Is parenthood held in contempt?

Guardian Unlimited | Columnists | Madeline Bunting: Our culture of contempt for parenthood

Madeline Bunting's column above is interesting, and the reasons she gives for low birthrates in Britain (essentially, that having children now goes against the cultural "values" of independence and consumerism) sounds somewhat plausible in the context of, say, the US and Australia as well as Britain.

However, as I noted in an earlier post, birth rates across all of Europe vary wildly, with Italy, Spain, Greece and Germany having substantially lower rates than Britain (which has about Australia's rate of 1.75 children per women.) The arguments that Bunting makes would, to my mind, make less sense in the more "macho" European countries, where one imagines that the independence of women is not emphasised quite so much. (I am just guessing here, remember.) Yet their rates are even lower than Britains.

Also, what accounts for the relatively high rates in France and Ireland? Both of these countries would seem to be as consumer orientated as Britain, but their birth rates are at 1.9 and 1.99 respectively. Maybe Muslims account for Frances high rate, but surely that can't apply to Ireland?

I guess each country can have their own particular reasons for their rates, but it is curious phenomena that there is such a variation across Europe. Discussions of cultural factors affecting the rate seem to me to usually be speculation without subtantial evidence behind them.

On the Oscars

I was tired and didn't even see it all last night, but I have the following observations to make:

* Jon Stewart: not too bad as a host. Vast improvement on Chris Rock, whose failure was even worse than David Letterman's ill fated outing. (And I generally like Letterman, although his recent defence of Cindy Sheehan makes you wonder about how sensible he really is.)

* Ben Stiller is always prepared to look stupid, and of what I saw he had the funniest scripted bit last night. (Particularly funny was the line "this is blowing Spielberg's mind", with a cutaway shot of Spielberg in the audience mouthing "no it's not".)

* So Brokeback Mountain lost best picture. Seems fair enough; while not seeing it, I strongly suspect there was a "bandwagon" effect going on in the body of reviews. (When the praise is too universal and too similar in its terms, one often suspects the critics are not bringing an independent mind to their work.) But I like this line:

Larry McMurtry, 69, who won Best Adapted Screenplay for Brokeback Mountain, said afterwards: "“Perhaps the truth really is Americans don'’t want cowboys to be gay."”

Did something give him the impression that there was a significant body of Americans just hanging out for cowboy sexual revisionism?

* The current crop of Hollywood stars are generally a pretty uncharismatic lot. It is not that they are bad actors; it's just that there are so few that are personally appealing enough that it makes you want to see their next project. Contrast this with, say, even the 1980's. (As I age, I am increasingly nostalgic for that period.) You had the likes of Kevin Costner, Harrison Ford, Meg Ryan, (for some) Julia Roberts (I am afraid that all I can notice when she is on screen is her enormous mouth,) Tom Hanks, John Hughes films with their generally appealing young casts, etc. I never took to Meryl Streep, but I can see she how she had star appeal to some.

Now, many of these actors are still working, but it seems that their most appealing and successful work is well behind them. The current crop of 20's to 30-ish stars just don't seem to have the same pulling power.

And their personal lives seem screwed up in ways that detract from their screen appeal. Although Hollywood has always been full of divorce and remarriage, the weird or scandalous behaviour or comments of some stars now - think Angelina Jolie, Anne Heche or Robert Downey Jr - would have been kept from the public in past years.) Now we know too much about the star's private lives, and it does affect the way you feel about the roles they are playing on screen.

The psychology of watching gay playing straight and straight playing gay is particularly interesting. I don't know that it is just prejudice that makes it easier for audiences to accept straight playing gay rather than vice versa; I think it is something deeper. But in any event, everyone was better off when the sexual preferences of the stars was not so openly discussed, and their drug habits kept quiet too.

Enough of that for now.

Update: I have corrected some mistakes from my first rushed version.

The Kiss of Death

The Australian: Mothball this tired Bomber [March 07, 2006]

Phillip Adams nominates Kevin Rudd as his preferred Labor leader. This won't last. Surely Rudd is too far right for Adams?

Gerard Henderson on hating Howard

Haters are their own worst enemy - Gerard Henderson - Opinion - smh.com.au

Gerard's article today is amusing and accurate - particularly his account of how Howard haters can get through the day only hearing their opinions being echoed back to them.

Things get off to a flying start in the Palestinian Parliament

Wrangle marks start of control by Hamas - Africa & Middle East - International Herald Tribune

From the above article:

The first working session of the new Palestinian Parliament on Monday swiftly degenerated into shouting matches between the rival Hamas and Fatah factions, with Fatah legislators ultimately storming out.

Interestingly, many of the legislators were not there in person:

At the session Monday, 20 of the 132 Palestinian lawmakers were absent. Some are wanted by Israel and are in hiding, and others are in Israeli jails. Large portraits of a dozen imprisoned lawmakers were placed in their vacant seats.

Actually, wouldn't life size inflateable versions look better? Would be a good look in our Parliament too.

Sunnis change of heart

Iraq's Besieged Sunnis Now Looking to U.S. - Los Angeles Times

The article suggests the Sunnis now want the US forces to stay to protect them in Iraq. Interesting...

Maybe that's why India is low on my preferred tourist destination list

The Observer | World | Indian cult kills children for goddess

Interesting article on sacrifices to Kali still taking place in remote, rural India.

Where is Indiana Jones when you need him?

Creepy robot action

If you haven't seen it already, have a look at this video of a prototype 4 legged walking "mule". The first impression is that you are looking at two people doing a pantomime horse act, but you can quickly see that it is indeed a robot, and the effect is rather creepy.

On Antartica melting

TCS Daily - Antarctic Ice: The Cold Truth

While most media reports I have looked at, once you get past the headline, do give some indication of the uncertainties in how this latest study reached its conclusion (that Antartica is losing ice mass), I recommend the above link for a more detailed account.

Basically, this type of mass measurement (based on gravitation effects on 2 satellites) sounds rather complicated and potentially imprecise, given that it has to take into account rises in the crust beneath the Antartic ice too.

As always, the problem is getting the public past the headlines for stories like this.

Holland continues its peculiar ways

Holland to allow ‘baby euthanasia’ - Sunday Times - Times Online

Seems that Holland, for some obscure reason, always wants to be on the cutting edge of legalised euthanasia.

While this is surely a topic that is fraught with difficulty (the suffering of new born babies having the added sadness of the child never having enjoyed any part of life,) the moral reasoning about it is still often sloppy, I think. For example, from the above story, a pre euthanasia doctor says:

“At some point,” said Verhagen, observing this battle for life, “we will have to decide whether it is pointless from a medical point of view and whether we should not prolong treatment.”

This, he agreed, was a form of “passive euthanasia” practised in countries all over the world. But from a moral point of view, he argued, it was no different from administering a lethal dose of morphine, since the result of withdrawing treatment would also eventually be death.

“Is there any difference between watching someone drowning without doing anything and pushing them into the lake?” he asked.

Well, I would have thought the common sense answer is "yes". Both are bad, but initiating the drowning is worse than not initiating it, surely? And it seems a somewhat flawed analogy anyway.

The doctor also causes me a little bit of concern when he talks as follows:

“It is in some ways beautiful,” said Verhagen, describing the moment when severely pain-racked children relax for the first time since birth. “But it is also extremely emotional and very difficult,” he added.

The main issue I suppose is the question of when is appropriate for the State to sanction not just the withdrawal of treatment and the provision of pain relief regardless of its shortening of life, but also the administration of drugs with the intent of causing immediate death.

The non-religious do not readily accept that the different intention makes the acts morally different. I suppose that seems too "metaphysical" for them. But if intentions are to be ignored here, are they to also be irrelevant to criminal law generally, and our common sense feelings of what is right and wrong?

Robyn Williams slums it in New York

It seems not to be on the web, but Robyn Williams, the long time host of the ABC's Science Show, has a diary piece in this weekend's Sydney Morning Herald. Apparently, travel expenses are so tight at the ABC that he has to travel economy class, even on international trips. Oh dear. I guess the fact that the interviews can all be done by phone might be the reason the ABC doesn't want to spring for business class.

He also seemed to admit to catching an international flight in sandals. (I don't have the paper with me right now, I am going by memory.) This struck me as odd. Not only do sandals sometimes become quite smelly, I would have thought that from a flight safety point of view that they are not to be recommended if you are avoiding red hot metal during an emergency evacuation.

What's worse, he says that he always forgets something on international flights. This time (on his recent trip to the United States for the annual Association for the Advancement of Science conference) he travelled in Australian summer clothes -including sandals - even though he was destined for New York in winter! This does not strike me as something someone who runs a science show should readily admit to. How can anyone forget to take into account the season that will be there on the other side of the world when leaving on international travel?

Also, he talks about the pathetic accomodation he had in New York (booked by the ABC because of its low cost) described as being little more than a bag lady's doss house.

What I want to know is this: how much salary do you earn Robyn? Is it beyond you to spring for extra money to get a decent room in New York city. I know it is expensive, but really, you would have to know that low cost digs anywhere in that city would be of dubious quality.

I have not liked Robyn Williams for some time. He is adequate as a broadcaster, but only just. Thrity years running a show like that has inevitably mad it stale.

Fresh blood please, ABC.

Another example of misreporting at Bush's expense

Power Line: The AP clarifies what the AP muddied

I half noticed on the late news earlier this week some video being run of President Bush being given warnings on the levees in New Orleans. I did not see the whole story, just a little bit of the video, but I was left with the impression that this was indeed harmful to the President's earlier denial of warnings.

Well, the good folk of Powerline have this covered, and they note that Associate Press have belatedly corrected their initial reporting. The story remains the same as it was before: Bush was warned of water "overtopping" the levies, not that the levies themselves would break.

Of course, subtleties are lost on the main stream press and much of the public, and of course corrections never get the same converage as the original story.

And the main stream media wonder why they are not held in high regard.a

Would you eat one of these during Lent?

According to the Wall Street Journal, yes indeed the Vatican did allow for the eating of this large South American rodents during Lent. I wonder if they really understood what a capybara was? See OpinionJournal - Taste for the story.

Never thought I would mention HR Pufnstuf here

Guardian Unlimited Film | News | Oliver! actor Jack Wild dies aged 53

I saw the movie "Oliver" as a child. Kind of depressed me.

Later, HR Pufnstuf always struck as incredibly awful and bizarre, even for under 10 year old tastes. I think it was the sitcom laugh track that made it especially creepy..as if adults would laugh at that. Looking back, one wonders if the drug addled era in which it was made had an effect on the show.

Laptops on planes

Gadgets threaten air safety: report - Breaking - Technology - theage.com.au

This story indicates that there is still controversy about whether use of laptops and other "game playing devices" on aircraft is a safety issue.

Why is this still unclear after all of this time? Seems it should have been capable of being settled years ago.

China ’s rise not so certain

Foreign Policy: The Dark Side of China’s Rise

This is an interesting, lengthy, sceptical article on the rise of China.

Apropos of nothing...

I find Danny Katz to be the funniest humourist writing in Australia. His fortnightly advice column in the SMH magazine is good too.

On sex in the afterlife

The Seattle Times: Health: Can you have a sex life in the afterlife?

Well, with all the talk of 72 virgins being the cause of much mayhem in the world here, it is a peculiar but relevant thing to talk about. The above article is pretty good.

It notes that one famous early Christian allowed for the genitalia to get to heaven, but not to be of any use:

On pondering resurrection of the flesh, St. Augustine decided we'd keep our sex organs for aesthetic reasons, but we wouldn't use them.

Back on the 72 virgins:

And while the motivations behind suicide bombings often hinge on a desire to help a family, die for a cause or to make a difference, the 72 virgins are used as an inducement, said Payind. "It is one of the more important enticements for the desperate, the dispossessed, the disenfranchised living in miserable conditions."

Segal points out that the virgins are used to appeal mostly to teenage boys. If you're a grown man faced with the prospect of 72 heavenly wives, he said, "you'd want some of them to be experienced."

This is one case where the harm from religious fundamentalism can be the subject of legitimate criticism of atheists. It's ironic that too much certainty about metaphysical matters (such as the afterlife and God's plan for it) can be harmful to the exercise of moral judgment on earth. But it is important to remember that this cuts both ways. Presumably, Hitler, Stalin and Mao had little doubt that there was not an afterlife in which they could be accountable, so their atheistic certainty was just as harmful as religious fundamentalism.

Life is tricky, hey.

Happy Anniversary, John Howard

Of all the commentary going on about John Howard's 10 year anniversary as Prime Minister, I think the following are noteworthy:

Mike Steketee, while no Howard fan, writes an interesting column about how the electorate in Australia sees itself on the Left/Right scale. (Answer: right smack in the middle for 40%. Add another 30% who see themselves on the right, and things look good for another ten years.) Mike notes that those who identify on the Left has actually increased to about 27%, but as a certain number of those are always going to vote for the Greens, maybe it is not as important as it seems.

Phillip Adams gets another opportunity to moan about John Howard, which is not remarkable at all except for the fact that it seems to be keeping him (Adams) alive. As I recall, a few years ago, he wrote a column in which he noted that his hatred for Howard gives him an energy for living. (Apparently, his mother was the same, but with respect to another politician.) Ironic, isn't it, but if someone Adams actually likes (and there is no one he seems to be endeared with on the Labor side either) won the next election, he may finally die. (I have heard Adams comment on several occasions that he is on many medications to keep him going. I assume his health has not been good for some time.)

David Marr on Insiders last Sunday (no transcript available) said that Howard's success had all been based on fear..fear of this, fear of that. Typical Marr stuff, and doesn't his mannered way of speaking make you want to slap him around the face?

The BBC story about the anniversary seems nicely balanced and accurate. It highlights what I have always considered Howard's most endearing feature - his modesty.

Miranda Devine has another go

A debate begging for more light - Miranda Devine - Opinion - smh.com.au

Miranda Devine has an article today on global warming. Seems not overly detailed, and I can hear Tim Lambert typing furiously right now.