Monday, September 1, 2008

Palin Daughter Pregnancy - Some Perspective...

People across the net are all atwitter over the revelation that Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, plans to marry the father, and raise the child.

Not that long ago this would have been not much more than a footnote in the campaign rather than major news story. In the past few decades we've elevated our societal piousness to unprecedented levels. We've taken what was normal for centuries and millenniums and made it abnormal. I encourage anyone reading this to check your own family genealogy before deciding to be too critical of Palin. You are very likely to find that many of your very own ancestors first children were born less than 9 months from when they were married and that many were 17 or younger.

When I was growing up we referred to these as shotgun weddings. The reality was that shotguns were rarely involved, though the look in dad's eyes towards his new son-in-law could likely do more damage than buckshot. The deathly looks over, both families generally came together and pitched in to help the new couple prepare for and then raise their new child. And these scenes have never been limited to the mountain folks in Appalachia, but cut across every societal, racial, and geographic boundary. YOU and I, my dear reader, are very likely the products of many such events.

And oh my if this had happened in Texas...

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Finally some reason thrown on this issue

Anonymous said...

If it happened in Texas, Bristol would be sitting on a Baptist bus with CPS gearing up to adopt her out for the cash she would bring in.

She would be sitting in the Stockade with no running water, no plumbing, no heat, no air conditioning, and no lawyer.

Wanna buy a bridge?

Bill Medvecky

yutthehay said...

Only if she was FLDS.

yutthehay said...

I find it very ironic that Bristol gets pregnant at 17 and is not married. So what? I really don't care. Teresa Jeffs is married and isn't. They want to put her husband in Jail. I do care. Which way is right? A married 17 year old virgin or a nocked up 17 year old seleb that isn't married?

Pliggy said...

I am of the opinion that teenage motherhood BENIFITS society. But maybe that is because of the support in the society I come from.

The shame is the "unmarried" part. Should have been a shotgun before the announcement and there would be no news.

Crusty said...

yutthehay & pliggy,

I'm with you. I'm working on a post for tomorrow (Fri) that sort of looks at this.

Crusty said...

Bill, you are absolutely correct.

BTW, thanks for the post about deleting my post. I've been swamped and the thread took off so I never re-posted.