Opaque Lucidity

I'm always wary to call out someone as knowledgable as you are, but I don't think that the Roman Empire fell for quite the reasons you're getting at.

The way I recall, the Roman Empire fell due to a combination of problems:

-increasing amount of non-Romans in the military led to less domination on the battlefield and caused a gradual shift in culture and

-many active, displaced barbarian tribes on Rome's borders started probing for holes in its defenses

-appalingly poor leadership and some spectacular defeats (including Valens' loss at Adrianopole, which some estimate wound up being the straw that broke the camel's back) caused the barbarians to be even more bold

-decadent and lethargic lifestyles among the city finally spread to the army and undermined it

-a lack of orderly succession among the rulers led to frequent civil wars and distracted Roman Emperors from the real threat: the barbarians

Perhaps we are spiraling down a drain hole (I honestly don't think we are), but our situation is hardly that of the Romans.

As for the article, I give you this choice quote:

'He calls himself an "abortionist" and says, "I am destroying life."

But he also feels he's giving life: He calls his patients "born again."'

Those are the words of someone who's gone round the bend. Even if abortion has relatively good results (and there are some interesting statistics that show it leading to reduced crime, among other things), the ends hardly justify the means.

It seems people can convince themselves of anything. How terrible.

Posted by: Tony at November 29, 2005 11:38 PM

RE: the Romans -- here's the wikipedia link, I forgot to include it earlier.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fall_of_the_Roman_Empire

Posted by: Tony at November 29, 2005 11:40 PM

"decadent and lethargic lifestyles among the city finally spread to the army and undermined it"

I guess that's the direction I was going. No, we are not suffering from the exact same things the Roman Empire did, but the arrogance is the same. I should've been more specific.

Posted by: Matt_D at November 30, 2005 07:36 AM

Grrrrr... This is one of my hot buttons, and that article seriously pisses me off. I think of what these women are robbing themselves of by having an abortion (dignity, integrity, morality, and a possible lifetime of unexpected joy and inspiration), and they don't even know it.

I speak not as a happily married mom of three, but as someone who got pregnant while 20, single, in college, emotionally unstable, and dating a complete lying jackhole (who was the cause of a good bit of my emotional instability). I made my choice, and he is now 9 years old and the light of my life. That's a choice I can live with.