Via DL Sly, a gaffe. That's what we call this kind of thing these days. But it's not a gaffe, not really. It's a massive philosophical error. It's a failure to understand the facts of the world. I wonder after it. I do.
I've mentioned this before: in a statistics class, the professor asked for examples of independent events. One female student piped up and offered "my mother having children and me having children."
The difference, though, is that one was mildly amusing, the other is simply dangerous.
I was an unexpected pregnancy. I don't think my parents planned on a third child at all, and certainly not just when they had been planning to go abroad on sabbatical. They adjusted. I imagine they could have figured out a way to get rid of me if they'd really wanted to, law or no law, but I can't find it in my heart to wish that alternative had been more convenient for them.
I remember a passionately liberal but brilliantly logical friend in law school agonizing over a married friend who was planning her second abortion. Her head told her it was her friend's right and not her place to disapprove, but she was finding it difficult to maintain the friendship. Strangely, she had not been offended by the first abortion. She confessed to me that she didn't know how to talk to her friend about it. "What am I going to say?" she asked. "Once is OK, but twice is murder?"
I am the product of determination, following two miscarriages. My wife is the outcome of a failed diaphragm. Her parents weren't disappointed. I can't say I am, either.
Some take the unexpected--even the deucedly inconvenient--and go with it, making enormous success. Others are afraid of life and try to hide from its vicissitudes, no matter the cost, or to whom, all while ignoring the chance for greater plenty.
One issue with having a child before abortions were readily available is that not every child was wanted. I wonder if Chelsea’s great grandmother let it be known to her “love child” that her birth was not a welcomed event- that she was not a loved child, but an intrusion on her mother’s life. I can well imagine that the great grandmother gave subtle- and not so subtle- digs to her daughter about her not being a welcomed child, but an intrusion. Perhaps it didn’t happen this way, but I consider it quite possible.
I have a good friend whose mother gave her that persistent message. Her mother was married, but found her child a terrible burden in a life she had been accustomed to live among boozy jazz musicians who stayed out late every night expressing themselves and trying to be the center of attention. It really did a number on my friend.
I've mentioned this before: in a statistics class, the professor asked for examples of independent events. One female student piped up and offered "my mother having children and me having children."
ReplyDeleteThe difference, though, is that one was mildly amusing, the other is simply dangerous.
Eric Hines
I was an unexpected pregnancy. I don't think my parents planned on a third child at all, and certainly not just when they had been planning to go abroad on sabbatical. They adjusted. I imagine they could have figured out a way to get rid of me if they'd really wanted to, law or no law, but I can't find it in my heart to wish that alternative had been more convenient for them.
ReplyDeleteI remember a passionately liberal but brilliantly logical friend in law school agonizing over a married friend who was planning her second abortion. Her head told her it was her friend's right and not her place to disapprove, but she was finding it difficult to maintain the friendship. Strangely, she had not been offended by the first abortion. She confessed to me that she didn't know how to talk to her friend about it. "What am I going to say?" she asked. "Once is OK, but twice is murder?"
Logic is not the Left's strong suite.
ReplyDeleteMorality is not high on the list either.
I was an unexpected pregnancy.
ReplyDeleteI am the product of determination, following two miscarriages. My wife is the outcome of a failed diaphragm. Her parents weren't disappointed. I can't say I am, either.
Some take the unexpected--even the deucedly inconvenient--and go with it, making enormous success. Others are afraid of life and try to hide from its vicissitudes, no matter the cost, or to whom, all while ignoring the chance for greater plenty.
It's clear to me with whom I prefer to associate.
Eric Hines
One issue with having a child before abortions were readily available is that not every child was wanted. I wonder if Chelsea’s great grandmother let it be known to her “love child” that her birth was not a welcomed event- that she was not a loved child, but an intrusion on her mother’s life. I can well imagine that the great grandmother gave subtle- and not so subtle- digs to her daughter about her not being a welcomed child, but an intrusion. Perhaps it didn’t happen this way, but I consider it quite possible.
ReplyDeleteI have a good friend whose mother gave her that persistent message. Her mother was married, but found her child a terrible burden in a life she had been accustomed to live among boozy jazz musicians who stayed out late every night expressing themselves and trying to be the center of attention. It really did a number on my friend.
ReplyDeleteThe children of the ruling caste are going to live. The rest of you and your lineage... are of no use to the Revolutionary Utopia of Human Perfection.
ReplyDeleteFlawed humans are of no worth to the Ruling Caste, except as slaves.
Although if you become a Democrat and stay one, perhaps you'll be given a waiver into the Leftist realms as a low tier overseer of slaves.