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Conservatives on Twitter link illegal killing of Cecil the lion to legal procedures offered by Planned Parenthood

Because nothing shows one's humanity more than a facile comparison made at the expense of a slaughtered animal

By Scott Eric Kaufman

Published July 29, 2015 3:15PM (EDT)

  (Screenshot, Youtube)
(Screenshot, Youtube)
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(Updated)

Infuriated that the Center for Medical Progress' deceptively edited, strategically released Planned Parenthood videos aren't gaining traction outside of "Hannity," desperate conservatives are trying another tactic to compel Americans to care about their little publicity stunt -- comparing a legal medical procedure to the illegal hunting, stalking, and killing of Cecil the lion.

As the co-founder of the Federalist, Sean Davis, put it:

[embedtweet id="626111724068868096"]

His analogy was greeted with enthusiasm:

[embedtweet id="626111806591889408"]

[embedtweet id="626392766327734272"]

The specious connection between these isolated and distinct stories had been established. So when ThinkProgress editor Jedd Legum noted the following:

[embedtweet id="626184956004446210"]

He was told:

[embedtweet id="626209587511824384"]

[embedtweet id="626386675875348480"]

The Guardian's Jill Filipovic pointed out that the comparison was invalid, and that conservatives were simply using Cecil's death as a means of forwarding their anti-choice agenda:

[embedtweet id="626073056188960768"]

Her critics stuck to the newly established script:

[embedtweet id="626078078289215489"]

[embedtweet id="626110518017699840"]

[embedtweet id="626145084812070916"]

[embedtweet id="626399610752339968"]

Unfortunately, it seems likely that we're going to be seeing many comments like this one, from the Federalist's Senior Editor Mollie Hemingway, in the next few weeks:

[embedtweet id="626214581497688064"]

The accepted logic on the right is that you aren't allowed to feel outrage at a dentist who spent 40 hours torturing a wounded lion without also believing that Planned Parenthood clinics are part of an abortion industrial complex more vast than anything imagined by the architects of Auschwitz.

Update: As predicted, these talking points are climbing their way up the conservative hierarchy:

[embedtweet id="626454765275361281"]


Scott Eric Kaufman

MORE FROM Scott Eric Kaufman


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Abortion Cecil The Lion Jill Filipovic Mollie Hemingway Planned Parenthood Pro-choice Sean Davis

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