13.4.09

TFPO column: is family overated?

I don't really have anything to say by way of preamble, so on to this week's question at TFPO...

Is Family Overated?

3 comments:

Nick said...

This article made me think of this book that I own and read some time ago.

http://www.amazon.com/Urban-Tribes-Generation-Friendship-Commitment/dp/1582342644/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239693514&sr=1-2

My opinion obviously is that what a family is what you make it. Our 'real' family isn't always the best thing for us. Some families are great and have all those things that we all dream about in those fairytale TV shows of old. Other families something that we thought only existed in movies or TV dramas, abusive, intolerant vengeful, hypocritical and just plain 'not there for you'.

People seem to think family is everything. It's not and it shouldn't be looked upon as such. Sometimes the best thing that can happen to you is to move on from it. Find others who will appreciate you for you.

One other thing, I recently got the latest Skeptic magazine, there’s an article in there you might find interesting. It shows that this whole business of gay marriage being bad for a society and generally stopping heterosexual marriage is total bull. We know its bull but it’s nice to see a hardcore article on it. In countries where gay marriage has been allowed for a number of years (mostly Scandinavian countries) heterosexual marriage has actually increased not decreased. I wish someone would start advertising that somewhere.

Frederik Sisa said...

That book seems to have a low rating and pretty harsh reviews...in any case, I think family is like a lot of cultural constructs - over-hyped and made into some sort of Eternal Truth.

I received the latest issue of Skeptic too, but haven't gotten to that article yet. Sounds like it's sorely needed...

Nick said...

It's been awhile since I read the book. To be honest I think the negative reviews are not really that true. Some people I think expect too much out of some books. It's wasn't meant to be a research book but a commentary. I think if he put too much of his research in there it would be a lot bigger book and probably a lot more boring. I found it fun and interesting but not too deep. A light read if you will. I think it's a good reflextion though.

That article in Skeptic is called Math and Marriage. I was just going by memory mostly about what the article is about. Marriage rates in general tend to go up and down.

I've been enjoying the articles in Skeptic, a bit lengthy though!