April 18, 2008
Are we clear?
Fellow subway riders will probably have seen the recent series of ads asking people if they think they have what it takes to work in child protection. It features the same phrase in multiple ads, with one word changed:
ARE YOU ___ ENOUGH TO BE A CHILD PROTECTIVE SPECIALIST?
And here is the list of words that fill that blank:
GOOD
CALM
WISE
BRAVE
COOL
REAL
BOLD
SMART
STRONG
and...
CLEAR
Clear? Clear? Maybe they mean "clear-headed", but the first thing I think of when I hear the word "clear" used to describe a person is Scientology.
Anyway, if you are a smart, calm, brave Scientologist, perhaps you too can someday take a child away from a polyamorous family because you disapprove of their lifestyle. Not a recent story, but still -- hello, the world's next big civil rights battle.
Posted by Francis at 08:59 AMI find it creepy that the article says the suit was filed by "Alana's paternal grandmother", rather than, say, "Shane's mother". I mean, I assume the reason she has standing to do this is her relationship to Alana, but still, it sidesteps around the fact that this is about one adult asserting control over another, not a concerned citizen who just happened to be moved by the plight of a random child.
I mean, am I oversimplifying this? Perhaps my opinion is shaded by hearing about the parents of someone in the poly community here threatening a child custody suit as soon as they learned their daughter was poly-- even though the couple doesn't have any kids yet. If I ever have kids, I hope I am not seized with delusion that I own them for the rest of their lives.
Posted by: Aaron at April 18, 2008 12:22 PMI don't think directing animosity at child protection people is the right way to go. This was an uptight grandma and an uptight judge.
Posted by: Charles at April 18, 2008 12:38 PMMost of my animosity is directed at those people, with the child protection connection mainly serving as a segue. But I do think the right thing for the child protection service to do would have been to put aside judgments of morality and step in to defend the parents. But for the most part they're the good guys, I know.
Posted by: Francis at April 18, 2008 01:00 PMAaron: I find it creepy that the article says the suit was filed by "Alana's paternal grandmother", rather than, say, "Shane's mother".
No, she's not Shane's mother, and Shane isn't Alana's father. Alana is April's child from a previous relationship with a man not named in the article.
Posted by: Richard at April 20, 2008 01:54 AMAs for the ads: maybe they've had recurring problems with mumbling, inarticulate child protective specialists.
Posted by: Richard at April 20, 2008 02:29 AMI really enjoy all these buy wow gold eu. Especially the taller type, simply because my own slacks will never emerge. And they buy wow gold eu also provide nice, fluffy dog's fur.
Posted by: buy wow gold eu at October 23, 2013 02:16 AM