The Dormouse had closed its eyes by this time, and was going off into a doze; but, on being pinched by the Hatter, it woke up again with a little shriek, and went on: ‘—that begins with an M, such as mouse–traps, and the moon, and memory, and muchness—you know you say things are “much of a muchness”—did you ever see such a thing as a drawing of a muchness?’

‘Really, now you ask me,’ said Alice, very much confused, ‘I don’t think—’

‘Then you shouldn’t talk,’ said the Hatter.

This piece of rudeness was more than Alice could bear: she got up in great disgust, and walked off…

–excerpt Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland chapt. VII A Mad Tea-Party by Lewis Carroll

Perhaps you’ve been present at such a party in recent memory.  I have in mind an opportunity for speaking and listening in company with others, and yet, little that is said makes sense…  Tracking the logic, making application of what someone else just verbalized, strikes one as impossible.  Lewis Carroll writes of such a gathering in his Alice’s Adventure In Wonderland.

The Hatter’s madness emerges in his imperious, surly attitude, interrupting a speaker often with off-putting, mildly insulting remarks.  The Dormouse is urged to contribute to the table talk.  The creature, whose forte is napping, offers a story of three sisters living at the bottom of a well.  Alice asks about their diet, and the mouse replies that they consume treacle.  (treacle is a flavoring agent, bitter like licorice)  The Hatter interrupts, there’s more debate, and then the Hatter complains about having a soiled tea cup.  Then, everyone rotates one seat, even though the dirty-tea-cup problem isn’t solved.

The Dormouse dozing off again is awakened by a pinch from the Hatter is asked what the three sisters do at the bottom of the well.  The answer:  The sisters are learning to draw.  They draw things that begin with the letter M.

The scene suggesting the condition of madness has to do with the misuse of language, language bent, broken, weaponized such that participants are disoriented and agitated.  The reality foisted upon everyone is fragmented, disorganized, and chaotic.

Last night I read a short essay by a journalist, Sarah Varney treating the topic, When Does Life Begin…  This is the lynchpin of the pro-life vs. pro choice debate that has raged for the over twenty years or so.  Lately the debate has come to a head as the Supreme Court in its  Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling eliminates the Federal right to abortion, allowing State legislatures to decide the matter for women.  The essay reminded me of the fundamentally anti-science, fact-adverse orientation of the social conservatives at this time.

The disagreement over when life begins for the human mammal is a mad tea-party conversation.  If one is to conserve reason, the shared use of language, to make instead of break reality, one can only get up in great disgust and walk off.

Yet I am unsure how that is to be done.

To read the essay by Sarah Varney:

https://khn.org/news/article/in-the-rush-to-curtail-abortion-states-adopt-a-jumbled-stew-of-definitions-for-human-life/