Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: Today's soundtrack: OK Go "A Million Ways to Be Cruel" ::
One thing that has been bothering me quite a lot lately is when I hear the politicians talk about their support of "family values" or the "traditional American family" or the "husband, wife and children family core." The thing about it is, these guys keep going on about how it is our duty to preserve the nuclear family unit as though it were sacred and we must not deviate from this norm... ever.
What I want to know is, where have these politician been for the last thirty years? There is no "traditional American family" structure any more. While it would be pretty nice to sit back and daydream about how every family is straight out of Leave it to Beaver, that isn't the case, and it hasn't been for quite some time. In this day and age, divorce is prevalent. People have babies without getting married at all (shock!!). Many children in today's society are a product of this sort of family and are perfectly fine. We shouldn't pressure people to get or stay married "for the kid's sake" because that can really do more harm than good. I like to think that the stigma for the single mom and divorcees is all but gone from society today. It is so common, very few people think twice about a person's character or reputation when they hear that they are divorced or a parent with no marriage.
And while on the topic of divorce that brings us to the step parents. Many children can have a biological mom and dad as well as a step mom and dad. This doesn't fit very well into that "traditional" family mold, does it? A kid with up to four parents? This is perfectly normal, but the politicians don't even want to talk as though this were a viable family system. It's like "mom, dad, and kids... end of story" to them, isn't it? No room for step parents or any rights for them.
Which brings us also on to... GASP.... gay couple parents. More and more this sort of family is sprouting up all over the United States. A woman will have herself artificially inseminated so that she and her girlfriend can be parents. Or two men adopting a child because they cannot bare their own. Heavens forefend that two people of the same gender even dare to think about raising a child. Didn't they hear about the "traditional" family model?? The fact that these sorts of families exist is further proof of the expiration of that out-dated concept. The lawmakers need to catch up with how the world actually works rather than how they wished it still was and make custody and parental rights easier for this kind of family.
I guess I simply could not believe how often I heard politicians say "I support traditional family values" over the past few months, and it got me thinking, "what does that even MEAN?" There are so many other family structures out there that it is silly to only support one kind, and what you consider the "most successful" one at that. Shouldn't it be the less successful ones getting attention and support because they need it more? Also, we should just be happy that a family is a loving one, regardless of its "structure", shouldn't we? I don't care if mom is a polygamist with three husbands and five kids so long as they can support themselves financially and the children get all of the love, support, and attention they need. I guess what I'm saying is, it's time for the politicians to let go of their "treasured" idea of a family, and start focusing on what a family actually is these days. If a kid has a parent or parents who are in fact good parents, it shouldn't matter if there is one dad, two dads, or no dad. Be a supporter of the loving family, not the "traditional" one.
William (all you need is love)
comments powered by Disqus