Illegitimacy...the new US Norm?
By estherlou
@estherlou (5015)
United States
August 20, 2011 2:09pm CST
I just read some interesting but disturbing statistics.
Illegitimate births for all Americans have risen from 26 percent in 1990 to 41 percent today "and could be headed higher." Among Hispanics, illegitimacy is 53 percent, among blacks it's 73 percent, and among whites it has risen to a shocking 29 percent. http://www.eagleforum.org/column/2011/aug11/11-08-19.html
This raises a couple of points. Marriage is no longer important? or out of fashion? Single moms are prevalent. And, households without 2 parents working to provide for the family...this raises the number of families looking for government help to a new level. So...is the economy the way it is now because of bad government control? or too many government hand outs? or a country no longer concerned with the traditional family? Interesting to ponder...
1 person likes this
6 responses
@Aconheady (8)
• Ireland
20 Aug 11
I think that religion's place in everyday society has changed and as a response people no longer feel obliged to live by their religious unwritten rules.
2 people like this
@estherlou (5015)
• United States
21 Aug 11
I think you are right. Each person knows what is right and wrong and knows what their religion teaches, but have learned from society to "use their conscious" and do what they feel is okay as long as they don't hurt others. That gives them a lot of leeway. We can justify almost anything to ourselves if we look long enough for a good reason to do what we want.
1 person likes this
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
20 Aug 11
It is not that marriage is not important it is that the government pays very well for parents not to marry. I have a family member who has three bi-racial children all with the same father and all living together. She will not even contemplate marriage as she gets so much support for being a single mother. Free healthcare (Medicaid), over $700.00 a month in food stamps, free child care while she is in college. She is very smart and knows exactly how to get every benefit available from the government. IMO this is the reason that illegitimacy is running rampant and it obviously does not carry the stigma that having illegitimate children used to carry.
1 person likes this
@estherlou (5015)
• United States
21 Aug 11
The word has nothing to do with legality. It's actually a nicer word to use than bast**d, which was the previous norm.
@Galena (9110)
•
21 Aug 11
I don't think it is any nicer.
to say that someone is not legitimate.
well my parents weren't married, and I am just as legitimate as someone whose parents were.
whether people marry or not is a personal choice. in fact, it worked out much better that my mum wasn't married to my dad. she did a great job of raising me herself after his downright nasty personality meant she decided to leave.
I am still a legitimate person.
I find the term illegitimate JUST as offensive as the other term.
@BarBaraPrz (47677)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
21 Aug 11
Every birth is legitimate, whether a result of a formally sanctioned union or not.
1 person likes this
@_sketch_ (5742)
• United States
21 Aug 11
Marriage is now optional. Women used to have to get married because they could not work. They were forced to marry, in fact, often to people they don't know. This still happens in some other countries, of course. The economy has nothing to do with marriage; it has to do with the government being stupid and greedy. The "traditional family" is bull. Sometimes people don't get married, sometimes they don't stay together, sometimes they are gay, etc. Things aren't always society's ideal. Things in life just aren't black and white like that.
@varier (5685)
• Indonesia
21 Aug 11
I can't say for sure about what happened in US. But in Asia, especially in my country, marriage is a must before having a baby.
And in my opinion, "illegitimate births" - it has nothing to do with economy nor with government. It is all because personal choice.
In the name of human rights, people are rejected any rules about marriage. It is private thing and governments shouldn't interfered, they said.
At the time they don't want to be ruled, that's the time the new norm has been formed..
I should say, inappropriate way to apply "human rights"...
