The new woke CIA demsocs stepping up to save white civilization with op-ed clarion calls
Most Americans don't feel secure enough at 25 to have a kid, since it costs thousands of dollars for childbirth alone, even with insurance. Those who might have had a child at 25 aren't able to make that choice in the cruel system we live under, Liz.
I'm pretty sure that's literally what the article is about. It's a bait and switch, the headline is meant to attract older readers who think declining birth rates is due to the decadent youth, and she discusses the economic circumstances facing young parents. But being mad at the headline is cool too.
I read the damn article and you're right, thanks. The subheading even makes that clear. I get pretty heated on this topic since it has delayed my own plans for starting a family.
Archive link for anyone else that wants to look.
Somehow I don't think the spouse of the guy who put together the Family Fun Pack is unaware of the effect of material dispossession on peoples' abilities to have families.
it probably also doesn't help that over half of adults 18-29 live with their parents. i don't even know where i'd put a kid if i had one
I had a kid at 34 and I actually really wish I had done it way younger. Something I think about a lot. Sort of just frittered away my 20s.
That's the thing right? I really, shall we say, "let loose." I travelled a lot, partied, slept with different women etc. so now that my life is a bit more hum drum, I can look back and say, ok, I had a good opportunity to do that stuff.
On the other hand, none of it was very constructive and a lot of it was very based in privilege. I was able to have fun and wander around in Latin America and India and what not playing hippie because I was a well off white person, while most of the people I interacted with in those places, well the locals, didn't have that opportunity. I really regret and reject that sort of bohemian hippie side I had in my 20s. I was irresponsible and wasted my privilege on pleasure seeking.
I am not really a person who dwells on things. What's done is done, but if I had to do it all over again I would A) have worked harder in math class and B) try to have fun in my 20s, but be a bit more constructive.
lol so you think about a lot how you wish you had kids younger but you're also not really a person who dwells on things?
well, it doesn't make me depressed or anything, but I do think about it.
I will refuse to engage with anything other than headlines and continue to draw the most incendiary conclusions from them. You can't stop me.
it takes a professional writer to come up with a something as crystal clear as "I'm not sorry I didn't wait"
tbh, a headline that makes you slow down to decipher what it means is probably a good hook to get people to open the article. like, the first part of the headline is easy to understand so your brain doesn't instantly shut off, but then to find out what the second part says about the first part you have to untangle these nested negatives. it also emphasizes "hey, i'm saying some shit that goes against the prevailing wisdom here" so it's a way of indicating that this article might have something new to say. it's also got that PMC "everyone cares about my precious smart opinions" thing going on lol.
Fooling innocent people into reading your articles with mind tricks should be considered a form of assault and punhished with exile
same energy as those "you think [obviously good thing] is good but actually [neoliberal misery] is good" articles.
we crunched the numbers and actually workers should suffer. in this complex age of science and industry, the simple moral intuitions of the uneducated often lead them astray. good thing well-meaning nerds are here to explain why the quarantine needs to end, or why universal healthcare sounds good but it would be a mistake, or why we need to invade some country to save them. resist the urge to get annoyed when the nerds start congratulating themselves for their objectivity and rationalism, or when they start whipping out journo words no one else uses like brouhaha and imbroglio. it only looks like they're seeking the same approval from fellow neolibs that they used to seek from their fawning parents and teachers when they were well-off kids in the suburbs.
So a woman had a child and is happy about it. Exactly how is this newsworthy?
Some people have a strong disdain for Elizabeth Bruenig and I assume OP is one of those.
the headline is mostly just needlessly provocative. it's just about why people have kids when they do, and how that's changed, plus of course a thoughtful personal story.
but that headline does kind of hit on her self-obsession on twitter I think. she's so outwardly proud of herself for her religion, for being a youngish mother, for being from republican parents, for being from texas, on and on. even her tweets about her cute kids often are all humblebrags about how great a parent she is. I know this is really just how twitter works and I'm a cynical asshole but still it's a lot
She'll post a picture of food on Twitter and people will get mad because they think she's bragging
What, does she want a cookie? A pat on the back? Get over yourself lady nobody cares, go write an article about ausustine being the biggest coolest debate bro in history or some shit
Can't tear something that doesn't exist from a state of nonexistence, nor can something that doesn't exist have a will
I like how editorial decisions of the editors of news outlets get to make stupid fucking headlines and we all sit around with out thumbs up our asses bashing the name on the by line.
Real cool.
:this-is-fine:
She jokes with Jessie Singal about how terrible Noah Berlatsky's parenting is (he has a trans daughter) and thinks queer theory is an indication our society has failed. That's not not transphobic
Horrible double negative in that headline. That sort of thing doesn’t even usually bother me but reading that makes me feel like I’m having a stroke.
I feel the exact same brain-zonk as you do when I read that. It's inexcusably bad - and mind boggling if it wasn't intentional. I mean "I Became a Mother at 25, and I'm Glad I Didn't Wait" is just so much better.
So, I guess what I'm saying is; it's meant to brain-zonk you to prevent your dismissal of the sentiment out of hand.
EDIT: Reading it again: it looks like the word "Sorry" is really important to the title-maker - it has liminal connections to the other words in the title (I'll skip the "I"s and the negative modifiers because that's just a lazy centering mechanism loved by neolibs:
Became: A becoming, a growth, a development; ties into "Mother" and liminally into "Wait" as a near antonym - waiting to become is a near oxymoron.
Mother: Responsibility, caring, pregnancy, trauma; ties into "Became" - as in a new becoming, a new life being brought forth - and "25" - triggers recall of stories that millennials are waiting longer to have kids - and "Sorry" - triggers recall of abstinence education and motherhood as a consequence - and "Wait" - triggers recall of abstinence education and the warping of sexuality in state-run educational institutions.
Sorry: Regret, the negative, consequences; ties into "Became" - squandering opportunities and regretting a becoming - and "Mother" - tying into feelings and fears of unpreparedness or inadequacy at being a mother. Also acts as a negative.
Wait: Slown down, reconsider, delay; while liminally tying into other words, "Wait" serves as an emphasizer on the multiple negatives in the title ("Not Sorry I Didn't - triple negative? )
"Sorry" pulls so many lanes of thought: "Sorry I became;" "Sorry I became a mother;" "Sorry I waited." In addition, the other negatives in the sentence pull you in different directions while the Sorry acts as both a negative and a recall avenue.
what's your background, if you don't mind saying? where does this sort of analysis come from?
