Recently a boycott was called for of our most beloved Generator Steampunk Cafe, because the owner opted to post a notice she was going to spend a day sporting a red arm band and red duct tape over her mouth to protest against legal abortion and to try to get others to observe a day of silence for those unborn children who cannot speak for themselves. As expected there was an outcry about her trying to advertise a personal and religious as well as politically based controversial agenda to her customers and in the business. Some are requesting a boycott and will probably succeed in getting many of the establishment's customers to vote with their wallets by boycotting the place. I can almost guarantee that since those most strongly in favor of the boycott used to be the places strongest supporters (and the one that lived most nearby) within our new Steampunk Illumination Society that our meetings of 20 to 60 members are unlikely to occur there in the future. Ah well....what exactly does one expect? I have tried to take a more contemplative approach rather than an outspoken one to this, because, as a psychological counselor and social worker, I see the aftermath of every possible decision this debate espouses. Frankly the only decision regarding abortion that does not represent a greater or lesser of many types of tragedy is the decision to avoid the problem in the first place by heavily educating and advocating for all members of society to teach and hold responsible all parties before the fact instead of after it's too late. Men especially have to be taught to act like men, not self absorbed psychopaths in terms of their attitudes to the question of unwanted pregnancy, and women have to step up to the plate and treat these irresponsible men that care nothing about their lovers or what life they create as the monstrous social parasites that they are. In other words, if you know they act that way, refuse to date them, or have anything to do with them, until and unless, you see real actions and not just pretty lies showing that they finally grew up and joined the human race. OK-that's my opinion anyway.
Below is my response to the call for the boycott and the responses for and, well, if not against, at least suggesting more moderate responses:
There were a great number of for and against posts on the Generator Coffee Shops facebook site, but I am sad to say, that other than the owner, who had very intelligent and compassionate things to say about her desire to courageously express her opinions about protecting unborn children, most posts supporting her desire to protest legal abortion (by wearing red duct tape over her mouth and a red band on her arm) looked like super fundamentalist gibberish that is at the heart of the causes of the problem to begin with. Those are the same people that refuse to allow serious public discussion of and eduction about contraception or even about being responsible adults in any way after the unwanted pregnancy occurs. Any topic other than abstinence (...yea, like that's gonna happen 100% of the time for all teens in this or any country!) is strictly taboo and somehow they see any rationale discussion of options as profane. I am sorry to see it come to this. Many kind hearted souls with appropriate and healthy concerns for a child, unborn or otherwise, rightly believe they should speak about their feelings, but think that their distorted political presentation of the issues is the only solution or even any sort of effective solution. Just like with drunk driving, legislation has a very limited effect on what people are foolish enough to do. Illegalizing abortion may well have caused more death and tragedy than it stopped. The only thing that will be likely to make a real impact on the number and severity of all the tragedies that occur in an around any unwanted pregnancy, is to fully educate and heavily encourage socially responsible and "pro-life" actions before the unwanted pregnancy occurs by either avoiding the sex (essentially a hopeless idea and ridiculous to consider any solution) or teaching people how to be more responsible when they give in to desire by using effective contraception and making responsible decisions to avoid any child being engendered in the first place in an unwanted situation. Unfortunately the idea of teaching and encouraging safe sex, to prevent the situation occurring is strongly resisted by the same people that want to illegalize the only alternatives left available after the fact. In other words, it seems that many "pro-life" politicians and advocates actually help create the tragedy that leads to abortions in the first place which is clearly not a very "pro-life" thing to do. I assure you as a psychological counselor and as a social worker that whatever decision a young girl (often barely a ten in the DFW area) makes regarding an unwanted pregnancy, the outcomes are almost all tragic with some degree of lifelong scars. In many cases the children are also left in situations that may actually be a fate worse than death. I treat the abused children that find themselves in these situations, even the ones abused in some of the not so wonderful foster homes. As such, my soapbox is not to question your right speak your mind about this, but rather to suggest that "blessed are the peacemakers" can also apply to this situation where it would be far more effective to treat any young men that show a total disregard for the fate of their lover or their child as the predatory psychopath they prove themselves to be, and to insist that the young girls recognize this and act accordingly. Until that happens, "pro-life" is just a phrase and does not actually accomplish what you most desire, which is the kind hearted and very appropriate desire to protect an unborn child. I support your intent whole heartedly, but do not like having it pushed as a political agenda only, because the package that normally comes along with it insists we do little or nothing to stop the tragedy of unwanted pregnancies occurring, then give politicians the power to play doctor and psychologist after the fact when they know little or nothing about what they are doing in this area. That is why this is so controversial to begin with. I think it unlikely there are many "anti-life" people that ever come to your shop, so we all want the same thing, but differ only on whether or not we believe politicians can legislate the problem away.ion for reckless sexual "trophy hunting" in high schools and junior highs.
Below is my response to the call for the boycott and the responses for and, well, if not against, at least suggesting more moderate responses:
I don't disagree with any of the opinions you are expressing, but I have a thought or two to consider about this particular situation. I think the real problem is that religious extremists try to make it appear that only those that advocate for legislating things such as what decision a woman can or cannot make in private with her physician are actually "pro-life" or concerned about the current and future fate of everyone concerned including unborn children. The reality is that we all need to take responsibility for heavily working to overcome this conspiracy of silence that supports ignorance about contraception and supports reckless neglect of responsibility by both parents, especially the all too easily excused father, both before and after the fact. I think we need to work quite heavily on teaching men to act like adults before any unwanted pregnancy occurs, instead of supporting the idea of politicians playing psychologist and physician in a fascist sort of way. I think once the topic is mentioned widely enough; however, people will vote with their wallet about whether they feel business owners should push personal agendas. I don't want to pass any legislation about that either. It is entirely likely the owner does not realize that most people on both sides of the argument are actually pro-life and against the creation of this type of tragic situation, where any unborn child is coming into an unwanted situation. Ideal worlds do not exist, but perhaps we can work to make it a little closer to the desired reality by educating any so called "pro-lifers" willing to listen that there are few, if any "anti-lifers", just people with different opinions about how effectively legislation can make the tragic situation better instead of making it much worse. We need to try to get people to understand the hypocrisy of fighting education and encouragement of responsible behaviors then expect the government to step in and try to control the aftermath that such attitudes create. Do we need to boycott the Generator? Like everything else related to this debate, In my line of work as a psychological social worker, I have seen into the hearts of those caught in this sort of tragedy, including the children who were kept through term and thrust into a place where they were not wanted, and I find no clear cut answers to any of it.
There were a great number of for and against posts on the Generator Coffee Shops facebook site, but I am sad to say, that other than the owner, who had very intelligent and compassionate things to say about her desire to courageously express her opinions about protecting unborn children, most posts supporting her desire to protest legal abortion (by wearing red duct tape over her mouth and a red band on her arm) looked like super fundamentalist gibberish that is at the heart of the causes of the problem to begin with. Those are the same people that refuse to allow serious public discussion of and eduction about contraception or even about being responsible adults in any way after the unwanted pregnancy occurs. Any topic other than abstinence (...yea, like that's gonna happen 100% of the time for all teens in this or any country!) is strictly taboo and somehow they see any rationale discussion of options as profane. I am sorry to see it come to this. Many kind hearted souls with appropriate and healthy concerns for a child, unborn or otherwise, rightly believe they should speak about their feelings, but think that their distorted political presentation of the issues is the only solution or even any sort of effective solution. Just like with drunk driving, legislation has a very limited effect on what people are foolish enough to do. Illegalizing abortion may well have caused more death and tragedy than it stopped. The only thing that will be likely to make a real impact on the number and severity of all the tragedies that occur in an around any unwanted pregnancy, is to fully educate and heavily encourage socially responsible and "pro-life" actions before the unwanted pregnancy occurs by either avoiding the sex (essentially a hopeless idea and ridiculous to consider any solution) or teaching people how to be more responsible when they give in to desire by using effective contraception and making responsible decisions to avoid any child being engendered in the first place in an unwanted situation. Unfortunately the idea of teaching and encouraging safe sex, to prevent the situation occurring is strongly resisted by the same people that want to illegalize the only alternatives left available after the fact. In other words, it seems that many "pro-life" politicians and advocates actually help create the tragedy that leads to abortions in the first place which is clearly not a very "pro-life" thing to do. I assure you as a psychological counselor and as a social worker that whatever decision a young girl (often barely a ten in the DFW area) makes regarding an unwanted pregnancy, the outcomes are almost all tragic with some degree of lifelong scars. In many cases the children are also left in situations that may actually be a fate worse than death. I treat the abused children that find themselves in these situations, even the ones abused in some of the not so wonderful foster homes. As such, my soapbox is not to question your right speak your mind about this, but rather to suggest that "blessed are the peacemakers" can also apply to this situation where it would be far more effective to treat any young men that show a total disregard for the fate of their lover or their child as the predatory psychopath they prove themselves to be, and to insist that the young girls recognize this and act accordingly. Until that happens, "pro-life" is just a phrase and does not actually accomplish what you most desire, which is the kind hearted and very appropriate desire to protect an unborn child. I support your intent whole heartedly, but do not like having it pushed as a political agenda only, because the package that normally comes along with it insists we do little or nothing to stop the tragedy of unwanted pregnancies occurring, then give politicians the power to play doctor and psychologist after the fact when they know little or nothing about what they are doing in this area. That is why this is so controversial to begin with. I think it unlikely there are many "anti-life" people that ever come to your shop, so we all want the same thing, but differ only on whether or not we believe politicians can legislate the problem away.ion for reckless sexual "trophy hunting" in high schools and junior highs.
I tried to tone the above down a little, so it didn't come off as a rant before posting anything. Below is my actual post to their site:
I am sorry to see it come to this. Many kind hearted souls with appropriate and healthy concerns for a child, unborn or otherwise, rightly believe they should speak about their feelings, but think that the distorted political presentation ...of the issues is the only solution or even any sort of effective solution. Just like with drunk driving, legislation has a very limited effect on what people are foolish enough to do. Illegalizing abortion may well have caused more death and tragedy than it stopped. The only thing that will be likely to make a real impact on the number and severity of all the tragedies that occur in an around any unwanted pregnancy, is to fully educate and heavily encourage socially responsible and "pro-life" actions before the unwanted pregnancy occurs by either avoiding the sex (essentially a hopeless idea and ridiculous to consider any solution) or teaching people how to be more responsible when they give in to desire by using effective contraception and making responsible decisions to avoid any child being engendered in the first place in an unwanted situation. Unfortunately the idea of teaching and encouraging safe sex, to prevent the situation occurring is strongly resisted by the same people that want to illegalize the only alternatives left available after the fact. In other words, it seems that many "pro-life" politicians and advocates actually help create the tragedy that leads to abortions in the first place which is clearly not a very "pro-life" thing to do. I assure you as a psychological counselor and as a social worker that whatever decision a young girl (often barely a teen in the DFW area) makes regarding an unwanted pregnancy, the outcomes are almost all tragic with some degree of lifelong scars. In many cases the children are also left in situations that may actually be a fate worse than death. I treat the abused children that find themselves in these situations, even the ones abused in some of the not so wonderful foster homes. As such, my soapbox is not to question your right speak your mind about this, but rather to suggest that "blessed are the peacemakers" can also apply to this situation where it would be far more effective to treat any young men that show a total disregard for the fate of their lover or their child as the predatory psychopath they prove themselves to be, and to insist that the young girls recognize this and act accordingly. Until that happens, "pro-life" is just a phrase and does not actually accomplish what you most desire, which is the kind hearted and very appropriate desire to protect an unborn child. I support your intent whole heartedly, but do not like having it pushed as a political agenda only, because the package that normally comes along with it insists we do little or nothing to stop the tragedy of unwanted pregnancies occurring, then give politicians the power to play doctor and psychologist after the fact when they know little or nothing about what they are doing in this area. That is why this is so controversial to begin with. I think it unlikely there are many "anti-life" people that ever come to your shop, so we all want the same thing, but differ only on whether or not we believe politicians can legislate the problem away.
Below is my wife's comment on the whole affair, just to give you a well rounded view of how this sort of thing affects the community even when handled in the most mature fashion possible-which I think this was:
Radha Narasimhan:
Well, this is sad and very surprising me to considering their choices to to use fair trade goods, include vegetarian options on the menu, and to seem to support the Steampunk movement. I think what bothers me the most is it is typical of the same group of people that make noise about being "pro-life" to oppose sex education and free contraception so they actually are responsible for generating a good deal of unplanned pregnancies by taking away options that would prevent the situation. They also tend to be religious fundamentalists which is also not something I, Ramon, and Jyoti want to have to deal with. We vote as a family to not go back. This event belongs at their church, in my opinion, not at a public restaurant. Are there any plans to send them a letter in regards to why so many of us have chosen to not support Generator?
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