Welcome to #SMH Fridays! Obviously, that’s Internet speak for “shaking my head” Fridays, but you already knew that.
Here at Red Alert Politics we spend entirely too much time on the internet and some of the things that we see out there are just absolutely astonishing/mind-blowing/horrifying/disgusting/trendy/weird/insert any adjective here. As such, we have decided to start #SMH Fridays as a way to share those stories with you.
In this weekly series, our staff members will share their favorite “That’s So Internet” story in this post, along with their unfiltered commentary. Here’s last week’s edition for the gist of what it’s all about. Enjoy!
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If you’re pro-life, you know that life begins at conception and that abortion takes the life of an innocent, defenseless and vulnerable unborn human being. Even if you’re pro-choice though, you should be able to understand that abortion is a difficult situation not to be taken lightly, if it’s to be considered at all.
That people thought it would be a good idea to do #shoutyourabortion about how wonderful abortion is just makes the whole issue that much more tragic. Earlier this week though, it was quite the trending topic.
Media outlets which generally post pieces in support of abortion, such as BuzzFeed, Salon and Cosmopolitan, promoted the hashtag. The Guardian also featured a piece saying “I am not sorry.”
The truth is though that many women may come to regret their abortions. Organizations like Silent No More are proof that women suffer from this decision. And some women who make the decision don’t actually want to have the abortion. Others are even coerced into the procedure.
There is a silver lining though, in that the pro-life counter effort, #shoutyouradoption, was also trending.
In case you are living underneath a rock, Pope Francis has come to America and the media could not be more excited.
Pope Francis is a media darling but for many orthodox Catholics he has been a bit of a let down.
It was really Pope Benedict who was the reformer for the church, who ended a lot of corruption and “cleaned the filth.” He provided a space in the church for many orthodox Catholics allowing them to worship with the Latin mass despite the wishes of many bishops.
Nonetheless, he was never loved in the media the way Pope Francis is today.
The current pope uses vague language which makes people believe that the church’s teachings have changed or that he has the authority to change them, neither of which is the case. Which is partly why many people believe that the church has altered its position on many social issues.
While there is much reason to celebrate the arrival of the Pontifex, sometimes the media hype is not all it’s cracked up to be.
This week – and every week – I am shaking my head at Lena Dunham. In case you haven’t heard, Dunham is launching a new website and email newsletter LennyLetter.com, which I’m sure will be a pro-abortion feminist nightmare with terrible fashion advice.
What’s even worse, she is promoting the launch of Lenny Letter by teasing an exclusive interview with Hillary Clinton that will be posted online next week. Politico released the first teaser video, in which the two discuss Dunham’s favorite topic: feminism.
Clinton said she doesn’t understand any women, but “particularly a young woman,” would say they’re not a feminist. Then she goes on to condescendingly describe the definition of a feminist as someone who believes in equal rights.
This video just totally wants to make me laugh and be girlfriends with Hillary and Lena.
The Clinton campaign really wasn’t joking when they announced earlier this month that they would try to humanize their candidate with a series of “non-traditional” media interviews.
I can’t wait to see the awkward interviews in store for the rest of the campaign!
The news article to get self-righteous about this week was the news that a drug went from $13.50 a tablet to $750 overnight. Like everything else surrounding healthcare and drug prices, everyone used the story as another anecdote to show that drug companies are evil and would rather see people die than make a small profit.
After cigarette companies, drug companies are some of the most reviled corporations around. While most large companies deserve the hatred they get, the real villain in this situation is the Federal Drug Administration.
Alex Tabarrok at Marginal Revolution notes that the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals exploited the regulatory system in his price hike. In India, the generic drug costs 10 cents a tablet. It’s also manufactured in Europe. Yet the FDA does not engage in drug reciprocity, wherein if a European country approves a drug, the U.S. would accept that approval and allow importation.
So don’t blame the CEO of a drug company for this absurdity. Blame the FDA for closing American markets with superfluous regulation laws that make the American drug market lag behind India.
