ArteTV’s grotesque pro-abortion “documentary” undermines itself

In George Orwell’s novel “1984”, the inhabitants of the dystopian totalitarian state of Oceania are obliged to participate, once every week, in the public viewing of an educational broadcast called “Two Minutes Hate”, which pushes all participants into a frenzy of hatred and anger against opposition leader Isaac Goldstein – a man of whom it is unclear whether he even exists, or whether he has been simply made up by the government’s propaganda department.

Last week, the Franco-German publicly financed “culture” TV channel ArteTV has offered its viewers a similar product: not just two minutes, but a full one-and-a-half-hours of hate against all those who dare standing up for the most fundamental of all human rights, the right to life.

You may watch the full broadcast here; it will remain available until 4 May. You can watch it in French or German; unfortunately not in English.

It suffices to view just the first ten or twenty seconds of this so-called “documentary” to understand that it is in fact a not very subtle piece of radical propaganda: a sombre tune is played, a female belly with the map of Europe is shown, and a trembling voice from the off makes the dramatic statement that “this is the story of a European backlash…. one of the biggest social achievements is under threat!”

You might wonder: which achievement is that? The answer: it is the so-called “right” of women” to have their own babies butchered or poisoned. It is the “right” of large-scale abortion entrepreneurs such as the Viennese abortionist Christian Fiala, to make a living by killing ten or twenty children every day. The ArteTV documentary, however, fails to explain why anyone in his right mind should consider that an “achievement”. It is so, don’t ask questions, just shut up. Believe what you’re told, after all this is a public TV station.

With the issue framed in this way, it is unsurprising to find the documentary cracking full of the usual clichés used by abortionist propaganda to promote its views: the usual defamatory language portraying defenders of human rights as “ultra-conservatives”, “religious bigots”, “reactionaries”, “fundamentalists”, or even as “fascists” who “want to ensure that the state always has enough soldiers to wage war” (!), some xenophobic aspersions of pro-life movements being “financed by Russian oligarchs” or “by US evangelicals” (if Viktor Orbán dares to utter similar criticism with regard to the myriad of NGOs financed by George Soros, it is a scandal – but here of course we are speaking of a film promoting the points of view of the abortion lobby, so it must be ok…?), and of course the the usual story of “a woman having died because she was not allowed to have an abortion” (although, as in all such stories, there is a remarkable scarcity of facts, and no causal link at all is established to show how an abortion might actually have saved the pregnant woman’s life).

The widespread use of derogatory words such as “fundamentalists” or “ultra-reactionary” for everyone whose religious beliefs have a practical impact on his or her life reveals a deeply rooted hatred and prejudice against all religions, but in particular Christianity, and all religious believers. The self-declared promoters of enlightenment and tolerance are themselves not very tolerant when they happen to meet someone who does not happen to be share their own views.

The makers of the film have even found some “secret documents” that spell out the pro-life community’s hidden agenda – including one that is so top-secret that we, the makers of AGENDA EUROPE, have put its content all over the permanent pages of our website. What a sensational discovery!!!

However, to do the makers of this film some honour, they have apparently abstained from attempting to cut the interviews that pro-life representatives have given them in such a way as to manipulate and distort them. The pro-lifers are given the opportunity to speak for themselves – and they are making good use of it.

The result is quite remarkable, and the effect is probably the opposite of what the makers of the film have intended. Once the viewer makes acquaintance with the alleged “crusaders” and “reactionaries”, he immediately realizes that they are not the dumb reactionaries as which they are being cast. Quite on the opposite, they are young, modern, good-looking, sympathetic, well-educated, thoughtful, creative, inventive and committed people, who are not pursuing their own interest, but acting out of a genuine concern for human dignity and for the common good.

“They adeptly use words like ‘dignity’ and frame their agenda as a fight for human rights”, the voice from the off notes with a mixture of disgust and horror. But this is precisely the impression that one gets from watching this film: a new and innovative generation of pro-lifers is bravely defending dignity and human rights, while a disgruntled abortionist lobby, for whom the very concept of dignity and human rights is a cause for disgust and sheer revulsion, is standing by and throwing hate language at them.

Ultimately, this clumsy propaganda piece undermines the agenda it seeks to promote, and promotes the viewpoint it seeks to undermine.

Thank you, ArteTV.