Notice anything about the discussion in the embedded CNBC clip? Amanda Marcotte, posting at Pandagon, certainly did. Scroll through the comments for further information about the stats regarding contraception. (*NOTE: A number of the comment-ers use, ah, raw language to make their points. Note as well that Marcotte and her interlocutors have very strong opinions—opinions with which you may very strongly disagree.)

Anyway, I include this clip because I expect to discuss it tomorrow night in terms of the ‘Saletan temptation’, which is We should all be more reasonable when dealing w/X; what is reasonable is what I believe; therefore, we should all be more like me.

I read Saletan regularly (and have linked to his blog, ‘Human Nature’, under ‘Blogs’), but I am also often greatly frustrated by his argumentation—and as often when I agree as when I disagree with him.

Given that Saletan is all about trying to reach consensus, I think he provides a good case study for our class. Is he offering, implicitly, a kind of deliberation on abortion (and the use of human embryonic stem cell research), or is he simply offering his own views as what others ought to conclude, and wrapping it in a let’s-all-be-reasonable wrapping?