THE NEW YORK TIMES: THIS IS HOW CULTURE WARS END
William Saletan of Slate wrote an Op-Ed in the New York Times about Obama’s struggle to help partisans find common ground on the issues of abortion and family planning. He argues that the problem is not a shortage of pills or condoms, but a shortage of cultural and personal responsibility among Americans today. He then investigates what he calls the “third front” in the culture wars in the United States: same-sex couples who don’t have to worry about abortion or contraception. He finds that Obama wants to reserve a special place in society for “traditional marriage” but that same sex couples should have rights. Ultimately, the author agrees with Obama that our moral debates have become stale because we’ve pitted morality against practicality.
Question to the Blogosphere: Do you agree with Obama’s position on gay marriage as outlined by this Op-Ed? Is abstinence really an impractical goal for the prevention of abortions? Is the goal of reducing abortions reconcilable with the goal of making abortion safe and accessible to those in need? Can common ground really be established between the left and right by arguing for practicality over morality? Would some people have a problem being told that what is moral to them is not practical? Who would you say are the people who prevent reconciliation on the issue of abortion? gay marriage? What is the role of religion in American society today? Are the traditional values of churches necessarily American values? If not, how can people find common ground if they do not share core values? This obviously has implications for cross-cultural conflicts around the world.
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It should not be called ‘cultural war’, for culture and war are incompatible. Culture is a non violent search for solutions. It includes artistic expressions but not only. Fore mostly it is an attempt to be able to discuss things. For that things need to be out in the open, on the table, so to speak, and therefore it requires honesty. The latter was termed by the philosopher Husserl as perhaps most difficult thing of all. Honesty has also to do with fear to be exposed, weaker in the bargaining game etc. Since a lot has been said and written, some reflections are needed to see what impact the Feminist movement had on the man-woman relationship. As this relates to having a child or not and this independent from abortion as women may decide to remain childless, the issue of continuity of life becomes a real complex one. How that can be resolved in the context of parental responsibility for the child, life time perspectives are needed to answer them. As many experience practicalities in everyday life, even once a child is born, staying together as a couple and as parents there for the child is not easy. Always it is a challenge but it does make a difference if already oneself grew up with a love for children rather than with attitudes which go against life. It is a personal issue but needs people with whom this issue can be discussed. Only then can be turned the page and the search for a meaningful life become one of practicality when with a child growing up and becoming a witness of what kind of proof you deliver.