Watch your language

Well it’s refreshing to say we will be discussing a new GOP candidate today: Herman Cain. Although I guess his true status as a candidate is questionable at this point. Since he has been in hot water for some issues close to home I will stay clear of those at the moment and focus instead on other issues.

To be honest when I first really saw Herman Cain in the first collaborative GOP debate hosted by FOX and Google, I didn’t think much of him. His moving story of overcoming cancer in an of itself is memorable, but his use of it as a launching point to bash Obamacare was weak and, as Politico would later prove, his points were inaccurate.

Regardless, he has since launched himself as a viable candidate in this GOP race, perhaps eclipsing Perry, as some polls would indicate, especially after his most recent debate performance. So, as is fair, I would like to explore who Herman Cain is as a candidate.

One of my biggest issues with Cain as a candidate, outside of his tax plan, is his grossly misinformed, or rather negligent, comments regarding Planned Parenthood. Cain has accused Planned Parenthood of placing abortion clinics in African-American communities as part of a “planned genocide” to kill black babies before they are born, according to Fox News.

Cain told CBS’ ‘Face the Nation’ that "Seventy-five percent of those facilities were built in the black community. In Margaret Sanger's own words, she didn't use the word 'genocide,' but she did talk about preventing the increasing number of poor blacks in this country by preventing black babies from being born," Cain told CBS' "Face the Nation."

According to the interview he also added that many groups besides Planned Parenthood "offer sincere counseling" whereas Planned Parenthood would rather "facilitate" young black women getting abortions. Cain accused them of not trying to counsel women to not get abortions.

First off, let’s point out the hyperbolic use of the word ‘genocide’. People in Rwanda are undergoing genocide. The imprisonment of the Jews by the Nazis was genocide. Abortions are not genocide because by definition genocide is “the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political or cultural group”, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

Next let’s look at the fallacies behind Cain’s statement against the definition of genocide. How are abortions in any way deliberate systematic attacks, especially when according to a study by the Guttmacher Institute, less than one in 10 abortion clinics are placed in predominantly black communities? In fact, 63% of the nation’s abortion clinics are located in predominantly white communities.

It is irresponsible for a candidate to use such a false, pathos-driven rhetoric in regards to an already emotionally charged topic. Especially when it also undermines all the good work Planned Parenthood does, outside the abortion debate.

Margaret Sanger was a eugenist, this is true and unfortunate; but as Cain himself said, “in Margaret Sanger's own words, she didn't use the word 'genocide’…” so then don’t use the word GENOCIDE! It’s completely inappropriate, not to mention disrespectful to all the victims of genocide in the world. You are leveraging the emotional connotation of the word—a connotation developed from their suffering their pain—as part of a political move. Not to mention, get your numbers straight before you make such weighty assertions.

Fro m y perspective, if you’re willing to use such a heavy fallacy in a social issue, what are you going to do on an economic or health care issue?