I noticed that my last two articles for Atlas Magazine have included the phrase “bastard child(ren).”
Some
readers might have been taken aback seeing those words. “Whoa, Russ!
What’s the deal? Rather harsh, using that phrase, aren’t you? Some
people will probably take offense. Are you trying to antagonize and alienate folks?”
Well,
no. In a fundamental sense, whether someone is offended or not by what
I say is not a concern of mine. People get their backs up all the time
when I defend freedom, objective morality, individualism, rights,
self-defense, the free market, and on and on. They get annoyed when I
attack policies like national health care, affirmative action, taxes,
State-run education, and all the other myriad government-intrusions
into our lives. So if someone gets P.O’ed at the phrase “bastard
children...”? Perhaps they will wonder why the hell I would adopt such
a contentious phrase. What is important to me is: is it true or not?
The
P.C. words used these days to describe a baby born to unmarried parents
are, of course, “born out of wedlock.” A euphemism. Now, euphemisms can
be an aid to communication. They can, however — and often are, these
days — given in an attempt to decrease
understanding. For example, “collateral damage” doesn’t sound so bad.
But “innocent, noncombatant men, women, and children killed and their
homes and businesses destroyed by unwarranted military action” lacks a
certain...acceptability. So statists and collectivists and mystics and
their sympathizers try to blur the boundaries of concepts, to make it
more difficult for people to focus on the actual, primary referents that might cause them to object to whatever new scam is in the works.
“Poverty”
instead of “poor people.” “Crime” instead of “criminals.” “Gun control”
instead of “victim disarmament.” “Revenue enhancement” instead of
“taxes,” and “taxes” instead of “legalized theft.” And so on and on and
on.
But
what about calling a baby a “bastard child”? The baby is hardly at
fault for its existence, is it? No. Of course, not. But the phrase
“bastard child” isn’t directed at the infant. It’s directed at the
parents.
Nowadays,
people hardly blink twice when they hear that a single woman has a
baby. Ho-hum. It wasn’t always that way, obviously. Though women have
gotten pregnant under similar circumstances since, well, forever, the
percentages of mothers bearing bastard children has grown to unwieldy
proportions. They account for over a third of all births. (See here.) In Iowa, nearly three-quarters of black children are bastards. (See here.)
If a woman or a woman and a man choose
— with full awareness of the consequences and responsibility involved —
to have a bastard child; if they don’t believe in a State-sanctioned
institution; if they don’t believe in a formal or informal marriage in
any form; and if they assume all the costs involved with such a
life-altering decision, then I have no problem with her or them having as many babies as they want.
BUT...most of these bastard children are not planned. Their existence is a result of chance, of evasion, of irresponsibility. The single mom or unwed parents do not
pay for the costs of these children themselves. It’s bad enough that
“married” pregnancies are subsidized by the child-free via mandated
health insurance benefits (a normal pregnancy is not the kind of
condition that should be covered by medical insurance), that they
receive State-run, tax-financed education, tax deductions, tax
“credits” (out-and-out welfare), the Medical Leave Act, and so forth.
It is worse when these women and their bastard children become burdens
on (often aging) family members. It is far worse when these women and
their bastard children receive welfare payments (paid for by money
stolen from strangers), “free” medical coverage (paid for by money
stolen from strangers), “free” daycare (paid for by money stolen from
strangers), food stamps (paid for by money stolen from strangers),
subsidized housing (paid for by money stolen from strangers), and
whatever else the State and the do-gooders can come up with.
But...worst of all —
unconscionably so — is when these often ignorant, poorly educated, and
mindless women demand such benefits — paid for by money stolen from strangers — AS THEIR RIGHT!
Because they could not — or would not — take control of their hormonal
impulses; because they would not spend a buck on a condom; because they
would not pause for a moment to use a condom; because they could not be bothered to plan ahead and get one of the various birth control pills or devices; because
they preferred mindlessness to rationality, because they preferred
chance to choice, because they preferred abandon to control, because
they rejected responsibility in favor of impulse, they dare DEMAND
in sanctimonious stridency that strangers pay for their irrationality,
their immorality, their stupidity. They DEMAND that others grant them
special favors, special treatment, special sympathy.
Rather than being ashamed of abrogating their minds and making such a major mistake, they arrogantly believe that it is their very errors that place a lien on the lives of others. It is their faults that should make others their slaves. It is their limitations that entitle
them to what they do not deserve and what they have not earned. Instead
of admitting their failing, their detour into irrationality, and asking
forgiveness for their lapse as they attempt to rectify the situation,
these women with their bastard children treat us to the sick spectacle
of those who have exercised restraint, who have made conscious, rational choices, who have
accepted the financial and social responsibility of bringing a life
into the world; we witness the immoral depravity of the good and decent
among us being held hostage to the whims and inhumanity of women who should be censured, not smilingly tolerated for their attitudes and actions.
And I gladly apply the label “bastard” in its truly pejorative sense to anyone — anyone — who makes excuses for those who willingly and gladly subvert the rights and freedom of their family, friends, and neighbors.
