The Dirty 100 and the immaturity of NOW

At least twenty-four (24!) of the persons, businesses, or organizations named by the National Organization for Women as the "Dirty 100" are themselves Catholic, owned by Catholics, or made up of Catholics (there may be more; I know one the businesses is Catholic and I suspect others are, as well). Shockingly - and bizarrely - the Little Sisters of the Poor have, as it were, made the cut.

Now, pay attention (yes, that was purposeful): Notice the percentage of the groups that are Catholic: at least 24%. Yet we are to believe that our secular society does not have an anti-Catholic prejudice? Get real. And wake up.

Why are these the Dirty 100? Because they do not want to pay for their employees birth control, sterilizations, or abortifacients. How vile and cruel they are. You would think the NOW would be demanding instead that businesses provide mammograms for free.

An especially curious aspect of this list is its placement on NOW's web site: you can "take action" and "Ditch the Dirty 100" before you can even see the list NOW has compiled (you even have to click on "take action" to be able to click on the list).

The link to the list is at the very bottom of the page - beneath a declaration that "I do not believe that the religious beliefs of an employer trump the religious freedoms and bodily autonomy of their company’s female employees" and that "I cannot support businesses, nonprofits, and religious entities that do not respect the reproductive rights of their employees" and a spot for your contact information. It is almost as if NOW doesn't actually want you to know who the Dirty 100 are.

To my mind, this shows not only a certain mindlessness on the part of those who support the creation of such a list and insanely think that of all of the life-saving medicines and treatments available to women that only contraception should be free of charge, but also a certain immaturity on the part of NOW's leaders (and former leaders).

This immaturity also comes across in a recent - and impressive - interview conducted by Fox News' Megyn Kelly with Patricia Ireland, a former president of NOW:

Megyn's suggestion to call the list "groups with whom we disagree" is an excellent, reasonable, and civil suggestion, one met with disdain and mockery. Ireland claims she has "the right to say these people are wrong and to not patronize them," yet she patronizes them ("Bless their hearts") throughout the interview. It only shows her insincerity.

This immaturity is further shown by Ireland's refusal to answer Kelly's direct questions and her failure to acknowledge when Kelly shows her to be incorrect.

In the end, I suspect this campaign against the Dirty 100 will prove ineffective for NOW.