Category Archives: Thoughts on Social Issues

My opinions and thoughts about current events and topics

On Death and Birth and Dignity

Posted on by Karen Stark
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On Death and Dignity

I recently watched someone die. I don’t know why I happened to be with her when she took her last breaths, but I was. It happened quietly and quickly and peacefully.

As I have pondered this event, I have recalled some discussions with my University Student daughter earlier this year as she did a research paper on Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide. As she began studying, both of us were rather open minded about the subject, especially knowing well this 93 year old family member who had been wishing to die since her beloved husband had passed away last year. I read most of the articles my daughter studied and we discussed issues involved. Through that process we came to a similar conclusion – maybe this is something best left in the hands of God. Continue reading →

The Lie about Choice

Posted on by Karen Stark
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Anti-choice, Really? There really is a group officially against choice – in America? The so-called “pro-choice” movement, by claiming the “pro” for themselves and designating their opposition as “anti”, lend the appearance of their being the good guys in this debate. But how accurate are those labels? Continue reading →

Even liberals should be outraged

Posted on by Karen Stark
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I can’t watch another of these videos without saying something. I can understand why some sensitive religious people might hesitate to watch something with a warning that it is graphic and disturbing. Apparently liberals also avoid watching because they have already made up their minds that it is propaganda from the right and so not worth their time. I can’t believe that anyone could watch these videos and still think that Planed Parenthood is doing nothing illegal or wrong. I cannot for the life of me find any way that these videos could be fake or untrue. I also can find no way that the behavior demonstrated on them can be justified at all. I will concede that there is some bias in the presentation – an attempt to show horrors as horrors without sanitizing. Sure they were secretly recorded – these Planned Parenthood people would not have said what they said if they knew it would be used against them. But wrong is wrong – and Planned Parenthood is wrong! Continue reading →

What Just Happened? How Did We Come to This?

Posted on by Karen Stark
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Forty years ago, I studied sociology as a college student. I distinctly remember studying what was termed “social deviance”. As the term implies, this refers to behaviors or practices which “deviate” or are outside the accepted norms of society. At that point in time, and for all of known history preceding that, homosexual behavior/lifestyle was universally and unquestionable considered socially deviant behavior. Same-sex marriage was unthinkable. As I watch and read the news these days, I find myself repeatedly shaking my head in bewilderment and confusion. How, in a few short decades, did something change, not just from being considered “deviant” to becoming socially acceptable, but now legally sanctioned, something to be proud of, and something that must now be celebrated by all? Continue reading →

On Being a Woman

Posted on by Karen Stark
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My first reaction on seeing the Vanity Fair cover photo of Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner was “So this is what you have wanted?” “This is what being a woman is about?”

Besides the obvious fact that there is nothing real or authentic about the image – surgically altered, made-up, and photoshopped – is this image in any way representative of what it means to be a woman? And particularly a 65 year old woman? This is not the image of a woman that I would want my daughters or granddaughters aspiring to. This is certainly not the image of the vast majority of women that I know. Is being “feminine” really about make-over glam shots dressed like a hooker? An AP article quoted Eden Lane as saying “All the women I know would LOVE to have the chance to have photos of themselves as beautiful as that one taken by Annie Leibovitz.” REALLY? I guess she and I know a whole different group of women. Sure it might be a fun thing to have an occasional make-over glam photo session, but the reality of most women is nothing like this image. Not to mention that real women have a whole lot more worthwhile things to do than to get manicures, hair extensions, shop for clothes, and have photo sessions. And is there really anything “beautiful” about such a phony portrait? You might as well just pay a famous artist to paint a portrait of a beautiful woman and claim it is you, or photoshop your face onto a fashion model’s body. Continue reading →