Humans often believe that if they separate themselves into groups away for “the other”, they’ll transcend part of the human condition. Basically our problems are the cause of evil in “the other” and not within ourselves.

Twenty years ago I had a roommate (now a published Sci Fi author) who looked for sub-text in any plot. He was a big fan of zombie fiction because he loved the enemy within plot which illustrates my above point nicely. Basically every human is a potential zombie, so even after separating into a group of pure humans, you’ll carry the seed of “the other” with you.

Basically fiction can illustrate the folly of our thinking that the problem is “the other”. You’ll have murders in expensive gated communities and anti-Semitism in otherwise tolerant liberal cities.

i think it’s incredibly cruel to put an infant in a rear-facing carseat until 2 yrs of age. it stifles creativity, due to the lack of visual stimulation in this position, could possibly conduce whiplash in case of a collision, due to the infants relatively high mass, at this point, and may be a source of driver attention attraction, due to the easy eye-line position.
also, were the cartoons not meant as parody? why so much attention to this topic?

I am against forced circumcision. It’s an extremely barbaric practice on girls and violates the autonomy of the individual to make such decisions for a child of either sex. Religions that include the practice will be up in arms, but in fact no one is saying the practice will be outlawed when adopted by young man who has reached the age of majority, the proposed law simply requires that parents not usurp that decision while the child is a minor unless there’s a compelling medical reason to do so. In my view, it’s simple – if you respect the autonomy of the individual, you must support the ban.

The debate gets much more interesting when you consider whether to allow surgery that effectively inflicts a gender assignment on a minor hermaphrodite. I think a similar argument should hold there as well – the individual concerned should make the call. That’s going to make the adolescent years a bit difficult, but it allows individuals to know themselves before making such an important decision.

Interesting point, Mike Landis. But rather than the ritual age of 8 days old for Jewish boys, why does the ballot measure choose 18 years old as the appropriate age? They are both extremes, depending on whom you ask and whether you’re approaching this from a religious, medical or some other point of view.

Good Point, Nicole,

Has anyone ever considered the possibility of the pain an eighteen year old would feel (both physical as well as psychological) in having a circumcision as an adult? I happen to know one person who had one as an adult as part of the conversion process. I cannot even fathom what he went through. Somehow, I doubt anyone can remember what happened to them as an eight-day old….

Congratulations to San Francisco baby-carers. They are on a historically well known track after Romans and Nazis and whole bunch of similarly pleasant and humanity-loving creatures who were trying to prohibit circumcision.
Well, the practice outlived them all and will outlive these proponents too.
It is amusing that so many anti-Jewish laws and so on are attempted by Jews themselves.
And in this case the real cause of the irritation of these circumcision prohibition proponents is that the circumcision establishes connection to the G-d Almighty in the way which is beyond the reason, and they cannot stand G-dliness of this act.