Letters to the Editor
designated_knitter
Published Letters: 116 Editor's Choice: 3
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Goodbye, Fix and Good Riddance
[Read the article: Goodbye to the Fix, for now]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Ms. Walsh and all,
I may be one of the few people that feels this way but I'm happy to see the Fix gone. I think that this obsession with our culture on the vapid shallow lives of celebrities is counter-productive to producing the kind of society that we say we want for ourselves.
We say that we resent the interference and invasion of privacy that Bush and company has crammed down our collective throats. At the same time, we insist on the invasion of privacy of celebrities who experience many of the same life issues that we have to deal with -- perhaps on a grander scale.
We say that we want to bring back a culture of civility yet we celebrate trashing celebrities and demonstrating that we are little more than a bunch of childish voyeurs.
We say that we want a culture that celebrates intellectual and moral achievements. Yet we spend more time obsessing over American Idol and "entertainers" who believe that global warming is a charitable cause to provide improvished nations with coats.
Focusing on the messed up lives of celebrities is a waste of energy and bandwidth. How many important news stories are not reported simply because everyone wants to see the latest way Britney Spears has come up with to demonstrate her instability?
If you think it is such a great burden having to go to other websites for this kind of "information" then I would suggest that your life is probably too busy to be worrying about Branjolina etc. If not knowing the latest way Rosie has managed to stick her foot in her mouth is really going to lesson the quality of your life, then I would recommend broadening your horizons -- turn off your laptop and read a book or take a class or volunteer in your local community. THAT is time well-spent.
Just my 2 cents worth!
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"Lazy"?! Yeah, Right!
[Read the article: Who's too posh to push?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The reason for c-sections isn't because women are taking the "easy way out". The motivating factor is risk avoidance for MDs.
My SIL (an ob/gyn) pays over 300,000/YEAR for malpractice insurance and she has never been sued. She needs to keep it that way because if she is sued -- much like your auto insurance after an accident -- she pays even more. And the bad outcome doesn't even have to be her fault. We live in a society where there are so few bad outcomes when it comes to having children so that if a baby comes out anything less than perfect, then it *MUST* have been the doctors fault. It couldn't just be because some times bad things happen during childbirth.
The key statistic in all of this is that affluent women are much more likely to have c-sections. Why? Because affluent families are much more likely to have the means and the "ego" to sue if anything goes wrong. Guess what group of families are the second most likely to sue for malpractice (after lawyers) -- families where either the mother or father is an MD. And don't think the treating physician doesn't know this.
I also really take offense to the notion that C-sections somehow make you "less of a mother/woman" than the "natural childbirth" crowds. Carol Lloyd's description is just plain grotesque and really does a disservice to any woman who has a c-section or may wind up having one.
When we are pregnant -- regardless of how that child comes into the world -- the goal is the same: to have a happy, healthy baby and a happy healthy mom. Ultimately, it doesn't matter *HOW* that goal is reached. As the mother of a 7 year old and a 10 year old, every year on their birthdays, we are honoring their birth and their life. We don't care or even acknowledge that they were brought into this world by c-section. If it doesn't matter *NOW* -- why should it matter at the time of their birth?
To me, this whole "debate" is much like the "working mother" vs "SAHM" debate -- just another way to pit one group of mothers against another.
Proud mom with the c-section scars (and boys) to prove it!