Vile Bigotry
A couple of posts ago, I mentioned a song by Steve Taylor called "Baby Doe". The song is about a true story -- a baby with Down Syndrome was allowed by his parents and doctors to starve to death. A have some personal feelings about those with Down Syndrome, so let me share those with you before I launch into the point of this post.
My Mom's youngest sister had Down Syndrome. This Aunt died at the age of 49 more than ten years ago. I remember when I was a kid we used to visit my Mom's family. During those visits, my Aunt and I would play with dolls together. She was much better off than a cousin on my Dad's side of the family. He was the son of one of my Dad's sisters. He was so profoundly retarded that he could not speak. When they would come and visit us, I remember trying to teach him to count and to talk. I thought it would be wonderful if I could teach him to speak. He died several years ago as well, and my Dad's sister took care of him all his life.
I got my first taste of bigotry against Down Syndrome people when I went to a slumber party when I was twelve. We were going to go to church the next morning with the girl who was hosting the party. I remember there was a discussion of how we would all get there. The church had a bus, but that idea was nixed because, as one of the girls at the party put it, "All those retarded people ride the bus!" I told them that it was no big deal, because I had people in my family who were retarded. This only caused this same girl to make fun of me..."Ewwww! You have retarded people in your family...and you admit it?"
The thing is, Down Syndrome people don't have a mean bone in their bodies. Outside of my family, I have met several and I've found this to be true in every case. While they may not have the mental and physical abilities of the rest of us, they have it over us when it comes to goodness. They certainly don't deserve to be reviled the way they are.
So, what am I leading up to here? This:
I first saw this in this Michelle Malkin post. Apparently, it's from a flyer that Democrats in Tennessee are distributing. This is a disgrace...it is hateful, vile and disgusting. You can't get much lower than ridiculing disabled people to make a cheap political point.
Unfortunately, this is nothing new, coming from liberals. After all, didn't Al Gore once refer to "extra-chromosome" conservatives? And then, there's that shallow hack Maureen Dowd, who is also fond of calling pro-life people "extra-chromosome" conservatives. (Link via Michelle Malkin.) The American Spectator piece has this to say:
Dowd's thoughtless reference to "extra-chromosome conservatives" as a way of describing pro-lifers carries a further heartless edge. Down Syndrome children are increasingly the target of abortion by parents who refuse to countenance the addition of such a child to their families. Sometimes, pro-lifers are the only advocates these vulnerable children have.
Indeed. From what I understand, there are very few Down Syndrome babies being born anymore...most are aborted.
I know not all Democrats and liberals approve of this kind of thing. In fact, I hope that a majority do not. I would like to see those who don't approve denounce this sort of bigotry and distance themselves from it.
Posted by Susan B. at 9:25 PM to Rants & Ruminations
I work with developmentally disabled adults and this flyer (along with the hypocrisy of the supposedly tolerant, compassionate liberls who distributed it) disgusted me beyond polite words. It's very difficult to describe my feelings about it in non-vulgar terms.