New York Times=Very Uncool
Don’t censor people who know what they’re talking about. That’s just wrong. Censoring people who don’t know what they’re talking about? I’m totally cool with that. I know, I know, slippery slopes and such. How about we just start with the assholes like Tama Janowitz and all of her supportive commentors who think it’s cool to tell a 12-year-old daughter who was adopted from China, “Well, you know, if you were still in China you would be working in a factory for 14 hours a day with only limited bathroom breaks!” See, that’s just mean. I’m not a transnational adoptee or anything, but I can still see that that’s all kinds of mean. And people who leave comments that say that that is totally mean should not be censored by the New York Times. I mean, it’s THE New York Times. WTF?
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:39 am
I just read that link. That’s some crazy crap!
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:39 am
Well, I AM an adoptee…I suppose kinda transnational (born to parents partly of Native American blood, adopted by parents of German, Ukrainian, Dutch etc heritage). First, I would guess that Mizz Tama would be a HORRIBLE mother to adopted or ‘hatched’ (HER word) kids.
As an adoptee, maybe I am rare: I never felt ‘unloved’ or less-loved because of my adopted status. I have 2 younger brothers that were born to my parents; I don’t feel like less of a brother to them. I do not have the ‘hole’ in my life. I have met my birth mother; privacy laws in effect in 1970 mean I will most likely never meet my birth father (Native American side of my ‘blood’). I met her cuz I was curious, a little. Plus, I got to thinking…I am doing great. I could not have asked for better parents OR a better family (meaning all you Aldriches and such)…but, my birth Mom did not know that. All she knew was that, 35 years ago (at the time), she gave up a baby. How was I? Was I alive? I could only imagine how often she thought of me. Or, maybe not at all. But, if she wanted to meet, I was for it. Got the court involved, got the records from the Catholic Diocese adoption service, and found her. Met once for dinner. She is married; I have a half-brother and half-sister (have not; probably will not meet them).
For those who know me: She is a Professor; most of the family is Accountants or Doctors/Nurses. She is married to a Professor.
So, adoption works; works great. Of course, the ’story’ is the adoptee who hated life, got abused, had trouble with birth parents, adoptive parents and foster parents (we may even have some siblings or in-laws who fit the bill). HOwever, there is no story in parading 1000s of happy adoptees…just to hear them say…Yep, doin’ fine, raised well.
AND…the NYT: Going back to original newpaper partisanship. Most papers started as arms of political parties…which is why many large cities have a left- and right-wing paper. The NYT, and most papers, have taken Opinion from just the Op-Ed page and it colors all of their reporting.
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:40 am
I don’t think the point of the transnational adoptees’ comments was to say they were abused and unloved. I think they’re just trying to acknowledge the grief of losing their first country and their first family. That doesn’t take anything away from their feelings of love for their adoptive parents and family. They’re just saying that no matter how well-loved, well-educated, well-everythinged they are, there is still a loss that is undeniable (for them and for their first mother) that deserves to be acknowledged by their families and not swept under the rug with any number of racist speeches that start with, “Yes, but you’re so much better off.”