So, I've been on a roll it seems with kids lately because the world's been on a roll with them. I told you to stop fucking with the kids but you aren't listenniiinnng~
Let's take it from the bottom with Madonna's continuing adoption saga. I'm so very annoyed.
I don't know when adopting the poor children from Africa became a fad. I don't care. I've been tired of Ye Mighty White and Privileged Kiplings feeling so entitled to go snatch up African children and bring them to the states. I'm sure that while their rich & famous parents are busy erasing any memories of their home & culture they're being provided with the best schools, best education, best life they can have in the glorious United States. And these young black children, when they get older, will be treated just like every minority in the US, with dignity, respec--*snorfle*
Anyway, so you've heard this. Madonna wants to adopt a child named Mercy, Madonna is denied, Madonna freaks out at being denied something for once and goes on a campaign to adopt this child. The problem is, according to Malawi law Madonna can't adopt Mercy because she hasn't lived there for over a year. Madonna don't care none and decides she's going to build a house just so she can adopt her Mercy and whisk her away, away, awaaaay~
...The other problem here is that, uh, Mercy already has a family. I know right, and African child with a family still in tact. The family, quite understandably, doesn't want their child/grandchild to be taken away. Again, fancy that. How dare they stand in the way of Madonna's progress! The other thing is, Madonna already has her token African baby, David, whom hasn't even seen his real father but once since he came to the US and doesn't even know his own language. Niiiice.
I blog about this because I really, really find it outrageous that this woman, this celebrity, feels so ridiculously entitled to go up and adopt her African babies like it's going out of style (and I wish it was) against the family's wishes. Nyarlathotep be freaking praised, is she serious? Kind of like Bob Geldof, she seems to only be interested in Africa on it's knees (wish I remember who said that first).
I used to hate this phrase, you know, back when I too thought Africa was uniformly in the whole, why don't they just adopt American children? Well honestly I'm kind of asking now, why DON'T they just adopt American children, if they want to do something so kind? Why bring them into a unabashedly xenophobic country? Oh the whiteness, it's hurting my eyes! *shields with hands*
Actually, there are some normal folks in America that wouldn't mind seeing American children out of foster homes & orphanages, except the restrictions for those are getting tighter and tighter. There are states *coughfloridaarizonacough* where you can't adopt if you so happen to be not straight. There are states *coughflorida* where you can't adopt if you're single or just unmarried. So many restrictions, so few loopholes, unless you want to adopt an African/Chinese/Indian/ehhh baby from elsewhere in the world, bring them to a country that kind of hates foreigners & colored folks, and why don't they just adopt american and so on and so on and so on and auuuugh.
But I'm not absolving celebrities of any guilt or wrong doing, what the Madonnas and Angelina Jolies are doing is still kinda fucked up *shrug* but what America does is even fucked upper still.
Then I see this article on CNN regarding...oh, whew! its China:
Fewer children up for adoption in China
The Chinese government imposed new regulations in 2007 to limit the number of international applications, putting more restrictions on prospective parents from outside China. The rules basically say you need not apply if you are single, overweight, deformed, taking anti-depressants or poor. China has said the rules are in the best interest of the child.
After leading the world in international adoptions, adoptions in China are slowing down- though it is not clear if there is a link to the new rules. According to the U.S. State Department, Americans adopted 7,906 Chinese children in 2005 - a number that dropped to 3,909 children in 2008.
However, Melody Zhang of Children's Hope International, said it is not that fewer people want to adopt but there are instead simply more Chinese and foreigners who want to adopt and fewer children up for adoption - however, the government does not release data on the numbers of children up for adoption in the country.
"In the past, Chinese people would not consider adopting someone out of the family, but more and more people are educated, and they understand the important part is to raise the child, not necessarily a blood tie," Zhang said.
The Asian giant's growing economy has given more people the means to raise a child, so Chinese parents are less likely to give up their children.
I dunno, I guess you may say that Madonna probably has the right idea, you may say China has the right idea. I've never been quite here or there when it comes to foreign adoptions other than the fact that orphanages typically aren't the nicest places to be (note: extreme understatement ahoy!). I'm just annoyed at the Privileged Ones and their oh-so-entitled-ment. Perhaps there's even a bigger problem at work here...but there always is...
