Is Joan Walsh Okay?

By Kevin D. Williamson

Wednesday, May 11, 2022

 

The Satan Temple folks — oh, those loveable scamps! — at least do us all the courtesy of being open about the fact that they are a human-sacrifice cult. Truth in advertising, credit where due, and all that.

 

But then there’s Joan Walsh, over at the Nation, writing: “F*&k Civility!”

 

(I love that “F*&k” grawlix, like this is a silly cartoon from the 1930s — which, in its way, is exactly what the Nation is.)

 

Walsh writes:

 

I joined a noisy, peaceful protest outside the Supreme Court Building last Monday night after right-wing Justice Samuel Alito’s draft ruling striking down Roe v. Wade became public. As I’ve written, for a while the rowdy, empowered crowd chanted “Fuck Alito!” I’m honestly not sure if I joined in; it was all a blur of grief and rage. But I probably did.

 

Walsh is cutting it pretty fine there: Hurray for incivility, but keep it “peaceful.” The Democrats are emphasizing the peaceful bit right now because these protests have not been peaceful — they have included the firebombing of the offices of an anti-abortion group in Wisconsin, church desecrations, and more. Look for peaceful to be redefined henceforth to include vandalism and possibly arson.

 

In any case, if you’re standing on the sidewalk outside a judge’s  house screaming obscenities at his family, you should rethink the choices that led you there.

 

But, set that aside for the moment.

 

If Roe is overturned, then the democratically elected representatives in the nation’s state legislatures will have a relatively free hand in making abortion laws at the state level and will be directly accountable to their voters. That’s it. That’s all that would mean. That isn’t The Handmaid’s Tale — that’s regular-ol’ democracy.

 

If a draft legal opinion has you so deep in a “blur of grief and rage” that you literally cannot remember what you did yesterday — and that is what Walsh claims — then you are not part of a political movement: You are in a cult, and you probably need psychological help.

 

I’m not being facetious. Assuming that Walsh is not making up her story about being so upset by the draft opinion that she literally cannot remember what she did yesterday, she isn’t well. People who literally cannot remember what they did yesterday typically seek medical assistance.

 

(Or, in some cases, just sober up.)

 

Maybe the Satanic Temple has some kind of counseling outreach ministry that Walsh could get help from. Because she’s either embellishing her journalism for dramatic purposes or she is having some kind of minor mental-health episode.