The River Of Bile - On Steroids

It's strange the journeys that can follow a single step. I must admit that when lovable rascal Fintan O'Toolbox first approached me to discuss providing a guest post I expected something a little lighthearted - even on the one occasion we met he seems disinclined to break character.

I was pleasantly disappointed to find that, instead of his usual hilarious output, he'd opted for some serious investigative journalism. I feel I've covered vaccine opposition, American influence and superstition prevalent in pro life groups in Ireland, but Fintan breaks fresh ground for this blog by exposing ties to the extreme far right.

Do enjoy, and don't forget to follow him on Twitter.

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Hi, my name is Fintan O'Toolbox, some of you may know me as that annoyingly smug git who writes for Donegal Dollop and live-tweets the Bible most evenings. Geoff recently, very kindly, offered me the opportunity to write a guest post for his wonderful blog. Naturally, I jumped at the opportunity, however, the original idea for my post ended up taking a few bizarre twists and turns so I hope you can bear with me...

One of my favourite topics for debate (trolling) on Twitter is the concept of morality and where it comes from. In my experience, I've often found Catholics strongly opposed to the idea of moral relativism — the notion that morality evolves in accordance with the shifting sands of social progress and that it reflects the general consensus of the masses when it comes to the concept of right and wrong. Instead, they seem to favour the idea that morality is objective and immutable — remaining the same eternally, regardless of whatever we mere mortals may decide among ourselves as a society. I've always considered this to be a strange position for a Catholic to take given that the Old Testament is action-packed with rape [1-4], genocide [5-8], slavery [9-10], and even abortion [11], and given that the catechism still considers this section of the Bible to be entirely valid and inerrant [12]. Regardless of what side of the morality fence you sit on, the average Irish Catholic is, in my experience, generally quite content not to shove this core belief down your throat (it's certainly never become a bone of contention between me and my Catholic friends). However, there are certain groups on the religious right who argue (often very loudly) that moral relativism poses a grave threat to Irish society and must be opposed at every turn.

If morality is indeed objective and the most favourable path towards this morality is via a Catholic belief system, as these groups appear to claim, then surely the proof would be in the empirical pudding? Surely anyone who follows this kind of belief system (particularly someone who clings to it with zeal and wears these beliefs on their sleeve) will be a decent person who contributes positively to society? Failing that, you would at least assume that such a person couldn't possibly end up being a horrible individual who has nothing to offer but negativity. Well, with this assumption in mind, I always keep an eye out on Twitter for people who appear to be singing loudly from the same hymn sheet as the religious right, just to see what kind of people they are. Anyway, one day I came across a very interesting chap called Michael Quinn (no relation to David, as far as I know). Michael doesn't seem to like Jews or black people very much.

Of David Quinn and Demonising the Opponents of X Legislation

Media's view of the pro life lobby?

I do not particularly recommend my book reviews. In it you'll find overlong and overworked reviews of books in which you have little interest, or, worse, overlong and relentlessly critical reviews of books you quite enjoyed. They're mostly about Christian apologetics. For what it's worth, attempting to step into the world view of another gives one a unique viewpoint of one's own. Do wander to unfamiliar sections of the book shop.

This interest in opposing viewpoints may be part of what drew me to David Quinn's latest, "Those opposed to abortion law being branded fanatics". It's been my experience that people change. While I always supported legislation on X, I was two or three blog posts in to the abortion debate before I considered myself pro choice and in that time I was not once referred to as a fanatic. My daily commute found itself unmarked by low flying fruit or vegetation. Indeed, all interactions with pro choicers before I joined their number were positive and engaging. Had I instead been demonised or painted as extremist I would likely have been less inclined to give pro choice arguments fair hearing. If those who oppose X legislation are being unfairly characterised they're unlikely to change their position - misrepresentation helps none of us.

That said, what examples of media bias does Quinn offer?

A Raised Eyebrow to PledgeProLife.com

Those unduly curious as to the views of 'cool gal[s] from Oregon' who also consider themselves 'proud Roman Catholic conservative[s]' can do worse than to take to Twitter, where they will likely come across the below caps lock enthusiast who describes herself as one of many "AMERICANS FOR AN ABORTION-FREE IRELAND!"

Original tweet here, assuming not deleted. Her enthusiasm for confining Irish abortions to home abortion kits or England is expressed by her promotion of Youth Defence's PledgeProLife.com. Youth Defence describes this site as representative of "80,000 voters [sic] who will never vote Fine Gael again". Yet I could find no evidence that this Oregon based conservative has been a member of said party, nor was I able to find a townland called Oregon in any traditional Fine Gael voting county.

They're Coming For Your Condoms

It has been four decades since contraceptives obtained a semblance of legality in Ireland, our supreme court ruling that the constitutional right to marital privacy allowed their use but not their sale. It was not until 1978 that legislation was finally introduced to allow their purchase, the transaction hampered somewhat by a requirement to produce a valid prescription. I'm thankful to the IFPA and Richard Branson for taking the expedient step back in 1990 of openly selling condoms in Virgin Megastores. This forced the government's hand somewhat and in a relatively expedient three years it became possible for citizens of this fine state to buy condoms without an approving doctor's note. I was thirteen at the time.

I choose to celebrate this milestone of two score years with a quick jaunt through some notable anti abortion rights campaigners to see if they view access to contraceptives as a positive step or if they yearn for the days before Durex.

Human Life International Ireland

"I do believe contraception is one of the most potent ideological tools that those who are seeking to destroy the Catholic family are using to dismantle that institution... Ultimately when it's all stripped away it's a battle between the forces of evil and the forces of good. Ultimately Satan and the Lord almighty, and both armies, both commanders have armies in their control, diametrically opposed, the culture of life and the culture of death." - Patrick McCrystal, supernatural battle strategist, liar who pretends vaccines cause autism, chair of Human Life International Ireland

"If we the Catholic community repent of our contraception and pornography and sex education in our schools and promiscuity and we repent of our silence as we allow these things to happen then perhaps God in His mercy might avert the abortion scourge...

We're based in Knock Ireland where the Lamb of God appeared and He has a message for the world and when the world turns back to him everything changes and He has the final say." - Patrick McCrystal again, sounding more than a mite batty.

Youth Defence Blog Post Review: Discussing Disability

"I’d tell you I love[sic], but then I’d have to kill you" This mangled attempt to reproduce the title of one of the author's "favourite spy books" may have slithered past Youth Defence's editor. Or perhaps it was shown mercy - given the inexhaustible supply of errors that constitute the remainder of this blog post a mere discarding of the sixth word of the title (the word 'you') may have been allowed stay to better lower the expectations of its unfortunate readers.

I assume of course that Críostíona speaks of that well known classic, I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I 'd Have To Kill You by Ally Carter. I'm assured it's popular with both pre teens and young adults alike. Of course, perhaps I err. It rests not outside the realms of possibility that Youth Defence members have access to works that encourage lethal responses to admissions of eros, as suggested by the offered title. Still, the former seems the most charitable reading so I'll progress with the assumption that Críostíona intended to commence her piece with a reference to a teenager who lies to most people she meets in the protection of a secret mission. (For those unduly troubled by excess free time the plot summary is here.)

What mission does Críostíona execute in this blog post? We discover by examining the first sentence to follow a rather hamfisted link with aforementioned book title:

Youth Defence: Facts Deserve Better

I've been on holiday and am somewhat behind on current affairs. No matter, the Youth Defence blog provides a rich source of material for me to discuss.

Today I look at an entry from Eadaoin, a UK based blogger with an interest in Ireland's abortion debate. Rather than provide commentary I'll just offer my free fact checking service.

"It has become increasingly clear that, over the last ten decades the women’s liberation movement across the globe, which had noble aims in its infancy, has become an oppressor of women’s freedom."

I have a fortnight's worth of laundry to do: regrettably time does not allow me to also correct grammar or suggest how Eadaoin might express ideas clearly. Do feel free to assist her in the comments.

Statistically speaking, induced abortions increases [sic] the risk of breast, cervical, ovarian and rectal cancer.

No it doesn't. I offer as evidence a Lancet published meta analysis of 53 studies and a 12 year study of 25,000 Danish women. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the United States National Cancer Institute agree that there is no causative link. The American Cancer Society goes one further, saying that "...the public is not well-served by false alarms. At this time, the scientific evidence does not support the notion that abortion of any kind raises the risk of breast cancer". Eadaoin doesn't offer any evidence of this purported link with breast or other cancers, and with good cause - she doesn't have it. Nor does she mention that her organisation opposes the HPV vaccine, proven to reduce instances of cervical cancer.

Youth Defence and the Young Chauvinists of the Future

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Who's Using Home Abortion Pills?

In 2009, the Irish Medicines Board seized 1,216 abortion pills destined for Irish addresses. This is a significant increase on the 2008 total of 48, though this may well be a result of improved detection rates rather than an increase in demand. No customs office is infallible and no prohibition is complete; it would be farcical to state that these represent the sum total of all abortifacients posted to our shores.

It is now 2013, and groups such as Women on Web no longer ship home abortion kits to addresses in the Republic of Ireland. Instead they suggest identifying a suitable address in Northern Ireland for delivery, requiring that their customer make a trip to collect. Customs interceptions have decreased as a result: they seized 671 in in 2010 and 635 in 2011. Does this mean that women are no longer performing abortions alone, isolated, and with a threat of prison sentence should they dare seek medical help?

I used Google trends to chart the popularity of searches for 'abortion pill' in England, Scotland, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland:


As a nation we're consistently more likely to be searching for information on abortion pills than are the citizens of Scotland and England. Northern Ireland spikes from highs to lows, a function of its lower population more so than rapid cultural change. And the point that must be emphasized is that increased customs seizures have not reduced this desire for knowledge. If anything it has grown.

Who Is More Reasonable?

It's often hard to have a dispassionate conversation about legislating on X, and one could be forgiven for thinking that those against abortion rights in Ireland have chosen to capitalise on this. The language used is selected for its ability to elicit an emotional response - for fetus they say unborn child, for blastocyst they say person with potential, and to describe the debate we're currently almost having they use the term literal tsunami of death. Their choice of images also falls foul of this criticism - be it faked pictures of late-term abortions or smiling, cherub-like babies the appeal to emotion is obvious.

True, facts are used, but more often than not they're flat out wrong. Pro Life Campaign's most recent video culminates in an impassioned speech saying that Ireland is the world leader in maternal healthcare. Now I see no need to rest on such laurels and avoid providing doctors with the legal clarity needed to perform lifesaving operations, but a more significant counterargument is that their statement is untrue. We are not the world leader in maternal healthcare, a fact that can hardly have escaped those behind Pro Life Campaign, and it's hard to take them seriously when such gross inaccuracies are present. It would be like their chairperson forgetting they were in a video with a group that promotes gay conversion 'therapy' while falsely associating vaccinations and autism.

These groups tend to say they represent the majority opinion in Ireland despite 64% of Irish people favouring legislation on X. It's also instructive to note that their supporters on Twitter seem overwhelmingly to be American Republicans, not to my mind a group that should have significant representation in Irish affairs.

Inaccuracies and misstatements aside, is there a downside to leaning on emotional argument? I think there is.

Tax Breaks, Vaccine Denial and Irish Pro Lifers

It's a time of hardship for a lot of us. Tax is up, the carer's allowance has been decreased and most of us are making do with less. Still, it comes as small consolation to remember that as a nation we provide tax breaks for many worthy charities who do important, vital work. However, amongst the dedicated, effective and admirable groups there are a few interlopers perhaps undeserving of tax payers' assistance.

I've mentioned before that the Iona Institute is freed from the shackles of many tax obligations. You can see their company, Lolek Limited, is listed on the Revenue's list of authorised charities. (Compare the charity number there to that listed on Iona's website.) I pop back to this Revenue list from time to time when investigating various groups and have found many names gratifyingly absent. I should also add that I bear the Revenue no ill will in this matter; they merely enforce the rules and are not the body who decided the criteria for charitable status. (Late addendum: this means donors can either write off some of their tax bill against the donation, or get the Revenue to add to their donation, depending on their tax status.)

Recently a video made by the American group EWTN has been excitedly shared through Facebook and Twitter. (Bebo was not checked.) It was designed to solicit prayers and donations for Irish anti abortion groups. Perhaps surprisingly, it has been promoted most heavily by those of us on the pro choice side, largely due to one ridiculous hat:

Live Action, Youth Defence, and the Return to the Magdalene Laundries

"... back in the olden days of yore, when there was a standard – and when if you got caught having sex before marriage, you would get your butt beat and get sent off to Ye Olde Forbidding Nunnery & School For Wayward Girls – there were a lot fewer teenagers having sex." -Kristen Walker Hatten, liveactionnews.org

I greeted news that Youth Defence is now open about their US-based financing with mixed delight. True, the myth that they are the voice of the silent Irish majority can only be damaged by this approach. But I worry that their true colours may show more clearly when they drop the pretense of being strangers to the worst excesses of anti abortion activism in the USA.

Take the opening quote. It hankers back to a simpler time, where Magdalene laundries prevented abortions by incarcerating those women who dared be raped, judged lascivious by village elders, or - horror of horrors - choose their sex partners without church approval.

Do Youth Defence Really Care About Rape Survivors?

Some time ago I wrote a piece on the typical Youth Defence follower. It was intended to be lighthearted: I listed the various right-wing American personalities and groups followed and wondered aloud why a supposedly Irish organisation would find their members expressing such interest. As my source material I gave a list of other groups followed by those who deem Youth Defence of interest.

As a closing comment I mentioned that there were no Irish charities on the list. (There’s one US-based charity.) Shortly afterwards I was contacted by a new friend who asked if I could get her some more details. The script I used to pool the accounts followed by Youth Defence followers had a cut-off of 11 – it was conceivable that ten Youth Defence fans supported a specific Irish charity. Nick Beard wanted to know how many, if any, supported charities that work with rape survivors.

I’d like to frame the discussion by opening with a quote from prolifeinfo.ie, a front organisation based in the same building and using the same staff as Youth Defence:

“Victims need real support not a quick-fix solution like abortion. Rape is a terrible crime against women. Victims need our support and sympathy. We should be doing a great deal more to protect and help them.” -link

Do they live by this maxim?

On The Flip Side

I mentioned in an earlier piece some suggested approaches when asking for a favour.

A Youth Defence fan demanded I run stats on @choiceIreland. Perhaps raised by wolves, he proved unable to form the bilabial plosive required to commence the word 'please'. Having allowed the better part of a fortnight for him to develop the requisite skills I find myself still disappointed.

As you can guess, Youth Defence have irked me. That said I recognise that they are not the entirety of the pro life movement, and I've encountered more decent folk than not on Twitter of late. @NaasPreacher is a fine ambassador for his faith. @IrelandsEar seems the sort of chap (I dare assume gender) with whom I'd enjoy about two pints and a good-natured disagreement.

A Typical Youth Defence Follower

Word cloud of @YouthDefence's Twitter followers' biographies

Looking once more at my list of followers of Youth Defence, I found myself wondering who and what else earned their patronage.

So I checked, pulling stats on every group followed by everyone who follows Youth Defence, and tweeted some stats:

17%+ of Youth Defence followers bask in the delight of Paul Ryan's tweets, liking their mix of Ayn Ryand quotes and Irish current affairs.
— Geoff's Shorts (@geoffsshorts) September 26, 2012

Want Irish news? Consider following Fox News. You'll be in the company of just under 20% of Youth Defence's twitter followers.
— Geoff's Shorts (@geoffsshorts) September 26, 2012

Youth Defence: Under the Influence

My earlier pieces on Youth Defence's Twitter followers didn't come in for much criticism. I showed that only a tiny minority of their followers are Irish, and of those Irish followers, many disliked them. I showed that they're funded from the States. They didn't challenge. Perhaps my case was so watertight they judged it shrewder to maintain stoic silence. More likely it escaped their attention. A pity, I'd rather hoped to have to defend my work.

One potential criticism I'd anticipated is that Youth Defence has no great choice in who follows them. There is the outside chance a rather well-orchestrated conspiracy led to hundreds of US-based followers in some scheme of Byzantine complexity. But no-one's voiced such a theory. Still, while waiting patiently by my keyboard for any sign Youth Defence would earn the second half of its title by defending its honour I chose to put in some preemptive research.

Jim Rohn once said "You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with." The sentiment appeals to me even though the grammar does not. His thoughts were not focused on Twitter when he spoke and we may need to revise the number five upwards to better accommodate the data available on Twitter.

So, with whom does Youth Defence choose to spend its time online? I pulled a list of all the accounts they choose to follow and ran some metrics. If you're a skim reader, please stop for a second. I'm talking about folk Youth Defence follows, not folk who follow Youth Defence. That bit's important. You may now resume skimming.

Youth Defence - The Money Shot

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The Tardis and the Life House share many similarities. They are both dated, anachronistic and better suited to a 1950's environment. Their owner undergoes a semi-regular process of rebirth with different appearances but the same core personality. And, most significantly, they must both be substantially larger on the inside.

Number 60a Capel Street has simultaneously acted as home base for Coir, Youth Defence, the Life Institute, the Mother and Child Campaign, Truth TV, prolifeinfo.ie and the Pro-Life Alliance.

We must commend them on their efficient use of office space.

One of the founder members of this compact conglomerate is Scott Schittl, as evidenced by Niamh Ui Briain's comments below:

"Scott Schittl was so much a part of everything at 60a Capel Street that it scarcely seemed possible he could ever leave... During his time in Ireland Scott both initiated and was the driving force behind many important pro-life projects... He brought many talents to 60a Capel Street." - Niamh Ui Briain writing in Solas, vol 11 no 4

Fans of Youth Defence reading this blog should hold fast. In this modern age geographical distance need act as no impediment to continued cooperation, and there are many ways in which Schittl can maintain his ties to his friends in the overcrowded offices of the Life House, 60a Capel Street.

Youth Defence: The Only Thing Worse Than Being Talked About

I commented earlier on the difficulty of differentiating between those of @YouthDefence's followers who approved of the organisation's aims, and those whose morbid sense of curiosity compels them to see what bizarre utterances they'll next belch on to Twitter.

I said it would be tricky, most likely involving trawling through all posts by all followers, and not a task to which I warmed.

Still, there seems to be some appetite for material of this sort so I offer you an alternative. I searched Twitter for mentions of either "Youth Defence" or youthdefence, categorised them as either in favour, against, or unknown and did another pretty chart. Note - tweeting about Youth Defence does not mean the person necessarily follows @YouthDefence. The source data is below; and bar the observation that their claims to be "the voice of the majority" seems even less credible I leave the commentary to other bloggers. It's sunny outside.

Youth Defence: Does Following Imply Endorsement?

In part one we saw that 59% of Youth Defence's Twitter followers are based in the USA and Canada. 14% are in Ireland, 13% do not have a specified location.

Rather than extend these stats to a twenty page commentary I made my point, presented the source data and left it at that, but then @NeilMooney made a rather pertinent observation:

Youth Defence: Who Follows The Followers?

If you're Irish you've heard of Youth Defence. Possibly from the media. More likely, here in a country where abortion is illegal, you've seen them waiving pictures of aborted fetuses.

If you're not Irish you will not have had this dubious pleasure.

They paint themselves as the voice of the majority in Ireland. I greet this with a raised eyebrow; their commitment to the truth has not seemed unbreakable of late. They launched a factually inaccurate advertising campaign in which they violated the terms of use in pictures used for their billboard images. They claimed to have seen a surge in support on Facebook, neglecting to mention that 80% of their fans are based in the United States. Most pro-lifers I know regard them as something of an embarrassment.

With this in mind I thought I'd examine the followers of their Twitter account. There are two useful bits of information when tracking Twitter users: time zone and location. Location is ideal, though sometimes must be taken with a pinch of salt. "Hogsmeade & Mordor" counts among its citizens a fan of Youth Defence, as does the Neutral Zone, which I take to be a Star Trek reference.