In his entertainment column, Roger Friedman writes, “The ‘Juno’ effect seems to be reverberating all over the place. In the year since Diablo Cody’s screenplay became Jason Reitman’s hit film, ‘Juno,’ we’ve seen unmarried 16-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears, single 22-year-old Ashlee Simpson and now 17-year-old unmarried Bristol Palin all get pregnant and decide to keep their babies.”
Deciding to keep their babies–why should that be abnormal in any way?
It’s abnormal to people who think a baby is a punishment.
Yeah, yeah. It’s a cheap shot. But the original accusation is cheap too. It comes from people who think they know what conservatives are like, and think they’ve caught us in hypocrisy when we don’t stone such girls to death.
Yes, forgiving somebody for succumbing to temptation we have is not what some people would expect Christians to do.
However, I’m Jewish, a religion that doesn’t exalt forgiveness to the same degree. I say we should throw the book at Palin’s daughter and her boyfriend. Specifically, Exodus 22:16. Bride-price is not a custom we still have, but they should do the rest.
I don’t see how unwed girls keeping their babies is part of the Juno paradigm. Juno gave her child up even after the couple she found in the penny saver split.
All the expensive social programs to keep unmarried mothers in school have not sprung up in the last few months. Our society has been moving in this direction for a long time. What we are seeing now is a shift away from the forgone conclusion that a teenaged girl will automatically have an abortion.
I wonder if seeing society’s acceptance of older single women purposely choosing to have children without marriage/husband/permanent partner has influenced that as much as anything else.
Interesting observation, Susan. It thought the same thing about people’s willingness to blame a recent movie for the results of a long-standing movement.
Ori: That seems to be precisely what they are doing.
Exactly, I was being somewhat sarcastic when I wrote that. They should be doing precisely what they are doing. That kind of pre-marital sex in not as big a deal as some people insist that other people make it.
Throwing stones here should be limited to those without aim (sorry, I meant to write blame). Conservatives understand that. I suspect some Liberals think Conservatives do not.