The Law is reason free from passion.
- Aristotle
I was very disturbed by the aftermath of the Hobby Lobby ruling yesterday, both from my friends on social media, from bloggers online, and from politicians with real power and influence. After I read the case and wrote a basic outline, I kept hearing people, over and over again, say things that simply were not true. There was a lot of passionate rhetoric that had no substance in reality. At best, this response is proof that our political discourse has truly devolved into ignorant soundbites that get the most clicks and votes, where truth is an afterthought. At worst, politicians and pundits are deliberately deceiving people to rile up your base and smear political opponents. It's probably a little bit of both. Remember the narrative pushed by the left: the Republican war on women. It's not about Truth, it's about the narrative that helps re-election.
I picked out a few of the deceptive untrue or irrelevent memes I kept hearing over and over again.
1. "[This decision] would deny legions of women who do not hold their employers’ beliefs access to contraceptive coverage that the ACA would otherwise secure."
False. This is an actual quote by Justice Ginsberg in her dissent. It is the biggest meme picked up and spread around the internet. Even Hillary Clinton picked up on it. Women will not get healthcare because of this decision. Great quote that really rallies people up, but it's simply untrue.
For Hobby Lobby and the two other business in this particular case, they already provided 16 of the 20 contraceptions that the Affordable Care Act required and they will continued to do so. For the 4 types of contraception that they disagreed with providing on religious grounds, women should still be able to get those through their insurance, provided the government extends the same exception to them that was provided to nonprofits. This exception was the main proof that forcing the business to violate their religious beliefs was not the least restrictive means to accomplish the government's goal. Where the government's goal can be accomplished without violating religious beliefs, they extension should be done. It's really as simple as that.
Furthermore, no one is actively standing in the way to prevent women from buying contraception. Any and all women are still quite free to buy whatever contraception they want. The court simply ruled that you can't force your employer to pay for it if they disagree with it, instead the exception proves the insurer can pay for it if it's that important.
But truth Doesn't matter. It's all about the narrative.
2. Hobby Lobby is Hypocritical Because Their Retirement Packages Invest In Contraceptions.
Misleading and Irrelevant. An individual employee 401k invests in one of a number of mutual funds. The employer has no control over what mutual fund they invest in. The mutual fund invests in dozens to hundreds of companies. The employee has no control over what companies the mutual fund invests in. One of those companies happens to be a pharmaceutical, one of the drugs the pharmaceutical makes happens to be contraception which may or not be the kind of contraception Hobby Lobby's owners originally disagree with. Does that really make them hypocrites? How many degrees of separation do we need here? This is dishonest.
Some have pointed out that there are mutual funds for people of faith that do not invest in companies like this. That's great. But how many people know all the companies their mutual fund invests in to begin with? Or all the specific products those companies make? Wouldn't be a restriction on employee freedom to dictate which mutual funds they or may not invest in? This is a smear tactic.
Even so, all of this is completely irrelevant to the Supreme Court decision. Their supposed hypocrisy has nothing to do with the case at hand. What is this supposed to prove? They don't really care about abortion? This is all a political ploy? Why would Hobby Lobby risk all of this negative press? No one on the court doubted the sincerity of their belief, yet some 8-degrees of separation mutual fund investment is supposed to prove something? Ridiculous.
But the truth doesn't matter, it's all about the narrative.
3. Hobby Lobby is Hypocritical because it buys products from China.
Misleading and Irrelevant. Really? Really guys? How many products in your house are made in China? Hypocrite. Oh you didn't know? No excuse, hypocrite. Oh, it's so cheap? No excuse. Honestly, Hobby Lobby is in the little plastic trinkets business, where else in world do they even make little plastic trinkets? I find it absolutely insane that the same people that praise China for it's wonderful communist policies and who look up to Mao have the audacity to call someone out on their supposed hypocrisy. Lots of things in the world are made in China and we import a ton of it every year. But their only hypocrites if they're a Christian, is that right? What about the Christian missionaries who live in China and buy Chinese products? What about the Chinese Christians who live in China and buy Chinese products? Are they hypocrites? Hobby Lobby sells little plastic trinkets and China makes them, what would you have them do? So you're demands are hypocritical, misleading, and unrealistic.
Let's not forget that Hobby Lobby pays it's full time employees twice the minimum wage and gives a substantial amount to charity every year.
Maybe Hobby Lobby could buy a few less products from China, but their supposed hypocrisy has nothing to do with the outcome of this case. It is completely irrelevant. This is all just an attempt to smear their name.
But the truth doesn't matter, it's all about the narrative.
4. Hobby Lobby is Hypocritical Because They Provide Viagra and Vasectomies.
Misleading and Irrelevant. What is this supposed to prove? You're telling me that Hobby Lobby can support 16 different kinds of reproductive health services for women but can't provide 2 to men without being hypocritical? They provide TWO and now they're misogynist or support the patriarchy? Are you against providing men reproductive health services? Why the War on Men?
Again, this is totally irrelevant to the outcome of the case. It is a dishonest smear tactic.
But the truth doesn't matter, it's all about the narrative.
5. Hobby Lobby is Imposing Their Beliefs on their Employees.
False. It was the federal government that was attempting to impose their beliefs on Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby is now not required to provide the healthcare they were opposed to. You can't impose your beliefs by not doing something. Does my employer impose their beliefs on me by not providing insurance altogether? Do they impose their beliefs when they choose not to give me a hat when I want them to? Companies have all kinds of beliefs about all different kinds of things. You choose to adhere to their impositions (or lack thereof) when you choose to work there.
If women still want those kinds of contraception, they can buy it themselves or, provided the gov't grants Hobby Lobby the proper exception, can still get that healthcare through their insurer. Or they could, *gasp*, go work somewhere else. "Impose" implies an active force against someone's will. If you don't like what your employer is (not) doing, you are perfectly free to find different employment. Hobby Lobby, however, could not have found a different government, that was the imposition.
This is a misleading characterization of the employer/employee relationship. We should be much more afraid of mandatory adherence to our government's beliefs that violate and penalize religious conviction than voluntary adherence to our employers beliefs which, at worst, is inconvenient.
But the truth doesn't matter, it's all about the narrative.
6. This Is Junk Science And These Drugs Don't Cause Abortions.
False and Misleading. Admittedly, the science behind the 4 drugs at issue, 2 types of IUD and 2 types of morning after pills, is contested. The idea behind all of these, like all contraception, is that they attempt to prevent fertilization of the egg. However, the FDA indicates that, should fertilization occur, these particular drugs may also prevent pregnancy by preventing implantation of the embryo into the wall of the uterus. For someone who believes that life begins at fertilization, this amounts to an abortion. Some scientists are absolutely adamant that they would never ever prevent implantation. Insofar as there is any doubt, you can see why one might fall on the side of not paying for what you believe is abortion.
Furthermore, this actually has nothing to do with the case either. It is not the court's job to settle disputed scientific or ethical claims. Some say that Hobby Lobby owners shouldn't care because they are not the one's taking the pills. But isn't paying for something (neutral) which leads to something immoral, itself immoral? That is the kind of ethical question the SCOTUS is the not in the business of answering. Insofar as their beliefs are sincerely held, they make a ruling based on the law.
But the truth doesn't matter, it's all about the narrative.
7. This is a slipper slope ending in corporations that deny healthcare blood transfusions, vaccinations, or minority hiring.
False. The majority opinion very explicitly said this is narrowly tailored decision which does not effect any of those examples. This decision,” wrote Alito, “concerns only the contraceptive mandate and should not be understood to hold that all insurance-coverage mandates, e.g., for vaccinations or blood transfusions, must necessarily fall if they conflict with an employer’s religious beliefs. Nor does it provide a shield for employers who might cloak illegal discrimination as a religious practice.”
So if someone wants to address those specific issues, they must bring their own case to court. Perhaps an exception would also be a less restrictive means of meeting the government interest in those cases. But those have nothing to do with this case, as the majority opinion makes clear. So there is no slippery slope.
But the truth doesn't matter, it's all about the narrative.
Don't Be A Puppet
As I said earlier, I was very disturbed by these responses to the Hobby Lobby case. Most were so full of passion but entirely devoid of reason. As Aristotle points out, "Law is reason free from passion." It's great to be passionate and I understand that people care about women and rights and healthcare. But when your passion overrides your reason, you say a lot of ignorant, false, and misleading things. Nothing in any of these comments actually dispute the legal reasoning of the case. None of them talk about the Religious Freedom Restoration Act that the case was judged on or the Dictionary Act which gave the definition of person (including all kinds of corporations) which so many have trouble with. If you disagree that corporations should be considered people, take it up with the Dictionary Act or RFRA, not the Supreme Court.
But they don't talk about it because their disagreement is not one based on reason or logic, but passion and feeling. "I feel like corporations aren't people, therefore this decision is wrong, nevermind what the law says." If we are to have a free society, based on the rule of law, we must use our minds to logically think through these issues. We must act from reason, not react from ignorance. Realize that politicians love to rile up the mob to get votes. As soon as I heard this decision, I read the case and wrote a response because I knew that all the responses would be skewed and ignorant. Make no mistake, that is exactly what this reaction is all about: pushing the narrative of the "war on women" for the election in the fall. Next time you feel yourself getting riled up about something: slow down, take a breath, and think. Don't let anyone pull your strings or push your buttons. If you are a puppet, then you will never be free.
Seth
Seth
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