Times Editorial : Get back A trip along a curb was an attack on us all
Posted on Friday, October 10, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/Editorial/69947/
Can you believe this ? A Fayetteville man
faces felony charges for allegedly
trying to run over a group of anti-abortion demonstrators along College Avenue Tuesday afternoon, the story read last week. Without sitting down to interview Jason Bryant Shireman, it’s difficult to know exactly how much forethought he put into a course of events that brought about his arrest on three felony counts of aggravated assault. Authorities say he drove his sport-utility vehicle onto a sidewalk near the Fayetteville Women’s Clinic, and he reportedly told police that he veered toward demonstrators near the abortion clinic to let them know exactly “ what he thought about them. ” Protesters along this stretch of College Avenue, just south of North Street, are not an uncommon sight, but the folks out there lately have been participating in a demonstration referred to as “ 40 Days of Life. ” The protesters are all passionately anti-abortion, and they no doubt hope their presence might (1 ) discourage a woman from choosing abortion and (2 ) make motorists consider the abortion issue as they ponder how to cast their ballots come November.
Given his alleged actions, we can only assume the accused would identify himself as on the opposite side of this social question. Perhaps he feels just as passionately about his beliefs as those students from Subiaco Academy who nearly got hit. It could even be that he doesn’t regret allowing his passions to fatefully steer his car in their direction that day.
That’s what we would like to talk about.
See, it would be one thing if a person does such a thing accidentally. We’ve worried for years as these occasional demonstrations took place along that busy stretch of highway, with those engaged in exercising their free speech rights standing on the sidewalk, but still not far from traffic. Especially when the groups include kids, the idea of an errant vehicle is scary. It never occurred to us that someone might actually consider veering near the protesters on purpose.
When it comes to someone who holds a viewpoint opposite the demonstrators, perhaps this isn’t the first time the thought of swerving toward the sidewalk has entered someone’s mind. But most people erase that thought almost as soon as it occurs. It would take some work to figure out what would make someone act on such violence. Was it a premeditated event, or giving in to a moment’s indiscretion ?
Mr. Shireman’s alleged decision to take matters into his own hands reminds us of those abortion opponents who have justified firing weapons in the general direction of doctors and nurses who regularly perform abortions as well as the patients themselves. Somehow, these twisted types believe they’re doing society a favor. For them, the federal decisions that make abortion legal can’t be changed soon enough. So what’s the trouble with shedding a little blood if it saves an innocent life ?
That’s a terrible way to see things in a nation built on a belief in law and order. And that emotion, the one that leaves us pleading with people to leave their violent urges out of it, go for those who may be on the abortion-rights side of the fence as well. Millions of people in this country may be sure in their belief that abortion is not the execution of a viable human life — or, even if it were, that it does not in any way trump a women’s right to decide what becomes of her life and her body. Fair enough.
But why step violently into a situation in such a way that people might get injured or killed ?
People have every right to protest all sides of the argument, but trying to use a 2, 000-pound vehicle to scare people into hiding their feelings and faith ? That’s dangerous to them physically, and it’s an affront to humanity.
Such attacks are made against freedom. If it turns out Mr. Shireman did aim to do harm because of the opinion those students were expressing, well, we hope the judge helps him to understand what freedom, or the lack of it, is all about.