Friday, October 19, 2007

the clinic revisited

So... I'm driving through Fargo on Monday and wonder if the fundies are still at the women's clinic. And THEY WERE!!!!!!! Good grief they've even got men (in suits!)and children with them. Well at least one child. *rolls eyes*

Last time I just walked up and took pictures. This time I parked the car and got out with my son hoping to take a closer look at the clinic itself. When we got close enough they mutter muttererd their little prayers for the nonexistent babe in my womb whom they hope to save from imminent demise. I would have thought they'd have a pamphlet or SOMETHING to say to a person going in, but nada. Maybe I wanted them to say something too much. They probably saw the look in my eyes, I'm quite intense that way.

I was bummed to see that they were NOT standing in front of the door. Boy I wish they had been actually blocking the entrance. :-(

I went inside, and OHHHHHHH man they have security! The fundies have so intimidated the whole clinic that they have a security entrance and admittance is by appointment only. I had been hoping to have a chance to visit with someone who worked there, pick up a few brochures and basically be inside longer than the 2 minutes I managed to stretch it out to in the entrance way.

Funny thing was, the moment I got into the building, the fundies out front stopped their murmuring...er...praying and just started chatting! HA! Apparently they only pray when the godless are in sight. Out of sight, out of mind.

Ohhhh how I wish one of them had said something to me. But they didn't say anything so I didn't either.

I did however make eye contact with one while giving them the finger the next time I drove by. Yes, Richard, I know. It wasn't a classy thing to do. More of a spur of the moment show of contempt.

19 comments:

Tommykey said...

Fiery, if I was a woman, in an exercise of warped humor I would have walked past them into the clinic with a pillow under my shirt to make me look pregnant. Then an hour later I would walk out without the pillow on (making it look as if I had the abortion) and shout out as I walked past the fundies, "Alright! Now I can go on that scuba diving trip to the Maldives!"

Fiery said...

If you were here, I'd pull the prank with you. Anyone in the Fargo, ND area want to crash the fundies at the clinic? I'M IN!!!!!

SouthLoopScot said...

I think you should do it!

Starhawk said...

Hehe, don't tempt me. I like the pillow idea. If you had 2 or 3 different women in on it, you could have 1 guy take all of 'em in there within the same "shift" of fundies. After the last one got out, the guy can turn to the fundies and wipe his brow, "Whew, that last one was getting pretty big, I'll have to stop cutting it that close... well see ya next week."

Fiery said...

Or how about, "Whew! That was $1500 well spent! Do you know how much I just saved in child support? Thank god for abortions!"

You find 2 other women and I'm game, but standing in that entry way for 4 hours is going to suck a bit.

Reg Golb said...

You all might find this funny, but it is just pitifully sad. Does the mob mentality rule here. Tommy, you disgrace the idea of Faramir. He was a person of singular integrity and not all about himself. Your idea takes advantage of women in a dire circumstance to have a personal laugh. I hope you all get a laugh out of a non-laughing matter.

Protium the Heathen said...

Reg... Your stupidity makes me laugh... is that OK?

Tommykey said...

Faramir was pro-choice on abortion. Well, at least the Peter Jackson version of Faramir.

Fiery said...

We are laughing glob. Laughing at the fundies.

The women who go to the clinic are indeed in dire circumstances. Some need routine gynecological care, some are there for birth control pills, some need post-op care. And others...if they don't get those tumors carved from their bodies their lives will be damaged in ways incalculable at the present moment. Only they can know the horror that will follow their unplanned pregnancy if it comes to fruition.

Oh- and Protium- one must always laugh at the fundies.

SouthLoopScot said...

Glob: You're an idiot, move along...

Starhawk said...

Reg I do plan on going out there at some point here and talking to those protesters. I will be polite and civil and ask them for their point of view and beliefs. I intend on pointing out some of the issues many people have brought up here and see what their response is. I don't know how they'll be able to justify scaring off women looking for legal, reasonable help.

As far as any of the HILARIOUS ideas I've seen on this blog go... well we'll see what kind of response I get. I have NO problem with a counter to their protest as long as it's legal, appropriate to the situation, and most importantly funny as all hell.

Sean Wright said...

Oh Boo-hoo Reg, here's your bat and your ball.

Richard said...

Starhawk,

Your idea of talking to those fundies sounds laudable on its face, but it assumes they are open to reason.

For example, my impression of Reg is that he is not so willing to go as far as improperly misusing the 'public' sidewalk and a private entranceway, by picketing to push his ideas on others. (I hope he isn't.)

Thus, Reg is somewhat more reasonable than they are. But, is anyone getting through to Reg? I suggest that ridiculing the picketing fundies, and the more publicly the better, is more likely to open conversation with other more reasonable minds. Chances of any success with the picketers are very very slim, and therefore a waste of your genuine effort and concern. The one's to influence are the ones who are receptive.

I once wasted, in two parts, some three hours with a particularly cogent pair of Jojoba's Witnesses. In spite of their cogency, every time they were confronted with an argument they could not contest or reject (E.g. "Okay, so how does God appear out of nothing?"), they would say something like, "Let's put it this way..." and proceed with something else.

Their 'thinking' habits include ignoring--"blanking out"--arguments they did not want to face, just as Reg has regularly done on this blog.

You can expect the same or worse from the picketers. By far, the probability is you would spend your time more wisely reading your zodiac for amusement.

Or, for personal benefit, you could engage them as an experience in observing their hopelessly distorted ideation. But we already have Reg Glob for that :-).

Crazyman Bob said...

Anyone ever picket outside of a popular church?

"Down with mysticism" "Down with lies"

That kind of thing?

Tommykey said...

I wouldn't do that Crazyman. Unless it was a church a Jerry Falwell type preacher who was railing against "the ho-mo-sexuals" or bashing some other group of people like secularists and feminists as causing god to send hurricanes and diseases and terrorist attacks upon us. That kind of shit needs to countered.

Starhawk said...

I agree it'll probably be a waste of my time. But you never know, I've been surprised before and how will anybody ever change if someone isn't willing to talk to them. I'm not as settled in my beliefs as many of the people on this blog, but I have
faith :P in humanity.

If I help one person take a strong look at their beliefs and shake up someones blind faith in something they've never thought about, then that's a good day. I'm willing to freeze my butt off and "waste" an hour or so in an attempt to have a really good day. Maybe 10 years down the line they'll look back on our conversation and gain new insight into it.

Then again, I have a lot more time than most people, I work part-time and spend the rest of my time thinking too much.

Richard said...

There are videos of people doing just what Tommy suggests.

Ridiculing fundy protestors:
God Hates Plumbers A public service message from the church of Geesus.

Totally mocking Jeebus:
You should all be in church. Bear with the first minute or so of text.

There was another one I cannot find that was a video of families with kids under ten. Even the kids were carrying signs that said things like "God Hates Fags", and the vidoer kept asking them why they were preaching Hate, etc. The 'protestors' did not react then and there, but perhaps one or two started to feel uncomfortable enough to not repeat such protests.

Gramomster said...

If you talk to them, you might want to ask them what the penalty should be for a woman who gets an abortion, if in fact Roe v Wade gets repealed. There was a video of a guy doing that on Youtube, but it got pulled. Which sucks. Seems like (surprise surprise), the protestors haven't thought that far. Give it a go... might be fun... Cuz, like, if it's actually murder, right, then, like, shouldn't there be, like, the death penalty, or, like, life in prison? Meh...

Richard said...

When I was a sophomore in residence, there were two guys who were really crazy, preposterously audacious, and pretty funny.

For context: the excellent Roe vs Wade decision was made by the U.S. Supreme Court on January 22nd, 1973. It approved abortion, after the procedure had been banned for quite some time.

These two guys decided, in the Fall of '72, to dress up in O.R. greens, headlight reflector and stethoscopes. They then walked around campus asking the girls if they were "Roe or Wade?".

If the girl said "Wade" they whipped out bent coat-hangers and said, "then this is the only way you'll ever get an abortion, and we're just the one's to do it for you."

If the girl said, "I don't know", the coat hangers came out and they said, "You better find out, or this might be the only way you or your daughter can get an abortion."

If the girl said, "Roe", they'd whip out the hangers, look at them, look at each other, shake their heads, tuck away the coat-hangers, and then say to the girl, "Whew, you're safe." Then they'd ask if she was pregnant, and the answer was invariably "No". Their response was, We can help you with that too. Really! We can." As she walked off they would jointly look all forlorn and say, "Pleeeeze. We know how!"

Their posturing and joking with each other always made it humorous. None of the girls, that I saw, were offended. They just went off shaking their heads and laughing.

I thought at the time that they were making a good statement about the abortion case. The Christian campus group was always about with signs and stickers and buttons opposing abortion. The two of them spent a fair bit of time near the Christian group's offices, but never right in front of it.

They made the year pretty hilarious with 5 or 6 stunts and antics every month, even during exams.