The Nation 01 27 2020 PDF
Preview The Nation 01 27 2020
STOP THIS WAR THE EDITORS THE MAGIC OF LITTLE WOMEN ERIN SCHWARTZ JANUARY 27, 2020 THENATION.COM A M Y W I L E N T Z After months of peaceful protests and government violence, the country seems oddly calm. But appearances can be deceiving. 2 The Nation. Old Struggle, New Politics Thanks for your timely issue on the new politics of abortion [Decem- ber 16/23]. I thought especially im- portant was Katha Pollitt’s piece on the criminalization of pregnant wom- en [“Personhood Is Punishment”]. I would add only that the phony tears that “pro-life” terrorists shed for the unborn are belied by the fact that these are many of the same people who want to deny support to single mothers struggling to raise their kids—from replacing the Aid to Families with De- pendent Children program to cutting food stamps, child care funding, and everything else needed to cope with raising a child, especially on low wages. I know it will sound crass, but the demand should be made that if you’re going to force someone to have a baby, then you are responsible for financially ensuring the baby has all it needs for full and healthy development. Actually, someone should sue for child support as a test case. The only other thing I would add is that I am always shocked when the word “sex” is not uttered in modern discussions of abortion rights. The subconscious message of “pro-life” activists is that the enjoyment of sex is a sin, especially for the unmarried. Clearly sexual repression is a large part of the moral view of the right wing, and we can no longer ignore it. Alan Weinerman astoria, n.y. It has taken some time for me to get over the rage I feel about anti- abortion arguments. Opposition to abortion is a religious issue, and I do not want anyone forcing his or her religion on me. The question of abor- tion must be decided only by the indi- vidual woman, not by a law that forces her to accept someone else’s religious views. William Allin Storrer traverse city, mich. For Shame The cover of your December 2/9 issue depicts a fat man with a pig’s face and the words “How Much Is Too Much?” It is time to let go of such stale, Depression- era fat-cat images as stand- ins for greed and wealth when the cur- rent reality is that the vast majority of fat people in America are poor. The consequences of promoting fat phobia are real. Every day fat people die or are misdiagnosed, or a diagnosis is delayed until they lose weight. The Nation leads the way in so many areas of progressive thought that it breaks my heart to see you stuck so far behind the times in this area. Ean Murphy brooklyn, n.y. The Truth About These Truths Daniel Immerwahr’s analysis of his- torian Jill Lepore’s work—specifically These Truths and This America—is brilliant [November 11/18]. His con- clusion that “the old rules no longer apply,” along with all that follows, is dark and grim and, I’m afraid, brutally accurate. Gus Franza east setauket, n.y. The limitation of Lepore’s thesis in These Truths is clear in her introduc- tion, in which she argues that our “national creed” derives from Thomas Jefferson’s ideas of liberty and equal- ity. What nonsense! His Declaration of Independence was no more than a propaganda piece that employed the buzzwords of the Enlightenment to justify the American Revolution and to persuade the French to lend us money for our war. Jefferson, who owned 600 slaves, could not have be- lieved those ideas. Historians tend to rely too much on words, particularly on the words of leaders, as representations of reality, whereas the sinews of a cul- ture include not only words but also THE NEW POLITICS OF ABORTION THE SUPREME COURT WON’T PROTECT ABORTION ACCESS ANYMORE. BUT THOUSANDS OF ACTIVISTS WILL. S P E C I A L I S S U E AMY LITTLEFIELD ILYSE HOGUE ZOË CARPENTER CYNTHIA GREENLEE DANI MCCLAIN MOIRA DONEGAN JOAN WALSH KATHA POLLITT D E C E M B E R 1 6 / 2 3 , 2 0 1 9 THENATION.COM
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