NOW channels Groucho Marx
By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Jul 22, 2015
Give NOW credit for consistency. The group always defends abortionists. So it’s no surprise that NOW has defended Planned Parenthood against criticism fueled by the latest damaging undercover videos. Those videos, NOW charges, are part of a “tissue of lies.”
“The videos are phony and the accusations they contain will wither under scrutiny,” NOW promises. But NOW doesn’t provide any such scrutiny; instead the group announces that it won’t be responding to any more video releases.
The message to diehard feminists (and their supporters on Capitol Hill) is simple: Don’t believe what you see on those videos. As Groucho Marx put it, “Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?”
NOW, by the way, stands for the National Organization for Women. Which women does NOW stand for? Apparently not the women who have abortions at Planned Parenthood clinics. The clinic may ask abortionists not to use the preferred technique, if another technique will more reliably produce intact fetal organs. So it’s the organ-harvesting, not the woman’s welfare, that takes priority in determining the procedure. And needless to say NOW is not protecting the tiny women who will be dissected in the womb. No, NOW is speaking for a particular subset of women: those in the abortion industry.
Correction: In the original headline for this post, I said that NOW was channeling Harpo Marx. The text was and is right; the quote comes from Groucho. Harpo was silent; in that respect he might be a good model for NOW right now.
Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.
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Posted by: Thomas V. Mirus -
Aug. 31, 2016 6:08 PM ET USA
mary_cones3421: The Lovecraft thing is a course taught by Dr. Amy Sturgis at Signum University, which Dr. Olsen founded. For better or for worse, Lovecraft was a highly influential writer of imaginative fiction and that alone qualifies him for scholarly study. I wouldn't let it scare you off. Dr. Olsen is himself a Christian (it's possible that he is Catholic, but I don't know specifically).
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Posted by: mary_conces3421 -
Aug. 30, 2016 6:38 PM ET USA
The Tolkien Professor site sounded good, but when I linked to it the first thing that hit the eye was about H. P. Lovecraft--off-putting, at least to me. I guess I'll go back when I have more time, but I'm a little leery.
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Posted by: motowncatholic7263 -
Jul. 24, 2015 8:33 PM ET USA
Perhaps even more than Groucho Marx, I would submit that NOW sounds more like the Wizard of Oz. Instead of "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain," it's "Pay no attention to the reality of those videos." God lead them to repentance.
