Reader Poll: If the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the FCC cannot police the airways for indecency, are you prepared to completely prohibit TV viewing in your home?

Here’s the question we asked UFI readers:

“If the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the FCC cannot police the airways for indecency, are you prepared to completely prohibit TV viewing in your home?”

Here’s how the readers responded:

45 Percent                   Already do prohibit TV viewing

30 Percent                   Will start prohibiting TV viewing

23 Percent                   I think I can monitor it without the FCC

0 Percent                     Doesn’t concern me

2 percent                     Don’t know what I’d do

In recent weeks the U.S. Supreme Court has heard arguments in the case FCC v. Fox.  This case addresses whether or not the FCC has the right to censor the airways for broadcasting indecency.  There are some interesting arguments on both sides.

Gary Boyd, a UFI blogger, had an interesting take on the situation.  That’s what prompted us to ask the above question.  You can read his views here.

Honor Your Children

Diane Asay

We usually hear that we should honor our parents, but I propose that we also honor our children.  Our children deserve to feel that they have worth.  They deserve to be treated and respected as an equal.  They deserve to be raised the best way possible so that we can leave the world in good hands.  They deserve the best possible teachers and champions we have to offer.  They deserve you.

What is honor?  Honor is respecting our children.  Honor is acknowledging our children’s inherit value.  Honor is teaching our children they have worth.  Children need to know by our words and actions that we think they are unique and special.  When we honor our children we are teaching them how to honor themselves.  If we do not respect our children, how can they respect themselves?  How can they respect others?

How do we honor children?  We do not honor children by objectifying them.  We do not honor children by subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) communicating that they are useless and worthless.  We honor children when we take an interest in what they tell us.  We honor children when we help them make and achieve worthwhile goals.  We honor children when we love them and respect them as equals in human dignity.  We honor children when we show them in word and deed what it means to be a good person.

Why?  Because children need to know they have worth and can make a difference in society. 

There are too many problems that stem from children growing up not knowing what proper behavior is for an adult.  Children learn by our actions how to react to challenges and disappointments.  They learn from us how to structure their lives and to be productive citizens.  What are you teaching?  Children learn by our actions how to love themselves.  When children respect themselves, they are encouraged to act their best and be their best.  Children learn from our actions how to honor and love other people.  We are raising the future parents, future teachers, future leaders and future citizens of the world.  So let’s make sure that we are modeling to children the qualities that really will make the world a better place.

So what does this mean?

Put away our selfishness and stop thinking of ourselves first.  This means we need to really look at our children.  This means we need to look around at the neighborhood children.  How can we honor them more?  The children in our homes, neighborhoods, cities, states, country and countries of the world need champions – be that champion.

Our children are the future.  We need to raise them with an eye to that future and not just on ourselves.  How will my actions affect children – the future adults of all nations?   We don’t need to spoil them or prevent them from facing the consequences of their actions, but it is the time to start honoring them.  Let’s love them and teach them to love themselves and those around them.

 

Artificial Wombs for All…

Ann Bailey

Pregnancy is unethical.  Bet you didn’t know that.  Anna Smajdor, an ethicist at the UK’s University of East Anglia, believes that being pregnant for nine months  and then delivering  the child is too risky, painful and socially restrictive to subject women to it any longer.   Dr. Smajdor believes that large junks of public funding should be immediately directed towards the creation of artificial wombs.  She wonders how men and women can ever be equal if women continue to be subject to pregnancy.

Dr. Smajdor is a leading proponent of ectogensis – “the growth process of embryonic tissue placed in an artificial environment,” or an artificial womb.

 ”I suggest that there is a strong case for prioritizing research into ectogenesis as an alternative to pregnancy. I conclude by asking the reader the following: if you did not know whether you would be a man or a woman, would you prefer to be born into Society A, in which women bear all the burdens and risks of pregnancy, or Society B, in which ectogenesis has been perfected.”

In Dr. Smajdor’s world, pregnancy is a disease that medical technology must engineer away because a civilized society would not subject women to it.  “Either we view women as baby carriers who must subjugate their other interests to the well-being of their children or we acknowledge that our social values and level of medical expertise are no longer compatible with “natural” reproduction.”

I decided to talk to women and do my own little unofficial survey on this topic.   So I went straight to the top – so to speak.  I approached my boss, Carol Soelberg, President of United Families International and natural mother of 13 children.  As I explained Dr. Smajdor’s ideas and asked for her opinion, a range of emotions from dismay to disgust quickly went across her face.  Then she quietly said,

“She doesn’t speak for me.  Don’t take from me the joy and the privilege of pregnancy – the chance to give life to a child.  That woman doesn’t speak for me.”

Enough said.