Monday, February 26, 2007

The Lecture Genre

Aside from the expected BoBosity, can we all agree (it'd make David Broder feel good!) to fight what appears to be our society's general impulse to tell people how they're supposed to raise their kids. I'm not talking about intelligent discussions/advice about good practices, I'm talking about the general idea that the specifics of how you're raising your kids, over and above a basic welfare concern, is any of my damn business. It isn't.

Similarly, can we fight the "it's my right to tell you how you should spend your money" impulse, too? Again, I'm not talking about advice about good financial practices, but the micromanaging of peoples' consumption habits.

And now I'm going to violate both by telling people to stop spending money on having kids. They're expensive! Give it to charity instead!