once it's a child, refusing it health education and welfare? What's pro-life about sending the child off in a uniform at age eighteen to die? Or killing doctors who perform legal abortions? If all life is sacred, why is it an abortion for us but if it's a chicken it's an omelet?'
Consistency matters. If life begins at conception, why isn't there a funeral for a miscarriage? If life begins at fertilization and most fertilized eggs are flushed out of her body once a month, doesn't that make her a mass murderer? Could it be that "pro-life" is actually code for hating women -- the source of life?"
George Carlin's book "Last Words" is available at Amazon.com
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