The overpopulated shall inherit the earth (or what's left of it)

I'm probably going to get flak for this one (folks...hate mail doesn't bug me. It's really doesn't. But it does make me laugh!) Anyway, I don't care. I find this disgusting, reprehensible, and irresponsible.

I am all for respecting cultural practices....up to a point. Cultural practices that include eating dogs (check out Eight Dainty Dog Meat if you don't remember!), cats, or horses may gross me out, but I don't think it's morally wrong - provided the animals are killed humanely. I personally think that arranged marriage kind of defeats the point of marriage - but others don't, and that's okay too - as long as you're not marrying off 13 year olds to creepy old men, a la Warren Jeffs. (Douchebag.) Strange piercings, tattoos, and so forth - not my cup o' tea, but acceptable - although I think things like genital mutilation are wrong, period.

So, you get it. I'm pretty laid-back when it comes to cultural traditions and whatnot....but this, this I find inexcusable. I've wanted to do a post on the Duggar family for awhile now, and given their recent announcement that Michelle Duggar is pregnant - again - I thought this was an appropriate time.

Pregnant again.....with her eighteenth child. Folks, I'm sorry, no one needs 18 kids. It's fucked up from every perspective I can possibly imagine. From a good parenting perspective - how can you ever develop a strong personal bond with each of your children when you pop out a new one every 9 months? From a financial perspective - if something happens to one of the parents (or even if it doesn't), how are you going to afford to send them all to college? (Then again, Dad's name is Jim Bob, so maybe college isn't such a concern.) From a health perspective, I don't think it can be good for a woman's organism to pop out baby after baby after baby with no time for the body to recover. From a feminist perspective (and I am far from being a feminist, believe me), it seems a bit sick that, in this day and age, this woman's sole role in life is to be barefoot and pregnant 24/7/365. From a fairness perspective, it seems really ass to make the eldest children act as surrogate parents for their myriad smaller siblings when they're only kids themselves.

But the thing that irks me the most is that this is so fucking irresponsible. How many orphaned kids are there in this world - and just in America? - who need loving homes already? Have these people looked at a population growth graph anytime recently? (That would require being able to read & comprehend, so perhaps not....) I don't think I can make this any simpler. Finite resources. Population growth (particularly among subsets that can't afford it). Increased drain on financial pools. Increased burden on the health care system. Increased impact on the environment. People.....get a clue. You do NOT NEED 18 kids. I don't care if you think God is telling you to be fruitful & multiply...enough is enough. Quality, not quantity.

I have heard from actual acquaintences of these people that they're "nice." Fine, maybe they are...but that really isn't the point. They are irresponsible and prime examples if the government wanted to make a case for intervening in family planning matters more than they already do. Ugh!!!