Thursday, December 18, 2008

Orwell was no dummy....

The New Legitimacy
"The problem of illegitimacy and broken families had seemed intractable for decades, but the Census Bureau has been able to make a significant dent in it, at virtually no cost to the taxpayer, merely by redefining the word parents.

And why stop there? Suppose the Census Bureau were to redefine two as meaning 'one.' VoilĂ , any child who now lives with 'one' parent would have an intact family. Instantly the rate would go from 40% to nearly 100%. Wait, make that nearly 200%.

Some may object that the middle of a financial panic is not the best time to start redefining numbers, a practice that could have unintended and undesired consequences for interest rates, currency exchange rates, asset values and so forth.

So here's a more modest idea: Why not redefine together to mean 'on the same planet'? So long as at least one man and one woman live on Earth, whether or not they are married or the child's biological parents, every child is being raised by two (or more) parents, and this will remain true at least until we begin colonizing space. Hey, it takes a village!"

No comments: