Mystery
We commonly put laws in place without analyzing the consequences. Vigilantism, bounty hunting, and denying women the right to manage their own health are likely to wreak havoc beyond most people’s imagination.
Bounty Hunting
The Texas law that bans abortion includes a measure to ensure that the law is enforced. If an abortion takes place after six weeks of pregnancy, residents can sue clinics, doctors, nurses, and even those who drive a woman to get the procedure and receive 10,000 or more dollars for doing so. As Sonia Sotomayor said in her Supreme Court descent, “(Texas) deputized the state’s citizens as bounty hunters, offering them cash prizes for civilly prosecuting their neighbors’ medical procedures.”
Though a great deal has been said about the horrific impact of abolishing Roe vs. Wade, little has been mentioned about what bounty hunting laws do to citizens. Last week, a friend described what it was like to live in a country where citizens turn neighbors over to the authorities in exchange for money. He had just returned from Rwanda where police had barged through the door and shot his uncle while he and his relatives were visiting. His shocked family was threatened not to mention the incident or they too might disappear.
In 1994, with genocide at its height in Rwanda, the government encouraged citizens to take up arms against their neighbors. Over 800,000 people were killed, and though the practice is not as common today, unsavory practices do continue. A 2021 UN Human Rights report claimed that Rwanda still has unlawful and arbitrary government killings, forced disappearances, torture, arbitrary detention, and political imprisonment. Freedom of expression is censored, websites are blocked, journalists are threatened, and restrictive nongovernmental laws are in place. Neighbors, tribal dissidents, and family members spy on each other in the hope of collecting a bounty payment.
The Texas law is a wake-up call that what is happening in Rwanda could occur here. We already have vigilante groups and militias that take the law into their own hands. That Texas has deputized all citizens and encouraged them to spy on one another over abortions is only the beginning.
What happens when states stop protecting the rights of the LBGTQ community? What about Hispanics, Jews, Blacks, and those of Oriental descent who are targets of vigilante groups. Will government continue to deputize citizens so they will turn people in if they have backgrounds an elite group decides are unsavory?
Vigilanteism and bounty hunting are on slippery slopes that can easily separate people and make them fearful. Such activities are pushing Americans into groups of like-minded individuals. Looking to find fault for the things they don’t like and the end up hatful and fearful of those who are not part of their tribe.
Dr. Seuss understood what could happen when he wrote his children’s poem, The Sneetches.
“Now, the Star-Belly Sneetches
Had bellies with stars.
The Plain-Belly Sneetches
Had none upon tears.
Those stars weren’t so big. They were really so small
You might think such a thing wouldn’t matter at all.
But because they had stars, all the Star-Belly Sneetches
Would brag, “ We’re the best kid of Sneetch on the beach.
With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d say
“We’ll have nothing to do with the Plain-Belly sort!
And whenever they met some, when they were out walking,
They’d hike right on past them without even talking…”
Then, Sylvester McMonkey McBean, the Fix-It-Up Chappie, came along and made stars for the plain bellies so the two groups would look alike. The original Star-Bellies decided to get rid of theirs so they’d be different and “better” again. A competition arose to see which group was better. All the while Sylvester McBean was making money. He surmised, “They never will learn. You can’t teach a Sneetch. “
“But McBean was quite wrong. I’m quite happy to say
That the sneetches got really quite smart on that day,
The day they decided that Sneetches are Sneetches
And no kind of Sneetch is the best on the beaches.
That day, all the Sneetches forgot about stars
And whether they had one, or not, upon thars.
I hope we can learn from Dr. Seuss to put aside differences and celebrate our common humanity. Whatever we believe, however we act, let’s not stoop to so low and be so narrow that we turn neighbor against neighbor and can’t tolerate diversity.
I imagine you have a lot to say on the subject. Please comment on my blog site.
Art is always for sale. Contact me for information marilynne@eichingerfineart.com
Mystery is a 19″ x 24″ framed acrylic painting on canvas. available for $425.
Resources:
Picchi, A. (2021) Texas abortion ban turns citizens into “bounty hunters. CBS News. retrieved from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-abortion-law-bounty-hunters-citizens/
Rwanda events of 2021. Human Rights Watch. retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2022/country-chapters/rwanda?gclid=Cj0KCQjw4PKTBhD8ARIsAHChzRI9iAICmhJpBsulXYOtZ64spja_OfCjDxvYYOk0QPDseEiBuC97cAUaAnjoEALw_wcB#
Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) Before You Read. The Sneetches. elements of Literature. retrieved from https://www.hanover.k12.in.us/cms/lib/IN01001361/Centricity/Domain/2242/Sneetches.pdf
