5.17.2006

whitey worries

so apparently john gibson on fox news made a not so subtle recommendation to folks of european ancestry (real americans) to do their duty and make more babies! his reason for concern: a study claiming that half of the children under 5 in this country are minorities.

awww. no wonder they're sending troops to the border, poor folks. they're scared. i guess that's karma for what their ancestors did to the originial americans.

sidenote, sort of relevant conspiracy theory: catholic leaders label contraception sinful so that religious believers can reproduce explosively and save a diminishing church body.

sidenote, sort of relevant random thought: comparing developed country population growth rates to those of developing countries... jesus of nazareth must have been an expert at population demographics when he predicted that "the meek will inherit the earth."
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1 comment:

AK said...

take note:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/14/weekinreview/14chivers.html?ex=1305259200&en=bb62c825188e87d8&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

"Russian life, for the peasantry and the proletariat alike, has always been unforgiving. And in a speech reminiscent of Soviet pledges of the state helping the masses so that the masses might help the state, Mr. Putin chose the familiar Soviet solution of encouraging stalwart reproduction, telling his obedient Parliament to enact programs of financial incentives to women to have more children."

It seems like, in Russian life, women have always had a very dominant role. From what I understand about the gender differences in the US back in the day, I don't think the divide between the sexes was as pronounced in Russia as it was in the US. It seems like the divide was peasant-royalty, and working-class women and men shared the labor responsibilities.

Notice:
http://muse.jhu.edu/cgi-bin/access.cgi?uri=/journals/journal_of_womens_history/v015/15.4nowak.html

"By 1935, women made up 35 percent of all workers in industry."

How interesting that the role of the female took SUCH a different track in the US and in Russia!

Ok I got way off track. Where I meant to go was here: I find it funny that after so many years of oppression of women, suddenly it's like: oh wait, I guess we DO need you!

[The whole Russia vs. US roles of women was supposed to be the exception to this observation.]

Recently I attended an Easter service at a Methodist church and at Easter service at a Russian Orthodox Church. They were only 1 week apart, and, as such, gave me an excellent opportunity to compare. I've wondered a bit how I want to raise my kids w/respect to religion. Raise them as I was, on Russian Orthodox? Let them choose on their own? A mix of both? One thing that's always bothered me is how to explain to a child the very basic of things: who is God? where is God? are you sure there is a God? If you do believe, how to explain? Maybe those questions are better answered by a priest.

After attending both services, I was telling boy about the Russian Orthodox services. Get this: when women are menstruating, they're not allowed to have communion because they are considered "unpure." (I guess this flies into the face of my above observation about female equality in Russia, but in all fairness, the proletariat movement did come much later after the church was founded. But for some reason I feel like the female character has always been strong in the Russian tradition/history/stories...) Anyway, this rule just seems so stubbornly antiquated and is one of the things that really angers me about my religion in particular. Back to the child: how would you explain that one?

Sorry this comment got way off track!

1:18 AM

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