Some people just keep lying...

...to misrepresent the views of other people.

One of my morning readings every day is the newsletter from RedState. Today, Erick Erickson went so far as to claim that the American Academy of Pediatrics, and by some incomrehensible extension the entire progressive movement, actually condones the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM).

In order to get our definitions straight, FGM is an abhorent practice in many parts of Africa in which female children have their clitoris removed before they reach childbearing age. In the misogynistic cultures in which this procedure is performed, women aren't supposed to derive pleasure from sex and as such, the clitoris becomes superfluous equipment. The entire thing is disgusting and is used to oppress women as they have for centuries in those cultures.

There are a number of pediatricians in the United States who perform a ritual for families from those cultures in which they nick the clitoris with a scalpel or razor, a cut that heals completely and has no lasting effects. In many cases, it has been reported that the doctors never actually touch the girl with the cutting instrument, merely wave it over the girl in a symbolic gesture to fulfill the requirements of the ritual. This was the procedure that the AAP endorsed over the surgical removal of the clitoris.

Of course, our doctors routinely engage in male genital mutilation in the form of circumcision, the removal of the foreskin of the penis. This procedure has at least a basis in reality as a penis with the foreskin is more difficult to clean and more prone to spreading sexually transmitted diseases including HIV to women. In addition, there is a significantly higher prevalence of penile cancer among men who have never been circumcised comared to those circumcized at birth.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the only lie in the post to which I am referring. The author went on to imply that the entire progressive movement, in the form of Hollywood, is busy being apologists for Roman Polanski. I'm not generally one to agree with the Church of Scientology, but in an interesting turn of events, not a single Scientologist has defended Polanski and there are many other Hollywood types who did not sign on to the petition asking for his release. Most of the people who signed the petition were French citizens and, much as some people would like it to be so, Whoopi Goldberg does not represent the entirety of the progressive movement. For anyone who wants a fuller account of the situation than what RedState is putting out there, here you go. Despite the claims that nobody in Hollywood is condemning Polanski, it sure seems that there are a lot of people out there doing just that.

I hate it when people lie and I truly despise it when they lie for political gain. There are so many legitimate reasons to disagree with people on the other side of the political spectrum that there is no excuse for misleading or lying to people.

Tsk, Mr. Erickson