Sick Transit

Meia and I just saw Pan’s Labyrinth, and I’m having a hard time putting together my thoughts about the movie. Here’s a stab. (more…)

There’s an interesting correspondence between Kevin Drum’s Blog for Choice post and Matt Yeglesias’, especially the comments at the latter.

Kevin quotes LizardBreath at Unfogged, who writes about having an abortion, not because a pregnancy would be catastrophic in her life, but because, as a 24-year-old who did not yet have a stable career or long-term relationship, she was simply not ready for a kid. As Kevin says:

Paying obeisance to the view that abortion is an overwhelming emotional and moral decision is politically useful, and as such it may be helpful in keeping abortion legal. … In the long run, the pro-choice movement would probably be a lot better off if we laid off the guilt and simply acknowledged instead that early and mid-term fetuses aren’t sentient and women should be able to freely choose whether they want to bring theirs to term. The world would be a better place.

Matt Yglesias does exactly that, writing:

Since fetuses lack the cognitive functions that are constitutive of moral personhood, it’s not wrong to kill them. One can introduce some additional complications into the equation but it’s basically that simple.

The strongest response in comments was from Anderson:

This glib “cognitive function” stuff may work for philosophy majors (tho not all of ‘em, me being one), but when I saw my baby’s first ultrasounds, his cognitive function vel non didn’t make a helluva lotta difference to me.

As you might infer, I am less interested than I used to be on the opinions of young, single, childless people on abortion. I might as well listen to 8-year-olds who think kissing is “icky” for my opinions on sexual intercourse.

Naturally, others commenters tore into him, and he worked hard to point out that he is pro-choice and feminist. But there was clearly a visceral emotional reaction in his initial comments, and it’s one that’s shared by a lot of people. It’s the evolutionary instinct of parenting kicking in, producing a strong sense of attachment to something that would otherwise be an inconvenient parasite. (And thank Nature for that sense of attachment, of course; without it, most of us wouldn’t be here.)

It would be interesting to see what LizardBreath would respond to that. (Her abortion was 12 years ago, and she’s since had two children.) But I think that us young, childless people need to accept that, for a lot of parents, the question will never be as emotionally simple as it seems to us. Even our own feelings–not necessary our rational opinions, but our emotional perceptions–are likely to change if we have kids.

Conversely, parents like Anderson need to recognize that they may have a big evolutionary blind-spot, rather than a reasonable moral intuition. Instead of dismissing the experience of everyone who has not been inducted into the cult of procreation, they need to accept that the feeling that an unexpectedly pregnant woman has towards her embryo is just as real and valid as the feeling that they had towards their unborn child.

Meia and I got home last night from a very nice four-day weekend in San Francisco. We just about walked our legs off, but we had a great time. Pics will be forthcoming, but I have to post a few impressions in the meantime:

Chinatown: Not only do the stores on Grant Ave all sell the same crap, they even have the same price tags and sale signs! I have to wonder if they’re all actually owned by the same company. Once you get off Grant Ave, however, things get a lot more interesting. Just don’t stand downwind from the sidewalk displays of dried fish.

Brunch: If money is no object, try the restaurant at the Campton Place Hotel. It’s the same price range as Norma’s in New York, but a completely different experience in terms of food and service. Meia and I both had the Crab Cakes Benedict; the crab was fresh, and the hollandaise was probably the best I’ve ever had.

For a more affordable but still excellent brunch, we ended up at the Curbside Cafe on New Year’s. The tables are packed into the tiny place with an elbow-rubbing density I have only seen in French restaurants. But the proprietor, Antoine, moves through the narrow spaces with acrobatic speed, and both the service and the food were very good. (Antoine can be moody, however; we saw him snap at customers who were waiting for a table and complained about being passed over.)

New Year’s Eve: Blonde Redhead were so good that I didn’t even get drunk. And I’m not much of a DJ fan, but Mike Relm kicks ass.

Transportation: Having buses that run frequently, on every major street, is absolutely wonderful. They seriously need a farecard system, however. This is the 21st century; ‘exact change’ won’t even exist for much longer.

SF MOMA: Neither of us had heard of Anselm Keifer before, but we both love him. I was also quite attracted by Clyfford Still.

Castro: Far gayer than either the Village or (Seattle’s) Capitol Hill. Greatest density of male packages (in posters and store window displays) that I have ever seen in my life.

Pier 39: We only ended up there because the bus we wanted to take wasn’t running on the weekend. Meia’s reaction: “It’s even worse than I imagined.”

We also ate lots of Chinese food, toured the houses in Pacific Heights, and watched the sun set from the West side of the Presidio. We didn’t get to see North Beach, the Mission District (except for a drive through on the way from the airport), Golden Gate Park, or any of the Bay Area outside of the city. So we’ve got plenty of grist for a future visit.