Graphic Superbowl Anti Abortion Ads Wrong

I am not a football fan.  I will, thus, not be watching the Superbowl.  But it is a day of fun with family and friends that many people look forward to enjoying for months ahead of time.

I am also not a fan of Randall Terry.  In the least.  Which is why I am not surprised that he is behind planned graphic anti abortion ads depicting dead fetuses on some local stations carrying the game.  From the LifeNews.com story:

Pro-life activist Randall Terry, last year, launched a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. He did so to qualify as a federal candidate in order to air graphic abortion ads on television under a law requiring stations to air them. “My goals in running for President are simple: first, I want to help create the political climate in which child killing is made illegal from conception until birth. As other social revolutions teach us, this requires showing graphic images of injustice, as well as confrontational rhetoric,” Terry said in a statement LifeNews received.

It also takes strategic thinking and an understanding of when to speak and when to shut up.

Running those ads will be about as effective at changing minds and hearts as standing on a box in Hyde Park and screaming.  Worse, it will be perceived by viewers who are not already pro life as assaultive and intrusive—and perhaps even by some of them—particularly given the context, and will be far more likely to make viewers want to shoot the messenger than heed the message.

Feeling righteous is not the same thing as being effective.  Let people have at least one day where they can forget the culture wars and just have fun.