""Pro-Life"" Catholic is Surprise Winner in First Round of Chile's Presidential Elections

[Passenger]

Last edited Tue Nov 23, 2021, 01:22 PM - Edit history (1)

Pro-Life Catholic is Surprise Winner in First Round of Chile’s Presidential Elections

SANTIAGO, Chile — José Antonio Kast, a Catholic politician who supports socially conservative policies and a free market economy, won a surprise victory on Sunday in the first round of Chile’s presidential elections.

He will now face a run-off against Gabriel Boric, the leader of a leftist coalition, on Dec. 19.

Kast, 55, the son of German Catholic immigrants who started a successful sausage business, is the father of nine children and has always been an outspoken supporter of the right to life of the unborn, traditional marriage, and the rights of parents concerning the education of their children.

He is also a member of the Schoenstatt Catholic movement, which was founded in Germany in 1914 and has a strong presence in Chile.

Kast started his political career as a congressman representing the center-right Democratic Union. In 2016, he left the party and became an independent until 2019, when he founded his own movement, Republican Action.

...

Basically the "Prussian" mindset of the old Chilean military (such as Pinochet).

Nine children?

[musette_sf]

1. Since this is not posted in LBN

can we PLEASE not use in the subject line the violent misogynist hate speech term "pro-life" ??????

"Forced birth torturer" and "gestational slavery advocate" are accurate.

SICK of violent misogynist hate speech that is nothing but euphemisms for torture. If the violent misogynist hate speech is in the headline and it's posted in LBN, then we're citing the headline with the violent misogynist hate speech. But in GD, can we PLEASE not do this?

On edit: and I see this is posted from the violent misogynist hate speech Catholic publication, the National Catholic Register. I'm looking in the excellent, progressive National Catholic Reporter for a story on this.

[OnDoutside]

2. That reminds me to watch the Life of Brian again.

[Hortensis]

4. Lol, I'd forgotten about that. Forbidding masturbation

is unquestionably a form of torture.

Every sperm is sacred,
Every sperm is great.
If a sperm is wasted,
God gets quite irate.

Thanks for the laugh. I get way too serious.

[OnDoutside]

5. Lol ! Classic 😅

[Hortensis]

3. Oh, come on. Imo, demonizing everyone who uses the term pro-life

as violent hate-filled torturers is more than a little overboard, an extreme view that repels sympathy. I've known various people who are anti-abortion because their religion requires it; they don't hate anyone, and I speak up for them. And others.

Btw, I personally stick to the terms pro- and anti- abortion because they're honest, though anything can and has been warped into the rhetoric of fanatics on both sides of this subject.

[musette_sf]

6. Criticizing everyone who is offended by the term "pro-life"

as being "more than a little overboard" provides a degree of validation of an extreme view that should be considered as highly offensive by those who support the Democratic party platform.

What should it be called when people want to strip away my sacred civil, human, and Constitutional rights because "their religion requires it"?

Who considers speaking out against fanatical violent misogynist hate speech to be "the rhetoric of fanatics"?

[Hortensis]

7. Don't misrepresent what I said. It sounds like you want to refute,

so please reread and see if you can express a valid disagreement with the actual words this real person really said.

As for what should you call sincerely religious people trying to live according to the doctrine of their church without malice toward you? Well, they're your fellow citizens whose rights to their beliefs are protected by the same constitution you consider sacred. So I'd suggest something respectful of both them as people and of their rights, even if you don't share their beliefs.

It might help in understanding religious people to realize that strong secular beliefs, such as your own, are much the same as religious -- an alternative which also holds some things sacred but without the organization and diety(s) of religions.

Another thing unorganized secular belief systems tend to not have that all major religions do are instructions on how to behave toward one's neighbors and stern warnings about what's not allowed. The closest I see anything come these days are advice columns in magazines and newspapers, but better than nothing.

[musette_sf]

8. All I had was a simple ask to not perpetuate misogyny on DU.

If one's living "according to the doctrine of their church" involves activism in attempting to strip innocent people of their rights, then they quite clearly have malice towards those whose rights they seek to erase, and towards those who stand to protect and defend those rights. Saying "their religion requires it" does not absolve the malice.

As a Democrat and as a member of Democratic Underground, I wish for violent misogynist hate speech to not be perpetuated here for any reason, wherever possible.

As a Catholic, I align myself with those of my faith like President Biden and Speaker Pelosi, who proudly and openly support the Democratic Party Platform on reproductive justice. I assume you haven't seen the vitriol against the President and the Speaker that is regularly spewed by the National Catholic Register, which is the source of the OP's article. It's the polar opposite of "respectful".

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Yeah, literally pro-Pinochet

Mr Kast, 55, referred to some of the law and order challenges facing the new president, such as the tense situation in the south, where indigenous Mapuche activists have been waging a long battle for ancestral rights.

"Let no one get it wrong, the only presidential candidacy that will restore peace, the only presidential candidacy that is an alternative to face criminals and drug traffickers and the only option that will put an end to terrorism, is the one we represent, there is no other," Mr Kast said.

The two candidates also have widely divergent approaches to the economy with Mr Kast promising a return to the low tax policies of the Pinochet military rule, about which he has spoken sympathetically.

Mr Boric on the other hand proposes investing in the education system and strengthening environmental protections.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-59331695

The "National Catholic Register" pretends the only link is that his brother was a minister under Pinochet.

[Hortensis]

10. Seriously, I'm really sorry to hear of this turn after how many years

of protests demanding more investment in the wellbeing of the people? Sounds like might be such a thing as political violence fatigue, especially when crime is believed to be rising in general.