So is abortion a good thing or a bad thing? Newsweek cannot decide. Newsweek gets hysterical if anyone so much as suggests any limitation on abortion on demand in the USA. Now, the same Newsweek is hyperventilating about the results of abortions in Asia which have led to a predominance of male children far beyond the natural order of things. Strangely, Newsweek points out that the abortions in Asia are against the law. I guess the editors see no conflict with denouncing any law that limits abortion here and denouncing the results of abortion on demand in Asia as being against the law. Oh well, Newsweek does bill itself as the magazine of progressive thought (and I might add -- "or the lack thereof").
Much of the article by Niall Ferguson about the coming "batchelor bulge" in Asia is laughable. He mentions that European imperial expansion after 1500 was the result of a surfeit of males. Sure, and I bet he had detailed demographic information to back that up -- I guess he just forgot to tell us what that info was. Back in 1500, there was no reason why there should be any more males than normal. There was no way to know ahead of time whether a baby was a boy or a girl, and there certainly was a societal prohibition against killing off girls. That means that any "fact" claiming that there were extra boys at that time is just bunk. Ferguson blames another such bulge on Japanese imperial expansion in the early 20th century -- more bunk.
The truth is that analyzing Newsweek articles for logical consistency is much like examining the surface of the moon for life. Maybe it's there, but it sure is hard to see any signs of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment