A flimsy story got me thinking

Here's the lead from a story in today's Washington Post:

Miranda Dockett felt certain she was about to lose another friend.

After all, she had been watching them fall away over the past few months, as she became more vocal about her views against abortion. Then, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last month, Dockett, 31, readied herself for a worrisome confrontation with her childhood best friend.

The exchange lasted hours, she said, as the pair traded messages and news articles on Facebook days after the ruling. Dockett, a stay-at-home mom in Lansing, Mich., wanted her friend to understand that she believes life begins at conception and should be protected. Meanwhile her friend, who declined to be interviewed for this story, argued that abortion bans infringe on women’s right to health care and bodily autonomy.

“I suspect this will be the end of our friendship,” Dockett wrote in a Twitter thread recapping the conversation. “Heartbroken BUT it took me forever to find my voice & I will not be silenced even if that means losing every friend I have/had.”

So much to think about here.

First of all, the story later reveals that the whole disagreement rather quickly blew over and the two long-time friends have resumed their friendship, albeit agreeing to simply not talk about abortion. So one of my thoughts is this: "meh." Nothing to see here and no actual news. The conflict was fleeting and all the worries and angst ended up being wasted time and energy.

This is the sort of "journalism" I despise... manufacturing added conflict just to entice a few more readers. 

A second thought is about HOW they argued: over texts and emails and Facebook posts. It takes a special friend to not bother to pick up a phone and talk person-to-person. 

A third thought is that Miranda is one of those "single issue" voters, I assume, and now she just can't stay quiet any more about abortion. Her focus (likely) wanders when it comes to finding ways to support young families and abandoned children and childcare... I also assume that she expects women who do not agree with her to maintain their silence. It's so much easier that way.

My fourth thought is that all this was shared publicly on Twitter, the dark zone of social media and the perfect place to argue in random bursts of emotion without embarrassing yourself at King Soopers in the produce aisle. 

My final thought, not contained in this story but part of today's headlines, was about the landslide vote against removing abortion rights in Kansas. If even Kansans feel draconian abortion bans are going too far, that is eye-opening. There may not have been much polling going on for this, but the overwhelming vote seemed to surprise political "experts." Miranda is probably sad today.

I thought, once again, that all those pundits who are so certain of, well, everything, are often clueless. They are, like weather forecasters, often completely wrong, but viewers return to hear from them anyway. And believe them. 

Women can be the key to almost any election, when they so choose. 

It really IS a matter of choice.