The Conservative Meme of Satan-Loving Texas Pro-Choice Protesters Is Way Off
A few protesters against a Texas bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks appear to have chanted "Hail Satan" to mock anti-abortion protesters singing "Amazing Grace" in Austin on Wednesday. In the very loud video, I can't make out the word "Satan," but CNN reporter Josh Rubin tweeted he heard the chant. Rubin says only five protesters yelled about Satan. (Others chanted "More white males" sarcastically.) But the video has gone viral on conservative sites as proof of the depravity — or at least stupidity — of the pro-choice activists. However, The Atlantic Wire has discovered that not all of the depravity being blamed on the pro-abortion rights crowd is real.
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At the end of the video, a young woman looks like she's saying "Hail Sata-ughhh" as the word trails off while she sticks her tongue out (see GIF). Her performance calls into question the nostalgia some people have for the bygone era when college campuses were a core force in American political life.
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College kids are so dumb.
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The protesters are wearing orange shirts, many of which were passed around by Stand With Texas Women, a Planned Parenthood group. The shirts were likely handed out for free, and lots of people were wearing orange-colored clothes, so we can't say for sure they were from Planned Parenthood. The video has been passed around the conservative Internet — Hot Air, The Daily Caller, The Washington Times, Fox Nation, Ricochet. The Blaze has a charitable take, saying, "Obviously, it is much more likely that the abortion supporters were chanting 'Hail Satan!' to mock pro-lifers rather than actually hailing Lucifer, but anything is possible."
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And yet that wasn't the worst of it. Twitchy, The Daily Caller, The Blaze, and others picked up a photo showing a little girl holding a sign that says, "If I wanted the government in my womb, I would f*** a senator!" How horrible! "Pro-aborts exploit kids to advocate for killing 'unwanted' ones," Twitchy's headline blared. The image appears to have gone viral after it was tweeted by Ethan Gehrke.
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However, it's a fake. Or at least, it's not from the Texas demonstrations. The photo was posted on a message board in December 2007. The anti-abortion crowd will have to stick with its five Satanists.
