[Vision2020] Ed Iverson article

[Art Deco]

HIS VIEW: Contemporary comedy and tragedy in society

By Ed Iverson
Published: 09-09-2006


So many things in our society are bottom side up that a person doesn't know
whether to laugh or cry. The line between tragedy and comedy is a narrow
one. It is sometimes hard to know if we should howl with laughter or howl in
anguished disbelief.

Take the common case in which municipalities and companies extend employee
benefits that were formerly reserved for married couples to men who are
romantically involved. This means opening the health group to homosexual
domestic partners. These same municipalities and companies are generally
very severe about employees using tobacco. Employees are badgered about
tobacco because it drives up the cost of health insurance for the group.


Can you think of a bigger howler? We must ban smoking for health reasons and
at the same time we will invite practicing homosexuals to participate in our
health plan? That is either deep tragedy or high comedy. According to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, homosexual men are 1,000 times
more likely to contract AIDS than someone in the general population. The
Medical Clinics of North America report that almost 80 percent of homosexual
men have had at least one sexually transmitted disease. We could go on
citing statistics like these. The truth is, homosexual behavior is not user
friendly.


Even if it were to be shown that inviting practicing homosexuals into the
insurance group dramatically increases insurance premiums, municipalities
and corporations would never dare to openly resist the homosexual
juggernaut. It is cool to be hotly opposed to "big tobacco." But it is "in"
to be "out."


Then there is the case of the uncomfortable geese. Long ago and far away
some curious Frenchmen wondered what would happen if they force-fed their
geese. Someone must know the story of the goose herder who first dreamed up
this plan. However that tale goes, it seems as though this force-feeding
results in big goose livers. This appeals to goose liver lovers (even if
they are not French); and so the story has been written for centuries.
French farmers stuff their geese and make them fat. French butchers wring
the neck and cut out the big goose liver. French chefs take the big goose
livers and make a paste they call foie gras. French connoisseurs pay big
bucks for the resulting snack.


Everything is pretty cool until the loony left rides in to champion the
cause of the fat geese. By their own reckoning, the trendy lefties are the
guardian of the oppressed and the defender of the defenseless. (Well,
actually they are the defenders of only a select few of the defenseless.) No
one ever cared for geese like these guys. They contend that every goose has
the right not to be overfed. To my knowledge, no useless lefty judge has yet
discovered that right tucked away in the U.S. Constitution. No doubt they
will.


Advocates for fat geese decry the cruelty of poking food down a gooses'
neck. They bemoan the animalistic pain involved. They assault restaurant
patrons with pictures of crazy Frenchmen stuffing grain down the neck of a
goose. A number of localities (including Chicago) have simply thrown up
their hands and outlawed the French delicacy.


Is there anything more tragic, or perhaps more comic than earnest folly?
These are the same people who can enthusiastically support plunging a fork
into an "unwanted" child's head, killing it in the very act of birth.
Feeding an animal more than it would normally eat is condemned as cruel and
painful, but chopping up a baby is celebrated as a "choice" of someone who
has a right to privacy. Storming eateries with pictures of force-feeding
geese earns respectful attention while showing pictures of developing babies
to women contemplating an abortion is condemned as emotional blackmail.


Protesting the production of foie gras while rationalizing the killing of
defenseless infants has a comedic aspect. But it is not comedy. It is one of
the tragedies upon which the ship of our state is foundering.


Ed Iverson is the head librarian at New Saint Andrews College in Moscow. He
earned a master's of library science at the University of Southern
Mississippi and studied theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British
Columbia. In 1990, he ran for the Idaho Senate as a Republican from Mullan.
He lives with his wife at Viola. They have two children and six
grandchildren.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Megan Prusynski" <megan at meganpru.com>
To: <deco at moscow.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 11:48 PM
Subject: Ed Iverson article


> Might you be able to share the text of the original column by Ed  Iverson? 
> I'm interested in reading it but since I'm not a subscriber  to the Daily 
> News I can't access it on their site. Thank you! :)
>
> ~megan
>
> ........................................................................ 
> .................
>
> From:  The Daily News 09-14-06
>
> LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
>
>
> Published: 09-14-2006
>
> Columnist spreads prejudice
>
> I urge the people of Moscow to read Ed Iverson's column (Opinion,  Sept. 9 
> & 10). I realize my 27 years of medical practice does not  compare to his 
> wisdom, and I don't have the space here to refute his  slanted statistics 
> about disease and sexuality, so suffice it to say  I humbly disagree.
>
>
> I routinely see spontaneous abortions (miscarriages) in the first 
> trimester of pregnancy and have known gynecologists who perform first 
> trimester abortions. The image of a doctor "plunging a fork into a 
> child's head . in the very act of birth" is beyond ludicrous. And the 
> connection between abortion and foie gras? Only a schizophrenic off  their 
> medicines could make that one.
>
>
> But that is not why I am writing. I would ask the people of this 
> community to read Iverson's column and ask: Is it written with  humility 
> or arrogance? Is it tolerant or intolerant? Does it come  from love or 
> hatred? What would Jesus write?
>
>
> I am the father of a gay son (whose picture happened to be in that  same 
> day's paper in the 9/11 story). God created him gay just like he  created 
> me straight. I have seen him hurt too many times when nasty  people like 
> Ed Iverson spread their prejudices under the cover of  religion.
>
>
> I would be a hypocrite to call myself a Christian because I cannot  live 
> up to the Christian philosophy of selflessness, loving one's  enemies, and 
> rejecting personal wealth. Now I have another reason to  avoid the label. 
> That is to avoid being associated with people like  Ed Iverson and the 
> institution of Christ Church which he represents.
>
>
> Maybe if we all boycott the businesses downtown that support Christ 
> Church we can help. Sometimes if you deny a cancer it's blood supply,  it 
> goes away.
>
>
> Jay Hunter M.D., Moscow
>