Two words: mandatory sterilization.
At puberty. For everyone. I know it’s fascist and I don’t care, because I know it’ll never happen so why not fantasize with my fascist fantasies? In a world that I ruled over with combat boots and common sense, things like this would never happen.
A Massachusetts high school is facing a pregnancy boom with 17 girls entering summer vacation expecting babies in what some have called a pregnancy pact.
Officials at Gloucester High School in Gloucester, Mass., are investigating whether half of the teens made a pact to get pregnant during the school year, Time.com reported.
Officials said that beginning last fall a large group of girls started asking the school clinic for pregnancy tests, the site said.
“Some girls seemed more upset when they weren’t pregnant than when they were,” principal Joseph Sullivan told Time.com.
The pregnancy rate at the 1,200-student school is four times higher than the previous year, and officials were shocked to learn that men in their 20s had fathered some of the babies, Time.com said.
“We found out one of the fathers is a 24-year-old homeless guy,” Sullivan told Time.com.
The Gloucester baby boom is forcing this city of 30,000 to grapple with the question of providing easier access to birth control, something this largely Catholic enclave is slow to embrace, the site said.
I bolded the money quotes, because that right there is all the explanation you need as to why this shit goes down. The adults have no clue.
It is obvious even to a disabled monkey that easier access to birth control would have no impact on a situation like this. These stupid children were trying to get pregnant. TRYING! Oh and by the way, other articles about this point out that most of these girls are 16 and younger.
I can’t possibly fathom why this situation is a mystery to anyone who is paying attention to popular culture. Frankly, I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often and on a grander scale.
We’ve allowed the rampant sexualization of girls all the way down to toddlers. Britney Spears’ little sister, star of a Nickelodeon show, had a baby this week at the age of 17. Read the article I linked to for that and notice how they act like this is good news and she’ll be such a great mom! OMG, like, she’s so fun!
The stigma of being a slut is gone, thanks to Paris Hilton and the like. You can be publicly KNOWN to be a drunken, STD-carrying, wildly promiscuous shit-for-brains and what will happen? You’ll get acting jobs, endorsement work, a fashion line, and hundreds of magazine covers.
If you have kids and you ever let them watch MTV - I mean ever - or half the other entertainment channels out there, you’re making a serious mistake. Have you seen what’s on there? I can’t even begin to describe it. I flip by sometimes and stop to see what kind of garbage they’re broadcasting to children, and I’m telling you as someone who doesn’t even have kids, it freaks me OUT.
More:
The girls who made the pregnancy pact—some of whom, according to Sullivan, reacted to the news that they were expecting with high fives and plans for baby showers—declined to be interviewed. So did their parents. But Amanda Ireland, who graduated from Gloucester High on June 8, thinks she knows why these girls wanted to get pregnant. Ireland, 18, gave birth her freshman year and says some of her now pregnant schoolmates regularly approached her in the hall, remarking how lucky she was to have a baby…
The high school has done perhaps too good a job of embracing young mothers. Sex-ed classes end freshman year at Gloucester, where teen parents are encouraged to take their children to a free on-site day-care center. Strollers mingle seamlessly in school hallways among cheerleaders and junior ROTC. “We’re proud to help the mothers stay in school,” says Sue Todd, CEO of Pathways for Children, which runs the day-care center.
Jesus H. Christ. Strollers in a high school? Here’s an idea: if there are so many of them that they need their own on-site daycare, create a separate school for them. I think everyone has completely lost touch with some of the positive effects of ostracizing people who do stupid, dangerous things. It’s not always bad to impose some shameful consequences, and if that’s one way to make these little psychos stop what they’re doing, then good.
This is one of the results of the fact that we’ve decided as a society that being “judgmental” is a horrible thing. Seems to me that people need to start being MORE judgmental. I’m doing it right now and it feels pretty good.
If you’re a 16-year-old girl and you have sex with a homeless man with the express PURPOSE of becoming pregnant, I am judging your ass off. Judge, judge, judging. I think you should be ashamed of yourself and that you should be embarrassed. Maybe feeling that way will help you learn a lesson that you so obviously need to learn.
I’m judging the parents, too, though not so much. Even the most well-intentioned parents can’t control everything their kid does, particularly in this day and age, but still, it would have been nice of them to teach their daughters some damn sense. I’m judging the school officials for making it so damn easy and convenient for girls to have babies before they graduate.
I’m judging the hell out of all the morons in that city who think the answer is easier access to birth control. Are they not paying any attention AT ALL? Are they missing the part about how this was a pact and these girls set out deliberately to get preggers?
They don’t want birth control, you fools! They want to have babies because they think that makes them cool and “lucky”. They’re stupid, stupid, stupid little children who have no moral compass and have come of age watching Paris and Britney whoring all over the front pages of magazines and getting wealthier by the day.
They have no concept of shame or of negative consequences. Society has failed them and now they’re going to pay the price, but not alone. Their babies will pay a portion and so will the taxpayers. (Note that the town they all live in is an economic disaster with no jobs, so you know most of these kids and their babies will end up on welfare.)
But that’s just me, and I’m judgmental. I sit here on my high horse and judge these poor naive children for being marauding narcissistic sluts, but what do I know? I was never “lucky” enough to give birth at age 16. I guess I’m just bitter and jealous because I had those burdensome ideas about “decency” and “having a future” and “not whoring myself out in order to be loved.”
God, I hate teenagers. I hated them when I was a little kid, I hated myself when I was one, and I hate them all now, forever and ever amen.
Politicaly incorrect and entirely accurate. The academics, in step with Hollywood, have destroyed our culture. Anything Christian is vilified while the poorest and most base behavior is celebrated. Choosing Corvettes over kids has proven to be a very wise decision.
June 20th, 2008 at 12:55 pmESTI…I just don’t know what to say.
June 20th, 2008 at 1:01 pmESTPreach on, sista Lukis!
June 20th, 2008 at 1:01 pmESTIt’s OK Thomas, I’m speechless too.
Maybe part of the problem is the lack of actual involvement from the parents. Parents are so wrapped up with their career, their social life, their friends that they just don’t give a crap what the kids do as long as it doesn’t get in the way of their next vacation to Aspen.
June 20th, 2008 at 1:03 pmESTWow, you just basically wrote what I was saying to my mother last night while we were watching this story on the news.
“ZOMG BABIES! They’re so cool! Let’s all have one. We’ll be mommies! That’s so hawt!”
Teenagers are stupid
June 20th, 2008 at 1:03 pmESTAmen, Rachel. Our society is suffering from a severe deficiency of shame and scorn.
June 20th, 2008 at 1:03 pmESTSpeaking of Jesus H. Christ, isn’t it really his mom’s fault for starting all of this? After all, she was 13 or 14 when she popped out our Lord and Savior.
June 20th, 2008 at 1:03 pmESTiowavette — *old knight from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade* You have chosen… ..wisely
June 20th, 2008 at 1:05 pmESTHa! A-fucking-men!
I agree with just about everything you’ve said Rachel. I can’t pretend to know what is going through the mind of today’s teenagers, but I can’t help but think that they would want to get pregnant precisely because their Catholic families can’t do anything about it (i.e. forcing them to get abortions or some such).
June 20th, 2008 at 1:07 pmESTI was hoping to hear your take, even if I didn’t think it would be so soon - I’ve just read the article on the newspaper.
Excellent point about the effects of the lack of judgements.
I shudder every time I remember these idiots are only 4-5 years younger than me.
Maya, the girl quoted there has also reported they said things like “my parents would be ok, my parents would help me” - yep, especially if they’re struggling financially.
June 20th, 2008 at 1:07 pmESTThey might not force them into abortions, but I do hope they do force them to grow up.
As I’ve said before, my mother gave birth to my youngest sister when I was 14. So, as a young teenager, I was living with the routine day-to-day care of an infant. You bet your bottom dollar that put me off EVER getting pregnant before I was darn good and ready (and married). This school has made it too easy to have a baby and still remain in school, with no stigma attached. Heads up, girls! Your free ride ends when you graduate, and that baby you had at 16 isn’t going to be the sweet little “someone to love me” that you always dreamed of when they turn 2. They call it the “terrible twos” for a reason.
During my sophomore year in high school, I was shuttling between local high schools to attend a class not offered at my high school. During these rides on the short bus (ha ha), I met students who were going to the “alternative” high school in the district - kids who had dropped out and returned, kids with other problems (mental, drug, etc.), and teenage mothers. One girl that I met was trying to finish her senior year at the alternative school, and she had an 18-month-old son (who was strapped into a car seat with her on the bus). Since I had a baby in the house at the time, we struck up a friendly acquaintanceship. Once, when we were discussing relationships and sex, I told her that I was determined not to date and to get through college before having children. She smiled sadly. “I wish I had done that” was her only comment. Which pretty much sums it up.
June 20th, 2008 at 1:10 pmESTFor the most part I agree, if we were talking about some other part of the country, like LA or NYC. But Gloucester is a pretty blue collar place. Of all the places in this country, I would hope a town like that still believes in keeping tabs on their children (if only for the sake of potential embarrassment from their actions).
June 20th, 2008 at 1:12 pmESTGreat, now hobos are reproducing.
Ace is gonna be furious.
June 20th, 2008 at 1:16 pmESTStuff like this really makes me feel validated in my beliefs. Mostly because while we’re not all perfect, most of us have a sense of decency and the ability to look at something and know that no matter what the rest of the world says, it is wrong.
In this day and age there is no excuse at all for approving of or enabling teenagers being pregnant. At least the teens of the old days were responsible. Nowadays there is a whole new age group of non-grown ups reaching well into the 20s and it’s considered normal. What the hell happened?
June 20th, 2008 at 1:17 pmESTGeek humor alert.
I have a friend who says she has no moral compass, but she does have a moral protractor.
And, as a father of a 21 year old girl and an almost 18 year old girl, I will back you up with a loud “AMEN, SISTER!” We made it a point of emphasis every time one of their classmates turned up pregnant to talk about how bright and full of possibilities their futures were and how limited their classmate’s choices would be from now on. Seemed to work.
Plus the fact that I try to reinforce the “boys are icky” concept every chance I get by modeling stereotypical behaviors (belching, scratching, farting, etc).
June 20th, 2008 at 1:17 pmESTOkay, time to do a study. How many of these kids will survive the 3a.m. squallering screeching barfing crapping phase of their lives? How many will be shaken syndrome? How many will be raised by grandparents? How many of these brats will want kids after these first ones?
How many of the school honchos will be there to help or to accept culpability?
June 20th, 2008 at 1:17 pmESTI think I’m going to be a harsher judge of the parents than you are Rachel:
and from the report here:
I get that parents can’t control everything their kids do, but this sounds like their parents haven’t given their daughters any kind of direction, or guidance, or discipline.
I’m going to sound like an old curmudgeon, but it seems like so many parents today give kids way too much freedom in the name of “not wanting to stifle their creativity” or other BS. It’s just little things, like cooking seperate dinners for their kids, and not making them eat what they don’t want to eat (with five kids, my mom never bothered to try and cater to our likes/dislikes. she made dinner, we all had to eat some of everything or go hungry), to not requiring them to behave in public-even during our occasional trips to McDonald’s, we were all required to sit at the table until we finished our food, no running around or crawling under the table was allowed.
And the fear of having to tell my parents I was pregnant was enough for me to keep my legs closed during high school. Of course it probably helped that I’m the oldest of 5, and my youngest sister was born when I was 12. I changed way too many diapers, starting when I was probably 8 or 9 to ever find it appealing.
June 20th, 2008 at 1:21 pmESTOr to put it another way, a stunning excess of tolerance.
But we must be tolerant, mustn’t we?
June 20th, 2008 at 1:23 pmESTShit, I’m moving to Massachusetts!! Hey, I’m a little old, but I can still compete with Homeless Hobos!!
On a more serious note, am I the only one not surprised that this happened in Kerry/Kennedy/Franks neck of the woods??
Later
June 20th, 2008 at 1:26 pmESTNo, we don’t have to be tolerant. Tolerant doesn’t mean that if I don’t like another person’s idea or agenda that I have to put up with it. Can I or should I beat the snot out of somebody for it? In the case of Fred Phelps, yes. But, my disagreement should probably take some other form. Since when did disagreement become “intolerance?”
And, Rachel, you aren’t judging the parents nearly enough. I have two children, 8 and 10, and find that I am a bit older than most of the other parents at their school. These girls dress like sluts because that’s how mommy dresses. They don’t have a clue!
June 20th, 2008 at 1:33 pmESTI’m more worried about neglect and poverty for these babies than outright abuse– in a fully-supported environment such as these girls have, abuse is somewhat less likely because (I’m guessing) most of them haven’t grown up with it, and because there’s always a “go-to” person for counseling, etc. But some degrees of neglect and poverty are likely, and transmission of bad judgement is too.
Oh, and not to hijack the thread, but “shaken baby syndrome” is a myth. A large body of scientific and engineering research says it’s just not possible. Check Google.
June 20th, 2008 at 1:47 pmESTHmmm…..You know, you’re all a lot of right. We are far too tolerant these days.
On one hand, I feel exceedingly sorry for these girls. How clueless/unworthy/unloved are you when you think that having a child is the way to go?
And on the other hand, I say if they made a pact to raise their children together, put them together to make it work. And when it doesn’t, take their children. Don’t give them to the girls’ parents, but rather, stick them in foster care on a fast track to adoption.
June 20th, 2008 at 1:48 pmESTWhile we are being religiously repulsive why not say that: Actually it’s Mohammad’s fault. He wanted his 7 year old wife to get pregnant.
June 20th, 2008 at 1:48 pmESTBeing raised in Northern California during and after all the Cal Berzerkley idiocy, I had front-row seats observing women getting married and pregnant or vice versa right out of high school. None of those marriages lasted and most of the women ended up living their lives channeling Charles Dickens. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize decisions have consequences. It also takes parents with spine to confront their kids with those consequences. My parents are tough, depression era Americans with morals and standards. Boomer parents were very weak. I suspect it will only get worse with the “X” and “Y” versions. How do we turn this boat around?
June 20th, 2008 at 1:48 pmESTTeenagers are terminally stupid. It’s amazing that they survive to adulthood - I include myself, as I did some really stupid things during those years.
But I never, ever wanted to become pregnant, even before my sister was born. I was 16 and having a baby around just confirmed to me that I was not ready for a kid. It didn’t help much that everywhere we went everyone thought that she was mine instead of Mom’s. That’s still the family joke.
There was only one teen pregnancy in my graduating class of 486 people - and the girl went to another school. She dropped out of school and married the father, who was a classmate of mine. I was shocked at the number of pregnant/young mothers at my daughter’s high school. And my younger daughter had a couple of pregnant classmates at her middle school.
*shudder*
You can’t always blame the parents. One girl I knew was ruled over with an iron hand by her parents - in college she had sex on the college grounds before going home after class. And more recently a friend of mine discovered that her 14 y/o had been sneaking out of the house at night to go see her 18 y/o boyfriend.
Both had unplanned pregnancies.
June 20th, 2008 at 1:49 pmESTI want to thank the feministas of the late 70’s for these results 30 years later. Why? Because, in the 70’s, they took what happened to poor black women in the ghetto and generalized it for all women. And, what is that? You don’t need a man and marriage to have a baby. All you need is sperm! Hence . . . a 24 year old homeless guy is the father of one of these Gloucester girls’ babies. And, what seems like a pact is nothing more than what feminism has been pushing for 30 years as a way of disassembling the power of the patriarchy and putting that “power” in the hands of women. No marriage, no man. Just a baby. And, Vermont has aided them by putting down “second parent” on birth certificates to replace “father.”
No wonder the Muslims hate us.
June 20th, 2008 at 1:56 pmESTWheeeee! Love it when you get all indignant!
June 20th, 2008 at 1:58 pmESTWhat, no colorful expletive? How disappointing. : (
Yeah, it’s pretty clear that teen pregnancy has gotten out of control when you have to add a day-care center to your local high school.
June 20th, 2008 at 2:09 pmESTMy local public high school, though not where I teach, has two nurseries, one for toddlers and one for infants. I understand the attempt is to keep girls in school through graduation, but the program has backfired. When a popular girl gets pregnant, it only serves to encourage her peers to emulate her. The underclass pops out a new generation every 15 years and the cycle repeats. One of my co-workers became a grandmother at 32.
Curiously, the same is true for lesbianism. When the popular girls begin to experiment, it becomes the cool thing to do. Where I teach we get periodic outbreaks of lesbianism on campus, though it’s usually a passing phase. Most of these girls bounce back and forth between male and female partners until nature runs its course and they settle for a male partner. So much for “I was born this way.” Sexuality is learned behavior. A society that is tolerant of homosexuality will see more of it.
Personally, I would like to have an anti-pregnancy week once each year. All female students will be required to lug around a fifteen pound sack of potatoes. But what to do to the boys? It’s time for legislation that makes a boy’s parents responsible for child support until he comes of age. If your dog bites someone, you get sued. But if your son knocks up a girl, or commits a crime, he goes to juvenile court for a slap on the wrist. Bullshit.
June 20th, 2008 at 2:11 pmESTHey, hey, hey. At least she was married.
June 20th, 2008 at 2:12 pmESTI worked in London for eight months when I was a younger man. As one of the few Yanks running around the office, I was given a great deal of grief for being a ‘colonial’. My usual response was, “Okay, okay. You guys can have Massachusetts back. Happy?”
This was said in jest, but the idea seems better and better as I get older. Don’t forget, this is the same state that gave us Teddy Kennedy. (Rachel - I’m sorry for using those last two words on your website. Such vulgar words should not be spoken in polite society. Apologies.)
June 20th, 2008 at 2:16 pmESTApotheosis wrote:
If you are referring to our disagreement in the Fred Phelps thread, I think you are deliberately misrepresenting my position.
In that thread, I used the term “tolerate” to mean “refrain from physically attacking”. At no point did I say that you must not disagree with Fred Phelps and his minions, or that you should not be allowed to express scorn and contempt for them. In fact, I made it clear that I have nothing but scorn and contempt for them.
It is misleading for you to equate disapproval with assault. And it is dishonest for you to imply that I did so.
June 20th, 2008 at 2:19 pmESTMS, Mary also lived in a time when all women got married when they were 13-14 years old. Times change. The problem is that biology hasn’t and men and women both reach sexual maturity before (sometimes way before) emotional maturity. Without shame and ostracism, it’s hard to see how events like this one can be prevented.
June 20th, 2008 at 2:21 pmESTNot work friendly, but the EOT reference and this thread made me think of this language:
June 20th, 2008 at 2:23 pmESTI wouldn’t be blaming the school all that much for making it too “easy” for previous teen mothers. We certainly need to bring back the concept of shame, but we shouldn’t let that cause us to unnecessarily condemn those who make a mistake to remain uneducated and ignorant for the rest of their lives. That benefits nobody and helps perpetuate the cycle of ignorance and poverty.
Now, blame the idiotic, moronic parents of these girls all you want. They’ve clearly never bothered to set real limits for their kids. The role of parents is to get the kid safely through the teenage years: alive, mostly un-marked, and childless. Sounds like these parents were the “I want to be my daughter’s best friend” sort, or at least the type that believed that “my daughter is perfect, so I’m never going to check up on her or ask her tough questions about where she’s going and with whom.”
Note that I’m not blaming ALL parents of teens who get pregnant. Some teens get pregnant the old-fashioned way, on accident because the condom broke or the hormones overtook common sense. You can’t lock your kid away or watch him or her every second. But here, these girls WANTED to get pregnant, and reveled in it. That’s a sign of bad, bad upbringing somewhere.
Oh, and while we’re busy condemning the stupid girls, let’s not forget the stupid, irresponsible guys (especially that 24-year-old homeless bum!) having unprotected sex with these girls. Let’s make sure they’re all on the hook for child support and an appropriate, supportive role in the child’s life for the next 18 years or so.
June 20th, 2008 at 2:25 pmESTYou’re nowhere near harsh enough on the parents, Rachel. No where near.
A good example set by parents will yield good kids more likely to make smart decisions regardless of age. 2 girls in my graduating class got married the summer after school; still married 21 years later. My mom got married at 17. Stayed married 42 years until my Dad died in 2001. Being young doesn’t neccesarily mean being a moron. IF you had a good upbringing.
On a side note: Anyone here ever see the movie Idiocracy? Everytime I get around a group of people who just think they are sooooo intelleigent and patting themselves on the backs for how smart they are that they don’t have any kids, I think of that movie. You should check it out. Just the first 10 minutes will do.
June 20th, 2008 at 2:25 pmESTGotta counter this one
My parents are (were, they grew out of it) Grade-A genuine hippies from SF, my dad especially since he grew up there. He has a sister whose a few years older than him. Their parents were pretty tough (I knew grandpa was a biggot, and the story is he drug my aunt down the hall by her hair when he found out she was dating a black guy)
Aaanyway, it may have been because they were tough that my dad and aunt didn’t get into serious trouble when they were teens. The most they did was sex and drugs, but babies never came of it. So, now in his twenties, dad marries my mom, they hang out doing hippie stuff for a while, he goes to trade school and apprentices for a plumber. He now owns his own business, is ready to retire at 60, and made a lot of money from all his hard work. My aunt is still hippie burnout, so my point is the Baby Boomer generation wasn’t all bad. But, even for being a hippie-burnout, she had three kids at a normal time (not teens) and they all turned out pretty well.
June 20th, 2008 at 2:35 pmESTHey Rachael, watch the movie Idiocracy. I just got it in my netflix and watched it last night. Its a great illustration of where this leads.
It may make you want babies though to help us save the world.
June 20th, 2008 at 2:35 pmESTMy children are not my friends.
My children are my children.
As such, they will do as they are told until they pay their own bills and develop some semblance of common sense.
I am the totalitarian dictator of my little corner of the universe.
Stalin Karat.
Knowing this, they are so terrified at the prospect that I will ship them off to military school and raise the child as my own that their sex organs have ceased to function in a manner conducive to reproduction. They are sterroralized.
I mean it, and they know it. They don’t want to subject their own children to my influence.
And if the economy tanks and I can’t afford military school, I have an empty grain bin.
June 20th, 2008 at 2:42 pmESTThe reason why we’re seeing this problem is that the people smart enough to raise responsible children aren’t reproducing. [/snark]
I’m frustrated right now. I just graduated from high school a week ago, and there were more sophomores getting pregnant than seniors. Because the senior boys knew that the senior girls weren’t stupid, so they’d take advantage of the insecurities of girls that are into their first year of high school. “It’s hotter to do it without protection,” was actually discoursed to me in the middle of a PE class. This moronic, stupid, senior boy thought that sex without protection was HOTTER. I nearly bashed him over the head with my racquet. You know what else is hot? Three AM feedings and wailing crying all. the. flipping. time.
What about the fathers of these babies? Where do they step in? And, if in fact they are so much older than these girls, shouldn’t they have known better?
Oh, I can hear my cynical journalism adviser in my ear now, the boys aren’t going to care. They aren’t going to do anything. The girls should just know better.
So if the boys know better and don’t care, can’t we castrate them too?
If only.
June 20th, 2008 at 2:44 pmESTSounds like this Idiocracy movie is loosely based on an old science fiction short story: The Marching Morons by Cyril Kornbluth. Good story.
June 20th, 2008 at 2:44 pmEST
“They want to have babies because they think that makes them cool and “lucky”. ”
I disagree - they want to have babies because they want someone to love them. I watch this phenomenon a lot, since my mother had me at 14. Babies love unconditionally, and they can’t see past anything but that.
You know… this stuff was pretty common a few decades ago. Even after the hight of birth control. It isn’t all that new, and it isn’t because of the internet or Brit’nay. It is only unusual because its a cluster of girls.
This will always happen - despite social norms.
June 20th, 2008 at 2:47 pmESTDearRachel,
1. Sounds like someone has a serious case of preggers-envy to me.
2. And these morons will be able to vote in a couple of short years.
3. I saw an ad last night for a new “reality” TV show in which teenage couples “borrow” real live babies and have to “parent” them for some amount of time. Finally a TV show that should have some positive effects on culture! When the next group of addle-pated girls is thinking about making a pregnancy pact, maybe they will watch this show and realize that having an infant is not easy (for those who can not afford au pairs).
v/r
June 20th, 2008 at 2:52 pmESTmike
And to make matters worse, that’s 16 babies who will, in all likelihood, have to grow up without fathers. No nasty societal implications there, right?
Meanwhile, in the UK, there’s been an explosion in abortions among the u14 crowd.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1316596.ece
Their solution? Faster and easier abortions! Money quote:
But others welcomed the fact that abortions were being performed earlier.
Health Minister Dawn Primarolo said: “Our priority is to reduce the time women wait at a difficult time.”
Ann Furedi, of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said: “Much more needs to be done to improve earlier access to abortion.”
June 20th, 2008 at 3:04 pmESTRaving Lunatic & Jeff,
I saw Idiocracy too, and man it’s not that hard to see us heading that way. Society would have fallen apart by the time the stage in the movie came to pass IMHO, but you can see 3 generations starting at the boomers, that we’re on track for stupidity.
June 20th, 2008 at 3:08 pmESTThe Boston/Mass area has been a hotbed of progressive thought/actions for a very long time.
June 20th, 2008 at 3:16 pmESTThe state that voted for McGovern, 72.
These preggers are just helping to develop “raised by the village” policies.
Plus the fact that I try to reinforce the “boys are icky” concept every chance I get by modeling stereotypical behaviors (belching, scratching, farting, etc).
Just be careful about unintended consequences. Years ago, I heard a female comedian talk about how when she was growing up, she was constantly told, “Stay away from boys. Boys are bad. Boys only want one thing.”
She said that’s why she became a lesbian.
June 20th, 2008 at 3:16 pmESTIt was still a “shotgun wedding.”
June 20th, 2008 at 3:17 pmESTExcept I think girls like this have parents that refuse to let them fail or experience any difficulty with anything. It’s the curse of the new generation: parents who baby their kids through everything, giving them a sense of entitlement and absolutely no concept of consequences for their actions.
June 20th, 2008 at 3:20 pmESTThey should have to wear a scarlett R, for retard.
June 20th, 2008 at 3:26 pmESTGotta agree with you, Rachel…
And I’m with you big time on this whole Judgemental = Bad thing. I am so sick and tired of hearing words like “Judgemental” or “Arrogant” or “Racist” bandied about as if they were garlic and holy water pressed into service against a vampire.
Our oh-so “progressive” and “tolerant” brethren have rendered these favorite brickbat words nearly meaningless. They wouldn’t know real racism if it swam up and bit them in the ass, let alone recognize their very own not so well-camoflaged versions of it. They equate any pride of place percieved to be held by those they disagree with to a nearly Ozymandias-like arrogance. Yet they fail to recognize just how high they’ve piled their own monuments of smug, righteous, self-satisfaction. And they conflate having even the barest essentials of good judgement and morals with the natterings of crook-fingered busybodies and religious fundamentalists. This, all the while they seek to interfere with just about every aspect of our daily lives and embrace their new eco-religion with a zealotry usually associated with inquisitions and intifadas.
Or to put it another way, they love to scream “Stay out of our wombs and out of our bedrooms, you dirty-minded, puritanical, theo-cons!” But they are the first ones in line to tell us what to think, who/what we should worship/not worship, what we can say, what we should drive, where we should live, how big our houses are allowed to be and in what manner we may heat or cool them, how many children we should have and by what birthing method, what we can eat, whether we can have pets and what medical procedures they must undergo, what coffee is moral, what lightbulbs must be bought, what holidays we may celebrate and how, what ways we can and cannot defend ourselves, what sports we may enjoy and what mascots are acceptable, how many sheets of toilet paper we should use per bathroom visit, which stores we shop at are venal and which are pure, and which marriages are beautiful and should be encouraged as opposed to which marriages are divorce-destined shams or patriarchal prisons.
This is the same mentality that thinks abortion is “pro-woman”, even as it is being used to selectively eliminate generations of females in countries like India and China. This is the same mentality that berates Hugh Hefner for oppressing women through “porn”, yet sits idly by while the “entertainment” and “fashion” industries have taken to sexualizing our children at younger and younger ages. This is the same mentality that creates a school policy that requires a parent’s express permission to have an aspirin dispensed to a child with a headache, but will pass out condoms and even help a pregnant minor get an abortion without parental consent. This is the same mentality that thinks that welfare is a decent substitute for family, education, and gainful employment. And this is the same mentality that just can’t wait to get its hands on the reins of power, the better to throw out all those fascist bastards and start implementing some new laws to force people to do what’s “right”!
So, is it any wonder that these same fooles would think they were doing a greater service to these stupid teenaged girls by offering more birth control (Hello! Barn door wide open, horse gone!), and better in-school daycare (Why, yes! As a member of the public, I would LOVE to subsidize these kids’ asinine decisions some more!), than teaching them that it isn’t cute, fun, or remotely desireable to be popping out the babies at 15?
Ya know, I don’t know which is a better idea at this point… trying to buy up a franchise of handbasket concession stands or simply set up a lawn chair with a little umbrella to sell sightseeing maps to hell? Either way, if this shit keeps up, it might be the last way to get rich.
June 20th, 2008 at 3:30 pmESTWhile I agree that our culture has degenerated at the hands of britney/paris worship, I don’t know how much of that is to blame for this. If you think about it, as humans we’re hardwired to have sex/spit out babies at those girls’ age. In fact, up until recent history, girls were routinely having children at that age or younger. Perhaps they were just giving into their biological urges for motherhood. Granted, I’m sure peer pressure played a significant part. Also they went about doing so in the dumbest way possible.
June 20th, 2008 at 3:33 pmESTI thought Apotheosis was being sarcastic. ??
I have two nieces who had kids out of wedlock. One is still living with her parents at age 20-something, having lost the baby-daddy somewhere along the way (he was a putz anyway — I met him once, think Butterbean without the charm). The other has her own apartment, with the daughter, and is now expecting the second child by the same guy who she declares she is never going to marry but apparently he’s good enough to bang and lives with them so maybe he’s helping out with the rent, also.
Sheez.
The niece who’s living on her own, sort of, when she announced she was expecting, her parents greeted the whole thing as if it were an early Christmas present. I didn’t get it then, and I don’t get it now. She’s never going to be any further up on the socio-economic scale than she is right now. If I thought I’d reached the pinnacle of my life at 20-something with a child and a baby on the way and an obnoxious jerk live-in boyfriend who couldn’t keep a job (and he can’t), I’d have opened a vein.
June 20th, 2008 at 3:36 pmESTThis is the second time that my end all solution is coming to light… drum roll…
NEUTER THE FUCKING KIDS!!!!!!
If they want kids for fucking bad, let them go thru the pain and financial burden of reversing the proceedure and I guarenfuckingtee that these little shitheads will think twice about having kids. lets see how “Cool” getting pregnant is then. FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, I am better now.
June 20th, 2008 at 3:47 pmESTI knew we were in trouble when they (I don’t know exactly who “they” refers to, but probably some persons) started decorating baby girls by gluing pink headbands and bows on their bald heads.
http://thebowlady.com/infant-baby-headbands-with-small-size-bows.html
I said to myself, “That doesn’t make them look the least bit sexy. Okay, maybe just a little.” [That was the funny part, right there.]
After that you had little girl beauty pageants with those kids wearing so much make up they looked like Tammy Faye Baker during a hurricane. [I liked Ol' Tammy Faye. Didn't take herself too seriously.]
http://www.kevo.com/thumbs/m/2j/Tammy_Faye_Bakker_closeup_2005-750_750.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeGBFgNxewc
And the final outcome? Nancy Pelosi and Michelle Obama.
http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/nancy_pelosi.jpg
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/00667/michelle-obama-404_667764c.jpg
It always happens…
You start with bald, bow-headed babies and you end up with an infestation of harpies.
http://monsters.monstrous.com/harpies.htm
June 20th, 2008 at 3:52 pmESTI had to sit here and read all the comments before I could breathe properly — my brain was filled with a wordless scream!
Not when, BECAUSE! If these little twats had parents who had taught them that not only the teen mother but her infant was at a disadvantage, and that if they ever got pregnant, adoption would be the only recourse, do you think they’d go through with it? If their parent(s) (it does make one wonder about the presence or absence of the fathers of these selfish little idiots) weren’t stupid enough to take ultimate responsibility for their grandchildren — were not, on some level, gratified by the prospect of grandchildren — would they be so eager to conceive?
A “24-year-old homeless guy?” Dear God in Heaven — we’re doomed!
June 20th, 2008 at 3:56 pmESTI wonder if The Learning Channel has backed a truckload of money and diapers up to each of the 17 front doors, yet, to lay the groundwork for the special in a few years: ‘Join us as The Gloucester 17 prepare for their first day at kindergarten!’ and treat the mommies like they’re freakin’ heros.
June 20th, 2008 at 4:19 pmESTYes, “We need to give the poor dears more sex education!!!” is always the answer, isn’t it?
Never mind that the average 12 year-old in either the US or the UK probably already knows more about sex than I do. Give them sex education by all means, but teach them about consequences and self-respect, too - the fact that 15 year-old Chantelle from 5C has had more sexual partners than you isn’t necessarily something for her to boast about. She almost certainly has more sexually transmitted diseases, too.
TheBlackSpot, I have experience of that kind of thing myself. I once had to go to my stepdaughter’s school (I’m separated from her mother now and awaiting divorce, but I’ll still always see her as my stepdaughter) to deliver a couple of painkillers because she was suffering from period pains and the school wasn’t allowed to give them to her. If she’d had sex and wanted the morning-after pill though, there would have been no questions asked and even her mother wouldn’t have been informed.
June 20th, 2008 at 4:25 pmESTI, too, hate teenagers. (Simon Cowell voice): Sorry! but I do.
If only the girls had harnessed all that angst-y energy toward — oh I don’t know — a pact to get on Honor Roll and stay there and then apply for and receive full academic scholarships to Tier 1 colleges.
Way to dream big, girls. Way to dream big.
June 20th, 2008 at 4:29 pmESTWhat the shit?
Now, some facts about Gloucester:
… and some demographics …
…socioeconomics …
The national averages for 2007 were $46,326 and 12.6%.
… pray tell, what is this town itself like …
So now that we have ruled out the bullshit, …
Looking for someone to love them? This is so laughable it borders on the asinine. That is not the issue. The issue is that their frigging parents need to have taken some classes before the children were in strollers so they could have learned to be decent parents!
I am officially naming this “Gen ELB” for entitled little bastards!
ggrrr
June 20th, 2008 at 4:51 pmESTI can’t say that I’m shocked, this sorta thing is going on closer than you think. While being a cop in a Texas town of 30k people, I answered a call where two 14 year old girls were fighting. They were fighting because one of the girls had gotten pregnant first. The other girl had gotten jealous and they ended up squabbing it out.
I have to agree that its the sexualization of teenage girls our culture with the lack of consequences it forces on people for bad behavior that led us here. Seriously, how old was Britney when she did the “Baby, baby” (or whatever that song was called) video where she was prancing around in the naughty schoolgirl outfit? I don’t think she was even 18 yet.
Anyway, don’t worry about the non-pregnant girl in my story. She caught up and got pregnant too, I think before she even made it to 15.
June 20th, 2008 at 5:03 pmESTCan anyone explain to me how is this any of our business? Other then if they get on the public dole. Live and let live.
June 20th, 2008 at 5:13 pmESTAm I wrong for thinking that the homeless guy must’ve thought he’d hit the friggin’ lottery. She probably went back a couple of times just to make sure the sperm “made it.”
Oh, by the way, Mr. Homeless guy? That’s statutory rape in a civilized society. Except that in a society without morals, which is the type Sue Todd want to foment, his spermination is most likely considered “pubic service.”
All I need to know about Pathways for Children is found in it’s footer: United Way and the Providers Council–whose site has a bunch of picketers on it asking for higher pay. Welfare Nannyism. No accountability. No families. The government will take care of all your problems and do away with the stigma all in one fell swoop.
Thanks!
June 20th, 2008 at 5:18 pmESTThank you, Freedomlover, for demonstrating exactly the attitude that allows situations like this to happen in the first place.
Social ostracism isn’t just something all us social conservative prudes made up to keep everyone else from having fun. It helps preserve an orderly society.
It IS our business that 17 girls were conspiring together to get pregnant on purpose just so they would have someone in their lives that loves them unconditionally. If the parents or teachers of these girls had decided it was THEIR business, this might not ever have happened at all.
June 20th, 2008 at 5:27 pmESTmightysamurai: Nicely put. I wholeheartedly agree.
June 20th, 2008 at 5:28 pmESTThe situation is bad enough, but when the discussion goes off on a tangent concerning the availability of birth control in this high school, I just shake my head.
Those little morons not only had no interest in preventing pregnancy, they were actively trying to get pregnant. A school nurse could have crammed a diaphram up each of their hoohaws and the result would have been the same because it would have been removed in a New York minute.
These girls and their parents should be publicly shamed for being the idiots they are.
June 20th, 2008 at 5:41 pmESTI knew someone would try this stunt. Who’s to blame for this moral failing? Why the Bush economy!!
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2008/06/20/evening-news-blames-economic-depression-gloucester-pregnancy-pact
June 20th, 2008 at 5:56 pmEST“This is so laughable it borders on the asinine. That is not the issue.”
Not to be defensive - but how do you know?
I’m always highly amused when the middle class get their panties in a bunch and act like they know why this is happening. You don’t.
It is much more complicated than one blog spot can map out. Their children aren’t doomed to welfare. Often, the women turn out to be tax pay’in productive citizens. And believe me - just because you want to blame it on TV - it just isn’t so.
I doubt statistics would even back you up. Teenage birthrates ticked down more than 30% in 30 years. Now because it’s up a couple percent all of a sudden people have their panties in a bunch?
Is it the most favorable situation. Nope. It’s really really hard. But the world isn’t coming to an end because of it.
June 20th, 2008 at 5:59 pmESTStereotype busted.
Let’s see …
Parents never married. Check.
EDIT: Center portion removed by author
Child now attending pre-med. Check.
Oh, I know, sugar buns.
The last thing I wanted to do was bring a child into my shithole of a life so it could suffer as it “loved me unconditionally”. That’s what pet tarantulas are for. However, I chose to have her, and in spite of the stigma and hard work I have never regretted it.
Yes, I do believe I have a pretty good feel for why this is happening, I work with this age group every day. Some are entitled little snot nose shits who have never worked or suffered a day in their lives, and are thus clueless to the fact that they are a complete waste of oxygen.
Strollers in the hallways? Diaper bags instead of bookbags? Fuck that. Restigmatize pre-teen pregnancy, ship their asses off to a special boarding school and let them play mommy there. I don’t want those bitches around my daughters — and especially nowhere near my son.
I didn’t blame TV, and I didn’t say the world was coming to an end. Please direct your comments at those who did. I simply pointed out facts about the town where this is taking place, because I assumed people would extrapolate those facts into a logical conclustion that this isn’t a bunch of poverty stricken, abused and neglected minority inner-city teenage ghetto hos looking to score a quick welfare buck.
June 20th, 2008 at 6:21 pmESTI vividly remember some years back, caring for an 18 year old for a diagnostic laparoscopy. The reason on the paperwork (so the insurance would pay) was pelvic pain. However the patient told us that the real reason was that she had been unable to get pregnant and was starting an infertility work up. No, of course she wasn’t married.
The other thing that has been touched on in a couple of comments is the whole lack of daddy in the picture. It really irritates me that daddies are seen as unnecessary. I think there are lots of reasons for that, and it’s a whole other topic. But, I’m going to make a real leap here and make an educated guess that these babies will not have a lot of fatherly influcnce. And that’s a shame. The children are much poorer for not having two loving parents.
June 20th, 2008 at 6:21 pmESTThe basic problem is already identified. when being “judgmental” became bad, we had already lost the battle - the root of the word judgmental is judgment, when it becomes bad for adults to exercise judgment it doesn’t leave much room to correct stupidity.
June 20th, 2008 at 6:40 pmESTWell well. It seems you disapprove of my gambit.
Tell me, how much weight do you think your disapproval carries? How much do you think it’ll change me, in the long run? Especially when your approval is neither particularly valued nor sought.
I can be an irresponsible slanderous asshole all day, and the only consequence is a complete stranger will waggle his finger at me? Tell me that’s not a pretty sweet deal.
Just so: Phelps doesn’t care whether you or me or anyone else in society disapproves, and neither do these girls. They thrive on it, they get to be rebellious and outrageous without risk. They never will give two shits as long as there’s no concrete consequence, because they know there’s enough “tolerant” people out there that they’ll come out ahead of the game.
No, I don’t have an answer. I wish I did. But disapproving looks and rueful head-shaking isn’t going to fix the problem anymore.
June 20th, 2008 at 6:43 pmESTThose babies are just one more possession to have, like the newest cell phone or a designer purse. Except there’s no upfront cost to get a baby. And hey, since it’s actually the baby itself who will end up paying in the long run, what a great deal—free babies!
June 20th, 2008 at 6:50 pmEST“Stereotype busted.”
Honestly - I think you are more proving my point than disproving it. Even though you were under-age, you and your child became productive members of society.
Although, becoming pregnant through rape (as terrible as that is) is not in the same mind-set of a teenager who sets out specifically to get pregnant. It’s a completely different psychology.
Still hard make no mistake about it.
June 20th, 2008 at 6:53 pmESTWhen did these go out of style?
Maybe we could sew in a hidden gusset for comfort and convenience.
June 20th, 2008 at 6:53 pmESTAnd you think of all the couples who spend *thousands* trying to get pregnant…..
June 20th, 2008 at 6:56 pmESTI was responding to this, not proving your “point”.
Don’t even put people like me in the same sentence as these entiled little whores.
June 20th, 2008 at 6:57 pmESTI don’t think you can entirely rule out the influence of TV, Hollywood, etc. I’ve known my share of people overtaken by hormones, but it’s disgusting just how much the entertainment industry glamorizes bed hopping and the child-as-a-fashion-accessory.
I mean, what do you see when you turn on the TV or pop in a DVD nowadays? Lots of people joking about having casual sex and how it’s no big deal. Call me a prude, but I don’t think sex should be a casual thing. But when you see that day in and day out it’s bound to alter your thinking. Same thing with children. What was the last movie you saw with a normal, energetic, misbehaving child? The only ones I can think of off the top of my head involve the kids driving babysitters insane but being perfect little angels for their parents.
I love my niece to death, but I know full well what she’s capable of when she’s pissed about something and I flat out can’t handle temper tantrums. If these girls think it’ll be as easy as it is in a movie to calm the kids down, they’ve got another thing coming. Whatever they were thinking when they decided they wanted to get pregnant, they’re going to learn really soon it’s not as simple as they thought it was (unless their parents do the recent typical thing and drop everything to make sure their precious daughters experience no hardship.
Please note I’m not saying it’s all the entertainment industry’s fault, I’m just saying you can’t completely rule it out as a factor here.
June 20th, 2008 at 7:11 pmEST“Don’t even put people like me in the same sentence as these entiled little whores.”
Wow….
That is a ton of misdirected anger. You realize - I didn’t do anything of he sort. Right You were the one who seemed to want to group yourself with them. Even though honestly, I didn’t think your situation was comparable. Even then, I thought I was pretty respectful to you.
I do however find it amazingly fascinating that you completely censored your first reply to me. And I have to tell you, I’ll leave it at that. I’m in a generous mood. Don’t push me.
June 20th, 2008 at 7:35 pmESTMisdirected anger? Whatever do you mean? This is simply a request that you not put me in a sentence with entitled whores.
Beg to differ. That is indeed a sentence.
I removed a portion of my post because I have recently been the target of some unpleasantness. Not that my actions require explanation.
You asked me how I knew, and out of respect for your inquiry I responded. After you replied, I removed what I found to be overly personal.
Group myself with them … riggght. That’s exactly what I was doing when I made the oh so godawful mistake of revealing that I didn’t originate from the middle class and my ability to empathize with others who don’t.
Push you? I don’t even know you, so why would I remotely care whether you got mad enough for your cerebellum to explode in a horrific spray of grey matter particles from your facial crevasses?
June 20th, 2008 at 7:48 pmESTYes we are. Although I may have ‘grown up’ a little. Blame it on making one’s own money. Booze, cigarettes, girlfriends, junk food, and “contraband” is expensive. A wife and/or baby is somewhere along the lines of “cost a fooking fortune”. The money could be better spent on books, CDs, guns, real food, and that ’saddest bee’ mug I’ve been eyeing for the longest time.
That is the most metal life lesson I’ve ever heard….
June 20th, 2008 at 8:09 pmESTWell, it’s time.com. So you have to take it with a grain of salt. Or maybe a whole salt mine.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:21 pmESTI nominate you for Secretary of Rational Moral Outrage in the upcoming Republic of Texas elections.
Vote ~Paules — “Potato sacks for girls, nut-vises for boys”
June 20th, 2008 at 8:53 pmEST…negative consequences…
I’m all about negative consequences…but I’m mean and unenlightened like that.
June 20th, 2008 at 9:05 pmESTTo 14 Karat,
I read your original post, and don’t want to be intrusive (you un-posted for a reason), but I do want you to know that it mattered to me—you took something that was broken through no fault of your own, and you made it whole through sheer force of will. Good on you and then some.
June 20th, 2008 at 10:04 pmESTWelcome to our stupid, self obsessed world, young lady.
June 20th, 2008 at 10:04 pmESTRachel,
The current entertainment industry is following the original descent, not leading it.
40 years ago, a girl riding in a car in Texas, with bare feet on the dash, would cause the guy driving to be arrested, and convicted, of statutory rape.
People talk about how allowing same-sex marriages devalues marriage. Bull puckey. What devalues marriage is that we stopped enforcing the religious restrictions against divorce, adultery, and fornication. Legally we stopped enforcing laws against adultery, abandonment, and statutory rape.
A girl is pregnant at 16? Fine. The story isn’t complete until you tell me the name of the father that is now serving time. Until the community wants to prosecute those involved, I say just stand back and watch them wring their hands and gnash their teeth.
A girl that gets her sex partner put in jail might have a tough time finding another date.
Personally, the approach I favor is passing a law that makes giving birth an act of marriage. That is, you wheel the teen mother-to-be into the delivery room. The kid takes it’s first breath, and *boom*, Momma is now married and Dad just has to be located - and assets allocated accordingly. I would round out the process by replacing divorce with ‘termination of marriage by abandonment’. Anyone could walk away at any time. But they abandon all parental rights, and it would be a federal felony to take any assets at all, even pocket change. That would leave the teen mothers set up a bit, and reduce the allure of casual sex.
As for Gloucester, I imagine the more positive thinkers will consider extending sex-ed down to 5th grade, and include family planning. Maybe lab time in the onsite day care. Make sure they all, boys and girls, know about changing diapers, hemorrhoids, pregnancy-induced diabetes, etc.
Oh, and publish the names of the fathers every time the girl’s stroller rolls down the hall.
June 21st, 2008 at 12:31 amESTDepends on the state law and age of consent. This varies GREATLY. I offer, in deference to the physical location of our most gracious hostess, Texas statute in re: statuatory rape law:
FYI, the age of consent in Texas is 17. In South Carolina, the old adage “if they can bleed they can breed” is in effect. In case you are concerned, here is the age of consent in your state.
The definition in itself is so obtuse that I would personally be disinclined to prosecute without defense representation, and who the hell can afford that cost short of true innocents who are facing personal hell in the death-penalty-friendly-Texas penal system.
I am certain you are at this point inclined to bandy about the concept of prosecution by the state as a result of law violation. Here’s your state appointed; hope he’s not overwhelmed with his pending death penalty case.
Anecdotal evidence indicates that this is futile, as it typically involves the testimony of the minor in question, who at that point, barring strong parental intervention, is inclined to hope for the best.
Thus, between the ill-defined nature of state statuate and reluctance of the witness, you ultimately end up with welfare babies.
June 21st, 2008 at 1:05 amESTSweeping generalizations.
June 21st, 2008 at 1:22 amESTYou’re doing it wrong.
Mary in crotchless panties.
People wonder why there’s a growing gap between rich and poor. Let’s see: some people study for 20 years and learn how to make iPhones, while others sleep with homeless guys before their 18th birthday.
Of course, that can’t be the explanation — it would piss off too many voters. I blame the oil companies.
June 21st, 2008 at 2:25 amESTThe fathers of these babies are going to be very surprised when the welfare agencies come after them to recover the costs of providing welfare to the mothers. The only guy who might “luck out” is the homeless guy.
June 21st, 2008 at 9:51 amESTStill, Iowavette does have a point.
Trends in Hollywood and academia follow American culture, but they can also guide and direct it. To say they are totally at fault is wrong, but to say they played no role at all is just as wrong.
June 21st, 2008 at 10:01 amESTAgreed.
However, I am involved with many academics who find the current political situation abhorrent.
I also find it funny because, for me, academia has recently involved working with crop and soil scientists.
The closest they possibly come to influencing American culture is when they say the word “angiosperm” in public.
June 21st, 2008 at 10:08 amESTThe point was not that the world would come to an end because teenage girls had gotten pregnant and decided to keep their babies. I’m pro choice, so obviously, to my way of thinking, if a girl becomes pregnant for whatever reason, I’m not going to complain about her decision to give that baby a life!
The point was that a world where it is considered socially acceptable amongst their peer group that these girls should have made a conscious decision, as a group, to deliberately choose that “really really hard” upbringing for their children and themselves — a world where teen pregnancy is so normalized as to be considered not only acceptable, but desirable? — is a royally screwed up world!
14k Says:
Damn right!
I’m late to this part of the thread (and have to run off again in a minute — I hate drive-by posting!), but even with the deletion, I can see where you’ve been. Damn!
Anybody who can read this thread and think that your incredible, hard-won success in the face of overwhelming odds supports an argument for complacency??? Lost cause.
Pre-med, eh? Crushed, crushed that stereotype, Awesome Woman!
June 21st, 2008 at 12:06 pmESTwatchel, you run for office. you do it now.
June 21st, 2008 at 12:25 pmESTWhile I don’t know all the details, I think this indicates that it is time to seriously examine the idea of sex education through the schools. My reasons:
1) I have trouble with the idea that teachers and administrators who cannot instill basic literacy over twelve years are qualified to teach anything as subtle as the nuances of human sexuality.
2) I am disturbed time and time again at accounts of sex ed classes in which the teacher insists that the students take active part in conversations about intimate sexual fantasies. This strikes me as questionable at the junior-high and highschool level, and smacks of child sexual abuse at the grade school level.
3) As late as the 1970’s there may have been an argument for the theory that if the cold facts were explained to them the little teen darlings would make wise choices. now, thirty years later, we are frankly at the point of “We tried that. It didn’t work. Time to go back to the last thing that worked better.”
June 21st, 2008 at 12:30 pmESTIt seems pretty obvious that it has nothing to do with regional differences. Don’t go bashing the state that John Adams hails from. It’s a national cultural problem on a monumental scale. Most every problem in our society stems from idiots like these girls. Just imagine the offsprng of thier precious little daughters in 14-15 years. I know this part of the country and most of these girls could not locate Aspen on a map. They have big dreams of visiting Florida, as if it is some far away paradise. The solution is too complex, it is the erosion of the whole societal framework. No religion, no civic pride, no value for a father, intellect is not valued, it’s simply not cool.
June 21st, 2008 at 12:36 pmESTRead Tom Wolfes “I am Charlotte Simmons” and it will scare the shit out of you, because it is hauntingly accurate. It is a huge problem and it pisses me off to no end because I love this country and I do my best to not witness it’s decline. Chat with any liberal and they will explain blissfully how it is going down. I think they hate life, they hate their own nature and they want the country destroyed. I would like to see a pecture of one of these retards. My bet is that they are fat, slovenly, slut-pigs. Bring back shame and scorn. no more accomodating these bastards with more programs.
While watching the film Juno–hilarious and thought-provoking and altogether well done–it struck me that much of our society assumes kids will become sexually active in their teen years but scorns them when they get pregnant. They called pregnant Juno the “cautionary whale.”
June 21st, 2008 at 1:49 pmEST[As Rachel channels Osama]
June 21st, 2008 at 8:00 pmESTIt’s the one thing about which the filthy cretin is dead-on. No,no, not YOU, Rachel — OBL!
Janir said:
Yes, and the horrifying part of the trend is that the current one is hell-bent on electing a clueless Boy-Wonder who will do his utmost to accelerate the defining-of-deviancy-down [being the useful idiot he is].
June 21st, 2008 at 8:50 pmESTI live in Gloucester - It’s not actually a strange place. This could be happening anywhere in America.
Although they have daycare at the school, that’s not all that uncommon. Normally they only have 3-4 babies there. We don’t have “strollers in the hallways”. The babies are kept separate from the rest of the school. I suppose an unintended consequence of providing such services may be that girls find it easier to get pregnant, but I don’t think this kind of increase is due to that, otherwise, we would be seeing numbers like this all of the time.
I think this story took off because it’s striking a chord with people. They realize that what we’ve been doing with birth control and sex education isn’t really addressing all the problems that teenagers can get into. It’s nice to think that if we just design the right program, then all our kids will turn out all right, but teenagers will persist in being morons despite our best efforts.
June 21st, 2008 at 9:12 pmESTBrad, let me see if I have this straight. A 16 year old female chooses to intentionally get pregnant (i.e. consensual sex) and the male who has sex with her should do time? One would think that this story - of all stories - would do away with that “evil male took advantage of a poor little innocent girl” bullsh*t.
FYI - I am the father of (and have sole custody of) my 3 teenaged daughters. So I think I bring a somewhat unique perspective to this. What would my daughters say about this (after they finished laughing at their incredible stupidity)? Most likely “dumb sluts” and other similar comments.
The culture is a a strong negative force, but if you parent well/properly, the odds are still in our favour that your kid turns out ok.
Oh, and Rachel, my daughters have watched MTV and all sorts of garbage for many years. Yet, they were somehow able to differentiate between the garbage they saw versus how to properly live their lives. I wonder why that is? Answers: the parents, the upbringing, the home environment, etc.
Is it possible that great parents doing everything they can still produce a messed-up kid? Certainly. But it is NOT probable.
Rachel, you’re right that the parents in that article don’t understand, but neither do most of your commenters. In most (not all) cases, the problem isn’t “out there” - it’s “in here”.
We all watched Juno. But when we discussed it, we all understood that while it was funny on one level it was very disturbing and sick on another. Funny how all the garbage WE watched as kids - all those movies and TV shows full of violence - didn’t make us violent adults. So far, I’ve managed not to kill, blow up, etc., anything or anyone in my life despite the millions of images depicting those acts which I saw throughout my childhood.
The parents have the greatest impact (if they parent well). The kids who do not have hands-on, loving, responsible parents and who are left alone for great periods of time (whether it be at home or outside of the home) are the ones most vulnerable to the damaging “surrogates”.
One more thing. A society that makes it EASY for people to do irresponsible things encourages more of the same irresponsible behavior. Duh.
June 21st, 2008 at 10:55 pmESTOh really? Then I wonder why I had to appear at the trial of a father who’s child died from being shaken? I’m a 911 dispatcher. He admitted to to me that he had shaken the infant and the baby was DOA when I got the medics there.
Must be one hell of a myth.
June 21st, 2008 at 11:24 pmEST“guess I’m just bitter and jealous”
You forgot clinging to your guns. Well in the case of Massachusetts it may be clinging to your staves.
June 21st, 2008 at 11:28 pmESTWell said, slick!!
June 21st, 2008 at 11:30 pmESTThere is nothing — zip, zero, nada — in the gospels regarding Mary’s age, either at her marriage, or at Jesus’s birth. Nor are there any other credible sources regarding the details of her life.
June 21st, 2008 at 11:53 pmESTfelicity and maggie,
Thank you both very much for your kind words.
I have a simple worldview when it comes to experiences such as mine:
Choose to revel in your victimhood or choose to make the world your victim as you annihilate preconceived notions of who it believes you will become.
Life. It’s mine to live.
June 22nd, 2008 at 12:22 amESTIt reminds me of a non-Christian friend from the Deep South who managed to graduate from high school, get a journalism degree, and go on to a fairly successful career as an expat. Her single mother friends and kin told her, “Get yourself some babies and you don’t need to study any more. The money’s not bad and the living’s easy.” She declined their advice but did admit that the government surplus cheese the single mom friends enjoyed was pretty damn tasty.
June 22nd, 2008 at 12:47 amESTI’ve got to chime in and agree with John D.
Erin_Coda is completely wrong about “Shaken Baby Syndrome”. It kills babies all the time because stupid people don’t realize how deadly it is to shake an infant. Nothing remotely mythical about it. I also have to wonder what Google she’s using — tons of hits on Google explaining how real it is.
June 22nd, 2008 at 12:48 amESTI didn’t get through all the comments, but from what I did, I must be the only person who sees something refreshing in this. There’s a good deal to be said for the demographic crisis in West. I’m a 22 year old guy, and almost all I hear about from girls my age is an aversion to having kids: it detracts from career or having fun or whatever.
I don’t know why these girls are doing it–I have no doubt their motives are short-sighted and the behavior is absurd–BUT…in however an ill-conceived manner they have chosen to embark on the amazing thing that is having a child at a time when their peers are focusing on how to prevent or end nascent life and enjoy themselves. If these girls need a reality check, they’ll surely get it soon.
I worry about everyone else in society who suffers from the opposite problems (which are all the more dangerous because they’re accepted, even considered preferable and responsible).
June 22nd, 2008 at 12:57 amESTMmm, hmmm. I wonder how many of the boys will be highlighted in the news?
18+ years of having their “fair share” stripped from them. Hounded by the government, whether they’re able to pay or not. If not… jail. *Golf clap.*
Dumbasses. They needed a slap upside the head.
To any young blokes who might be reading this: Pussy. Ain’t. Worth. That.
Not only are we reading about a bunch of young women’s lives ruined, there’s a trail of ignorant boys about to learn their lesson about the modern world in their wakes…
June 22nd, 2008 at 1:40 amESTWhen my husband and I were young newlyweds, we used to joke that a shopping trip to Wal-mart was a very good method of birth control. Trying to grocery shop while dodging all the out-of-control and incredibly noisy kids was enough to remind us why we weren’t ready to be parents yet. Having to be around someone else’s poorly disciplined offspring would always remind us that babies aren’t always cute and sweet.
I really don’t think those idiot girls fully grasp what it means to be pregnant. They don’t understand that “morning sickness” doesn’t just happen in the morning; it can go on all day long, for months, if they’re as unlucky as me. They don’t know that the hormone activity can leave you feeling PMS-ish all the damn time. And they’re REALLY going to have a fun time with the actual birth!!!
I doubt they have any clue what yuckiness the body discharges in the weeks after birth. They don’t get that after the baby is born their breasts will never be the same, they forget that they’ll most likely have put in some serious effort to regain their figure, they don’t comprehend that vaginal birth does sometimes traumatic things to one’s vagina - it’ll never be quite like it was.
Pregnancy can be really tough. I hope this set of fools serves as some sort of an example to their peers.
If they thought having a baby meant they would be loved unconditionally, they’re in for a rude shock. Little babies don’t display love, they display NEED.
June 22nd, 2008 at 2:22 amESTWe lost this fight when someone started teaching that babies give “unconditional love”.
Sorry, that is what my dog is for. Our children, now grown and with families of their own, did not give us unconditional love. They gave us, instead, constant need. Did they love us at six weeks? I dunno. Six months? Still dunno. But boy, howdy, did they ever need us.
Once they got a little older then they might have started to love. I don’t care all that much, my job was being a father, not sit around being loved.
Unconditional love my tired old ass. The idiot who invented that term should have been dragged out and shot.
June 22nd, 2008 at 2:25 amESTIt’s not just MTV. Heck ABC Family Channel has all sorts of casual sex, among people who don’t end up with each other.
It caters to teen girls worst instincts instead of the best. I submit “My Super Sweet 16″ and “Shot of Love with Tia Tequila.” Both watched heavily (42% of the audience) by under 17 girls. As is Sex and the City.
It’s a consumerist culture and sex (and pregnancy) is just another consumerist item.
June 22nd, 2008 at 2:31 amEST- A world where a father in Canada cannot punish his daughter.
June 22nd, 2008 at 3:01 amEST- A world where children cannot get an aspirin without permission, but abortions are conducted without parental knowledge.
- A world where the Boy Scouts are vilified by the government.
- A world where 2,000+ years of marriage is redefined by the American courts.
- A world where everything must suck in the name of “equality”.
- A world where Che Guevera is a hero and our founding fathers are racist biggots.
- A world where the cause of “global warming” is not to be debated.
- A world where the sexes are so equal that neither have any value?
- A world where 45 Million babies are aborted in the US alone.
– It all leads to a world that has no place for God. Are we really surprised at the results?
Incorrect.
VT’s system now allows either “second parent” OR “father” on birth certificates, for the benefit of same-sex couples, which is cool by me.
We will take the rest of the teen-slut-bashing as read. At least the sluts at my high school back in the day demanded more than a two-pump chump sperm donation. O tempora o mores and so forth.
June 22nd, 2008 at 5:04 amESTI am blaming the parents rather than society because it is up to parents to counter what society throws at kids. One parent interviewed said she wasn’t that upset her kid got pregnant because at least she wasn’t a prostitute or a junkie. It’s that kind of attitude that leads to circumstances like this. Were these kids just taught what sex is and what can happen, but not the consequences of what happens? When a 16 year old girls seeks out a 24 year old homeless man to impregnate her, there is something really wrong with that girl’s upbringing.
June 22nd, 2008 at 5:19 amESTThe teen years are an ideal age reproductively. Their bodies are strong, their eggs are young and viable. The only problem is who is going to raise the young and teach them wisdom?
Having children at a young age is not a problem as long as you have child-raising covered.
Compared to the population implosion of Japan, Russia, Italy, Spain etc. and the huge problem of combining the “Cinderella Complex” with the “Peter Pan Syndrome” for lifelong childlessness in modern societies, I’d say these girls are simply answering the primal call. Don’t let the Britney Spears BS fool you. This drive goes back to the dawn of homo sapiens and beyond.
June 22nd, 2008 at 5:49 amESTWow, the sanctimony dripping from this post and comments is unbelievable. We’re all just making assumptions on why this happened and what the results will be. Maybe the babies won’t be brought up by grandmom or suffer shaken baby syndrome or any of the other horrendous acts described above.
Maybe, just maybe, the mothers will grow up much faster than the many priveleged upper middle class people I know in NYC and Washington who continue to live out their teenage years into their 40s only to freak out and rush to have children at an age where they risk their own lives and the health of their children just so they can addthe final accoutrement to their expected fashionable lives.
Yes, it’s not great to have kids in your teenage years but I actually know 2 mothers who have (ok one was 19 but the other was 16) and they turned out just fine (one is now a lawyer and the other the chief of police in her town. Why not withhold the righteous indignation and just get a grip.
June 22nd, 2008 at 6:15 amESTDefinately not hijacking the thread, but I had to address this one:
Erin_Coda “Oh, and not to hijack the thread, but “shaken baby syndrome” is a myth. A large body of scientific and engineering research says it’s just not possible. Check Google.”
Erin, after spending the last 14 years in law enforcement, the last 7 as a Detective, I’ll have to go ahead and respectfully disagree with you on this one. I’ve attended entirely too many autopsies involving reported SIDS deaths, that were in reality shaken children. The damage sustained to the spinal cord, as well as the brain itself, nearly always left the kid with long term problems, if it did not kill them. I’m not a Pathologist, but what I’ve seen with my own eyes was more than enough evidence for me.
June 22nd, 2008 at 6:19 amESTRachel, good post. In particular, your pointing out how the liberals and the MSM (but I repeat myself) have drawn precisely the wrong conclusion from this situation.
The problem is not access to birth control. The problem is our hypersexualized, hyperacquisitive popular culture: a culture (to use the word loosely) which sees people simply as consumer items.
Marshall McLuhan is often spoken of as a media guru; but in truth, he despised television and its effects on our lives. Toward the end of his life, he remarked, “Do you really want to know what I think of [television]? If you want to save one shred of Hebrao-Greco-Roman-Medieval-Renaissance-Enlightenment-Modern-Western civilization, you’d better get an ax and smash all the sets.”
June 22nd, 2008 at 6:28 amESTThere’s an upside to the story. Someone has to support us in old age, the white birthrate (1.6) is too low, and I don’t trust all of those illegal immigrants to work long hours to keep me in Depends.
Have at it, you tramp-stamped baby-makin’ hussies!.
June 22nd, 2008 at 7:19 amESTIt’s over folks and we have lost. Obama is going to win big and this sort of thing will only get worse. I truly believe that within 10 years they will be coming for us..Christians, conservatives etc.
June 22nd, 2008 at 8:23 amESTHave seen this at fairly close quarters twice. In both cases, the girl’s dad had little or no say in anything….he was a paycheck. The girl’s mom ruled the roost; what she said was law.
What the mom said was that anything her little girl did was just wonderful and all criticism was cut off. If dad tried to raise an issue, he found himself in a two against one battle….and he was accused of being judgmental. When the girl came home with the baby, mom was oh, so supportive…and dad paid the bills.
In one case, the girl came home with a second baby for mom to gush over…and for dad to pay for. In the other case, mom had to go to work because dad wasn’t making enough to cover all the bills. In both cases, the girls were more interested in dating and ‘fun’ than taking care of the kid. The grandparents pretty much raised the kids.
This starts with weak fathers/over-empowered mothers. Because of the current legal environment and the expectations of liberated women, this kind of match up is becoming the norm. Expect to see alot more of the same.
June 22nd, 2008 at 9:03 amESTYep, we’re making assumptions based on what has been reported: A bunch of teenage girls entered in a “pact” to get pregnant and raise their babies together. If this is incorrect, the parents of these girls need to set the record straight.
These don’t sound like individual cases of a girl who’s in love with her boyfriend, has unprotected sex, and, whoops, becomes a teenage mother. It seems that they tattooed “Open For Business” on their knees and set off on the mission of getting pregnant.
The lack of judgment and foresight is frightening. Maybe there will be the odd one or two who knuckles down and is serious about raising a kid to be a successful adult, but I won’t bet on it.
June 22nd, 2008 at 10:09 amESTA country has lost its way when its citizens can no longer recognize the difference between liberty and license. Sad!
June 22nd, 2008 at 10:24 amESTBob:
“This starts with weak fathers/over-empowered mothers.”
Umm…not always. All it takes is ONE parent deciding to be a friend rather than a parent. That parent is usually - but NOT always - the mother.
I speak from personal experience. Overly indulgent divorced fathers can be as destructive, if not more. It’s very easy to blame Mom, but what happens when Dad says “It’s not your fault, it’s XYZ” (anyone else’s but the kid involved).
Full disclosure - my ex is an overly indulgent father. It has caused untold problems with both my older girls, and with my relationship with them. I have also had female friends in the same boat. It’s very frustrating.
Having said that, I also have male friends in the same situation. It’s bad for the kid either way, as parents aren’t being team players for the sake of the child. Instead parenting is looked at as some sort of popularity contest and it’s the child that ultimately suffers.
June 22nd, 2008 at 10:27 amESTThe war is over… The game’s got no price, see, not even on the inside.
And what exactly is wrong with being “wildly promiscuous”? It’s not illegal; being a welfare mom isn’t illegal, either. There’s nothing wrong with being a “shit-for-brains” is there?
High-risk, high-payoff. Ask a Hollywood starlet - or Monica Lewinsky.
June 22nd, 2008 at 10:32 amESTGirls getting pregnant is, unfortunately, nothing new. My own family—my “Auntie Bee” (actually, more like first cousin once-removed; it’s a long story) came along in 1912, to an unwed (and never wed) mother, who clung to her her whole very long life long.
My own take would be that at about age 14 or so, all girls should get Norplant. No exceptions, no excuses…hey, rape happens, doesn’t it? And if they fuss…”Norplant in your arm or a bullet in your brain. Your choice!”
That said, I do think that we expect childhood to go on far longer than nature intended. Back in the Good Old Days, you had boys no older than 15 who were perfectly competent to be put in command of a ship clear around the world from home base, and bring that ship home. Thanks to the child labor laws and endlessly upping the ante on compulsory education, we have legions of teenagers who’d be happy as larks if they could be out being productive citizens sitting, bored to tears, in moldy classrooms.
June 22nd, 2008 at 10:41 amESTI just wish we’d go back to a society where people had to pay for their own mistakes. That’s all it would take. Then this sort of thing would have little consequence for me.
Some walking vagina without two brain cells to rub together wants to ruin her life, fine. Go ahead, girlie. Just don’t make me pay one goddam cent for your stupidity.
Reminds me of those stupid worthless oxygen-thieves you see on every city street with T-shirts reading “Don’t Ask Me 4 Shit.” I always think, “Hey, it’s a deal as long as you agree not to ask ME 4 Shit.”
And anyone who thinks you can’t hurt an infant by shaking it is an ignoramus who has never picked one up. I could have killed my baby son in 3 seconds by shaking him if I’d wanted to.
June 22nd, 2008 at 10:51 amESTAbsolutely the parents bear a large portion of the blame for this situation. You have to teach kids to take more and more responsibility as they grow older; you can’t just cut them loose at 18 and say “do whatever you want!”
I am so proud of my 10 year old girl. She chooses sensible, modest clothes and loathes Bratz dolls. But she sure as hell didn’t get that way by me letting her do whatever she wanted. Most of the hard work in this regard was done before she reached the age of *eight*, not the age of eighteen. Yeah, we had to put up with the embarrassment of her saying “That woman’s clothes are not SENSIBLE!” in the checkout line. Better that than having her get knocked up at 14 because she was dressed like a slut.
June 22nd, 2008 at 11:08 amESTPiss off, jackass.
“Grow up much faster”.
I gotta say, that’s a pretty creative euphemism for “ruin their lives and sacrifice all their educational opportunities for the false promise of ‘unconditional love’”.
I know a guy who ran across a 4-lane highway (while stone drunk). He turned out fine and is now a successful real estate developer.
I guess if our kids want to throw themselves into traffic, we shouldn’t bat an eye.
June 22nd, 2008 at 11:22 amESTHas everyone forgotten how Dan Quayle was ripped when he objected to Murphy Brown’s pregnancy and the lack of shame by this unwed mother? Seems to me he gets the last laugh. I supported Quayle then when almost no one did and caught a lot of flack for doing so.
June 22nd, 2008 at 12:05 pmEST“Some girls seemed more upset when they weren’t pregnant than when they were,” principal Joseph Sullivan told Time.com”
Apparently some didn’t get pregnant from their first “attempt”. The usual PC refrain is that teenage girls are “afraid” of their parents and as such have the right to unfettered reproductive healthcare without their parents knowledge. Do these girls appear to be afraid of their parents?
How many of these pregancy attempts could have been interupted had their parents been notified of their childs continuing requests for pregnancy testing?
Remeber this article the next time your elected representative comes out against a policy of parental notification.
June 22nd, 2008 at 12:06 pmESTLet’s see. They want to be loved unconditionally, they made a pact to help each other emotionally. They place their own parents and society on the hook to help them out financially for how many years? These girls have thought up a new social experiment. How long will this mega family last? Will they be in the news for years? Time will tell. Mega families.
June 22nd, 2008 at 12:29 pmESTThe only thing sadder than a 16 yo girl pregnant is a 45 yo woman childless.
When I was young (born in 1946), getting pregnant at 18 was no big deal. It was, in fact, normal. 16 is a bit young, but, much healthier than getting pregnant when you are 40. I am referring to the health of the baby, of course, who is the point of the exercise.
June 22nd, 2008 at 2:08 pmEST“When I was young (born in 1946), getting pregnant at 18 was no big deal. It was, in fact, normal.”
I assume Joel is remembering the girls who got married straight out of high school and had their first baby a year or so later; that was, indeed, pretty normal then. But that’s not the situation of the Gloucester girls, who have no husbands, not much in the way of education and whose approach to the whole business is depressingly unrealistic.
And speaking of late pregnancies - my fifth child (the Surprise Package) was born when my husband and I were both 45. It was more tiring than my other pregnancies, and when he was born there were so many people in the delivery room that you would have thought I was the Empress Constances bringing forth the next Holy Roman Emperor - but my son was normal, and remains a healthy, bright boy to this day.
June 22nd, 2008 at 2:35 pmESTJeff, If what you say is true then what’s different about Rockport (the other town on the island), or Manchester, or Essex, or Hamilton-Wenham, or Ipswich, or Beverly, or Danvers? None of the surrounding communities have this problem that I know of. None have in-school day care. What’s the difference?
June 22nd, 2008 at 3:13 pmEST
June 22nd, 2008 at 3:23 pmESTHow about a 51-year-old woman childless? What if it’s by choice? Sheez, what a dopey thing to say.
June 22nd, 2008 at 3:23 pmESTI forgot Joel. My parents were well into their forties when they had kids. They married after WWII but didn’t have kids until the 1960’s. They were going to adopt from the orphanage my dad grew up in and then the kids started coming. I had plenty of friends whose parents were the same age as my parents - they just had bigger families. Folks didn’t think the same way back then as they do now. Also, birth control for women (in MA) didn’t become legal until the 1970’s. Weird, huh?
June 22nd, 2008 at 3:37 pmESTYES, he was made out to be a big buffoon for opining that two parents are better than one. Ridicule was used as a very effective weapon in obscuring his actual point and completely devaluing him personally. Because he couldn’t spell potato he’s a worthless airhead? Really.
June 22nd, 2008 at 5:47 pmESTYou all need to see the “Stupid Spoiled Whore” episode of South Park. It’s about Paris Hilton and her ilk’s effect on little girls and society.
June 22nd, 2008 at 7:31 pmESTHysterical, relevant and timely…
I wish I was the principal of this school (or superintendent of the district, whatever the case).
Schools have the responsibility to educate the children. That is their only function–not to provide day care or make special arrangements for little sluts who couldn’t keep their knees together.
This diverts resources away from kids who are there to learn.
Without exception, girls who get pregnant while in high school ought to be expelled and made ineligible to return to school at any time. The boys who got them pregnant ought to be similarly relieved of the need to attend school, so that they might provide for their little charges.
June 23rd, 2008 at 5:39 amESTThe part that made me want to throw-up (the entire article did that but…) was the part about the one girl being so desperate to have a baby that the father of her child is a 27 year old homeless man.
I don’t mean to be gross or anything but….. Gloucester SMELLS 24/7. Like any fishing town, it smells like FISH. I would assume that the men would be horny 24/7. I am sure those girls didn’t have any problem finding a male willing to have sex. I just wonder if those males knew what they were being used for.
June 23rd, 2008 at 8:16 amESTMy own fascist idea is Depo-provera shots for everybody. This birth control will last for three months, and has the side-effect of killing your sex drive. (The other side-effect is that it makes you irritable and nasty, but we won’t talk about that).
Line up the kids, and give ‘em all a shot every three months until they are 25 (or 30) and can be responsible parents.
More seriously, do you think this story may be a hoax? I’m wondering.
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:03 amESTRachel, I think you’ve got the beginnings of your Woman Code here.
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:37 amESTI totally concur there needs to be MORE judging and one HELLUVA lot less tolerance in our society.
Once the OBAMANATION is hatched in November, we will see MAJOR societal changes. The downhill slide we are witnessing will become an absolute freefall.
It is too late. The die is cast. Most countries that are world powers reach their apex in 200 or so years and then sink into apathy and chaos. The America that truly counted lasted 230 + years. Not too bad. A damn decent run at # 1 since around 1910.
I retire in 8 years. I need to move my savings off shore and start seeking a relatively safe country to live in.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:54 pmESTThe problem with most of you liberals is that you conflate anedotal evidence with statistical evidence:
http://www.sdi.gov/lc_birth.htm
“One of the greatest concerns regarding births to young, single women is that the children of these women are more likely to be reared in poverty. In 1995, 32% of female heads of households with children under 18 years old and no husband present were below the poverty line. In addition, teenage mothers, particularly those who are single, often have a very difficult time in pursuing their education or job training because of the costs and responsibilities of caring for their children.
In 1994, the median income for a two-parent household was $45,041. In contrast, the median income for a single-parent household led by a woman was $19,872. (For black and Hispanic female heads of households, the median income was $14,650 and $13,200, respectively.)”
No problem here, eh?
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:56 pmESTTwo things:
1) Not to burst any bubbles, but while what supposedly happened at Gloucester High is very believable in today’s climate, it may not have transpired. There may be serious holes in the story.
2) Still, the repeated comments showing up in the media about “not enough contraception available” or other such witless blatherings is beyond stupid. As Rachel said, and as I said to the TV screen (OK, bourbon made me do it) “the girls were TRYING to get pregnant!”
But a twist on Rachel’s “fascist” solution would be to Norplant the little sluts.
June 23rd, 2008 at 5:42 pmESTI just found this blog from a link off standyourground.
A whole blog full of well-written common sense.
Love it!
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:50 pmESTThe real problem isn’t the stereotypical female “teen-in-trouble”. Actually, if society actually cared about the welfare of children, it might start by removing the “implied” legal standard that children are the sole “property” of their biological mothers from conception to legal adulthood. To begin with, despite having access to over a dozen forms of birth control (men only have two) the “virtuous” gender unilaterally exercises its “reproductive rights” 1.4M (30% of children conceived) times annually (w/o considering the corresponding responsibilities) by aborting, committing infanticide, & outright abandoning their children for purely capricious & arbitrary reasons. Additionally, American women bring about 70% of divorce actions (the “No-Fault” Divorce legal movement was started by the National Association of Women Lawyers in 1960), have children out of wedlock at least 37% of the time, and are invariably “entitled” to subsidized housing, welfare, food stamps, child custody, child support, alimony, etc. At least 4% of all married women commit the most despite form of domestic abuse: Paternity fraud. Women are of course the biggest sexual/financial exploiters of multiple partners. Their near monopoly with respect to child custody results in the fact that women are twice as likely to commit child abuse & neglect. Then there’s the matter of abuse committed by non-biological parents/partners. It would seem, in the absence of evidence of abuse, that default shared custody would be in the best interest of the nation’s children. Unfortunately, in this current state of institutionalized misandry, when all things female are sacrosanct and beyond reproach, maintaining the consequence-free, responsibility-optional lifestyles of irresponsible women children trumps the interests of this nation’s children. They are their mother’s “property” after all. Isn’t gender-feminism wonderful?
June 24th, 2008 at 9:40 amESTThis is all about creating a permanent Democrat majority of welfare dependent illiterates who can be manipulated – sorry, organised – by the likes of Obama. Things are no better in the UK and Europe. Western civilisation is disappearing down the toilet, and eventually the Islamists will inherit the Earth without having to fire a shot.
June 24th, 2008 at 5:19 pmESTMonkey Mike: reread the demographics and socioeconomics outlined in 14 Karat’s post above (The racial makeup of the city was 91.99% White, 0.72% Asian, 6.61% African American, 0.12% Native American, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.50% from other races, and 1.03% from two or more races, etc) - a snapshot of a ‘typical’ ‘Western Civilization’ outpost, yes? In this instance, none of us can blame either Obama or the Islamists. Sometimes, we have to take responsibility. It’s a shame, though, that an intelligent debate (started by an excellent, thoughtful post) has to be reduced to lazy, arrogant stereotyping, apocalyptical grumbling and men shouting about ‘whores’.
June 26th, 2008 at 8:33 amEST