That line from Lord of the Rings had me seeing red, I'll be honest. I like the movies, but that line's utter bullshit. It's nothing but the privilege of modern medicine talking.
Some day I will talk about women, children, and modern medicine. Some day I will talk about the myth of instant maternal affection and bonding and how it is a myth we can indulge at all only in the modern era. Some day I will talk about the faerie, and why we tell ourselves stories about a people who steal human children, or take in the abandoned.
It's a privilege to be outlived by your children; it's a privilege to not have to make the choice between the children you have and the infant you've just borne.
I was vaccinated, I will vaccinate (barring serious concerns such as an allergy), and I think people who do not vaccinate for fear of autism or other things are reprehensible for not doing their research -- and the people who encourage such fear are unspeakable.
I actually saw someone say no one dies of pertussis, once. I want to ship them all back in time, to the 1800s, where they can listen an entire town's children die of it.
I think what infuriates me is that -- it's not been that long and yet people have forgotten the horrors enough to risk them again. They couldn't have possibly had the chance to not know the horror in their bones, if other people hadn't vaccinated.
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Date: 2010-11-07 08:23 pm (UTC)Some day I will talk about women, children, and modern medicine. Some day I will talk about the myth of instant maternal affection and bonding and how it is a myth we can indulge at all only in the modern era. Some day I will talk about the faerie, and why we tell ourselves stories about a people who steal human children, or take in the abandoned.
It's a privilege to be outlived by your children; it's a privilege to not have to make the choice between the children you have and the infant you've just borne.
I was vaccinated, I will vaccinate (barring serious concerns such as an allergy), and I think people who do not vaccinate for fear of autism or other things are reprehensible for not doing their research -- and the people who encourage such fear are unspeakable.
I actually saw someone say no one dies of pertussis, once. I want to ship them all back in time, to the 1800s, where they can listen an entire town's children die of it.
I think what infuriates me is that -- it's not been that long and yet people have forgotten the horrors enough to risk them again. They couldn't have possibly had the chance to not know the horror in their bones, if other people hadn't vaccinated.