# Irresponsible motherhood. (Recreational outrage, I guess) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 1, 2007, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irresponsible-motherhood-recreational-outrage-i-guess/406314 "2007-06-01T07:00:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ForumBot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ee59a6/32.png) [@ForumBot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ForumBot)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irresponsible-motherhood-recreational-outrage-i-guess/406314/21 "2007-06-01T14:52:48Z")
What! How dare you criticise a total stranger when you don’t even know her circumstances! That might be part of her religion, or she might have a thyroid problem. Maybe she was forced into having sex with her live-in boyfriend several times. Ever stop to consider that, asshole? Gah, some people :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: just kiddin 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irresponsible-motherhood-recreational-outrage-i-guess/406314/22 "2007-06-01T14:55:23Z")
[QUOTE=Quoth the Raven] Jesus… “weed out”? Like let them starve? Maybe they _would_ have a chance of becoming productive members of society if the welfare system did just a little more than keep them alive… like if it guaranteed them the same oppurtunities for a good education as everyone else? [/QUOTE] Yeah, if only we as a society could get together and develop some educational system for children! If we were really serious about it, we could even _make_ them go for, like, ten years or so! And all kids, regardless of their economic background, would have to go! Nah, it would never work. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irresponsible-motherhood-recreational-outrage-i-guess/406314/23 "2007-06-01T14:57:31Z")
[QUOTE=Quoth the Raven] Jesus… “weed out”? Like let them starve? Maybe they _would_ have a chance of becoming productive members of society if the welfare system did just a little more than keep them alive… like if it guaranteed them the same oppurtunities for a good education as everyone else? [/QUOTE] Nope. They’re lazy and stupid, and nothing welfare does for them will change that–except maybe if it is cut off. And you’re the first person in this thread who doesn’t understand that. ---
**Author:** ![Tibidabo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@Tibidabo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibidabo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irresponsible-motherhood-recreational-outrage-i-guess/406314/24 "2007-06-01T14:59:34Z")
Oh piss off, I didn’t affirm her “lifestyle choice”. It’s stupid. But not genetic stupid, it’s the kind of stupid you have to expect from people who don’t really have anything better to hope for. I was responding to a generalisation about welfare. People like this piss me off too, but people who think they’d be much different in the same situation piss me off even more. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irresponsible-motherhood-recreational-outrage-i-guess/406314/25 "2007-06-01T15:01:26Z")
[QUOTE=Orual] I don’t believe she’s equating poverty with stupidity. She’s equating ‘continually fucking without birth control’ with stupidity. [/QUOTE] I’m not so sure. When you say “It provides a safety net for the poorest and stupidest people, which are the very people we’d like to weed out.” it certainly sounds like you’re equating poverty and stupidity. And the Social Darwinism of the post was rather unappealing also. Just MHO. ---
**Author:** ![Tibidabo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@Tibidabo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibidabo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irresponsible-motherhood-recreational-outrage-i-guess/406314/26 "2007-06-01T15:05:40Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] Yeah, if only we as a society could get together and develop some educational system for children! If we were really serious about it, we could even _make_ them go for, like, ten years or so! And all kids, regardless of their economic background, would have to go! Nah, it would never work. [/QUOTE] Christ :rolleyes: Didn’t think I’d have to spell it out. Yes, schools. Very Clever. Do you really believe dilapidated schools in rundown poverty-stricken areas provide the same oppurtunities as schools in more affluent areas, and private schools? I mostly meant University though. And don’t give me bull about how if they work really really extra hard they can get a scholarship. They could also win the lottery, woopdeee doo! Problem solved, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irresponsible-motherhood-recreational-outrage-i-guess/406314/27 "2007-06-01T15:07:21Z")
[QUOTE=DianaG] That’s one of the more depressing things I’ve read in a while. Maybe it’s just me, but when you’re 20, with five kids, and on welfare, I feel like popping out another one (let alone two) is just as much an act of despair as firing up the crack pipe. An admission that you’ve reached the point where you can’t even \*imagine \* your life getting any better, so you may as well just keep digging. Or maybe she’s just really, really inspired by the Duggans. Which is not less depressing. And may in fact amount to the same thing. [/QUOTE] I think you mean the Duggars. 😉 I commend the dumb bitch of the OP for one thing: she makes Mrs. Mamma Duggar finally look like Mother of the Year by comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irresponsible-motherhood-recreational-outrage-i-guess/406314/28 "2007-06-01T15:17:32Z")
[QUOTE=Quoth the Raven] Christ :rolleyes: Didn’t think I’d have to spell it out. Yes, schools. Very Clever. Do you really believe dilapidated schools in rundown poverty-stricken areas provide the same oppurtunities as schools in more affluent areas, and private schools? I mostly meant University though. And don’t give me bull about how if they work really really extra hard they can get a scholarship. They could also win the lottery, woopdeee doo! Problem solved, I guess. [/QUOTE] I bet they provide the opportunity to learn how to spell “opportunity”. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irresponsible-motherhood-recreational-outrage-i-guess/406314/29 "2007-06-01T15:18:40Z")
I equate having seven children with no means to support them with stupidity. And if that leads to welfare, the yes, going on welfare does have a corelation with being stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Tibidabo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@Tibidabo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibidabo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irresponsible-motherhood-recreational-outrage-i-guess/406314/30 "2007-06-01T15:23:48Z")
[QUOTE=Malacandra] I bet they provide the opportunity to learn how to spell “opportunity”. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] Thanks! Thats really helpful of you! No… wait… the other one… petty :rolleyes: I saw it, but I can’t edit, I’m a guest. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irresponsible-motherhood-recreational-outrage-i-guess/406314/31 "2007-06-01T15:24:33Z")
[QUOTE=PunditLisa] Welfare is a huge double-edged sword. It provides a safety net for the poorest and stupidest people, which are the very people we’d like to weed out. What are the chances of the Gonzalez children growing up to be productive members of society? Nil. [/QUOTE] Wow. Really? No chance? They have the support of their extended family and who knows? “Weed out”? ::boggle ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irresponsible-motherhood-recreational-outrage-i-guess/406314/32 "2007-06-01T15:24:35Z")
[QUOTE=LavenderBlue] I think you mean the Duggars. 😉 I commend the dumb bitch of the OP for one thing: she makes Mrs. Mamma Duggar finally look like Mother of the Year by comparison. [/QUOTE] And the woman of the OP has one point over Mrs. Duggar–she hasn’t given all her children stupid names that start with the same letter. Sadly, I think that is all that can be said in defense of her. I can understand if you had no sex education whatsoever and didn’t know that fucking doesn’t necessarily have to lead to children; that would explain the first pregnancy. (True story–he even wrote about it in an essay for college that he had me proofread–one of my cousins and his ex-wife, when they were still dating and she was in high school, had sex frequently, as horny teenagers are wont to do. They had several pregnancy scares before their son was conceived. Ex was often relieved of her anxiety by the results of a negative pregnancy test. Somehow, though the condoms are right by the pregnancy tests, it never occurred to either of them to buy and use those.) But someone had to have let her know about birth control sometime. On the other hand, three sets of fraternal twins? I say she should donate those ovaries to science. ---
**Author:** ![Orual](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orual](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orual)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irresponsible-motherhood-recreational-outrage-i-guess/406314/33 "2007-06-01T15:25:31Z")
[QUOTE=Quoth the Raven] Oh piss off, I didn’t affirm her “lifestyle choice”. It’s stupid. But not genetic stupid, it’s **the kind of stupid you have to expect from people** who don’t really have anything better to hope for. [/QUOTE] I think that’s the most insulting thing I’ve read in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irresponsible-motherhood-recreational-outrage-i-guess/406314/34 "2007-06-01T15:33:31Z")
[QUOTE=Quoth the Raven] Thanks! Thats really helpful of you! No… wait… the other one… petty :rolleyes: I saw it, but I can’t edit, I’m a guest. [/QUOTE] Shame you didn’t see it in your earlier posts, then maybe you wouldn’t have repeated it. I don’t see any need to be helpful. Your fuckwittery is already getting a roasting without any need of my help. Still, why not? You think society’s to blame for not giving this rather fertile young woman a university education? You think she needed anything other than basic comprehension skills to realize it’s stupid and feckless to go around conceiving child after child after child when she can’t afford to feed and keep even one? Maybe she needed a university education to realize what was causing the continual pregnancies? And you think the only thing between the poverty trap she’s now in and a glittering career as a chief exec somewhere was the lack of a free university degree? Get real. :rolleyes: backatcha. ---
**Author:** ![Tibidabo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@Tibidabo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibidabo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irresponsible-motherhood-recreational-outrage-i-guess/406314/35 "2007-06-01T15:37:40Z")
[QUOTE=Orual] I think that’s the most insulting thing I’ve read in this thread. [/QUOTE] Haha!! Fine, you got me there, I see what you mean. :smack: Anyway I didn’t intend it to read like that, (as I imagine you well know) and it’s not how I feel. I’m having to type very quickly 'cos I’m at work, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irresponsible-motherhood-recreational-outrage-i-guess/406314/36 "2007-06-01T15:38:11Z")
[QUOTE=Telperien] And the woman of the OP has one point over Mrs. Duggar–she hasn’t given all her children stupid names that start with the same letter. Sadly, I think that is all that can be said in defense of her. [/QUOTE] IIRC, the Duggars, at least, seem capable of supporting their family. If only there was a way to help the kids through welfare and the like without enabling their dumbass parents. ---
**Author:** ![Tibidabo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@Tibidabo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibidabo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irresponsible-motherhood-recreational-outrage-i-guess/406314/37 "2007-06-01T15:39:26Z")
[QUOTE=Malacandra] Shame you didn’t see it in your earlier posts, then maybe you wouldn’t have repeated it. I don’t see any need to be helpful. Your fuckwittery is already getting a roasting without any need of my help. Still, why not? You think society’s to blame for not giving this rather fertile young woman a university education? You think she needed anything other than basic comprehension skills to realize it’s stupid and feckless to go around conceiving child after child after child when she can’t afford to feed and keep even one? Maybe she needed a university education to realize what was causing the continual pregnancies? And you think the only thing between the poverty trap she’s now in and a glittering career as a chief exec somewhere was the lack of a free university degree? Get real. :rolleyes: backatcha. [/QUOTE] As I said earlier, I was responding to one generalisation about welfare, not this case. I should apologise for the hijack, actually! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irresponsible-motherhood-recreational-outrage-i-guess/406314/38 "2007-06-01T15:42:43Z")
[QUOTE=Quoth the Raven] Christ :rolleyes: Didn’t think I’d have to spell it out. Yes, schools. Very Clever. Do you really believe dilapidated schools in rundown poverty-stricken areas provide the same oppurtunities as schools in more affluent areas, and private schools? I mostly meant University though. And don’t give me bull about how if they work really really extra hard they can get a scholarship. They could also win the lottery, woopdeee doo! Problem solved, I guess. [/QUOTE] In several states, if you can maintain a B average in high school and keep it up in college you get a free ride. Ought to be _extra_ easy to get Bs in those poor devastated school districts, don’t you think? Zsofia, proud graduate of South Carolina public schools ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irresponsible-motherhood-recreational-outrage-i-guess/406314/39 "2007-06-01T15:48:30Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] IIRC, the Duggars, at least, seem capable of supporting their family. If only there was a way to help the kids through welfare and the like without enabling their dumbass parents. [/QUOTE] Yes, but my point was that they have stupid names. 😃 They’re obviously well able to support their family–witness the big house they built for them. (The Duggars seem nice enough, but they creep me out a bit. It could be the matching clothes.) Perhaps helping the children could be made contingent on the parents getting work and shutting down the baby factory. I have a feeling that isn’t done, though. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irresponsible-motherhood-recreational-outrage-i-guess/406314/40 "2007-06-01T15:49:55Z")
**Quoth** , you’re making some good points here. The welfare system obviously has flaws, and the answer is not obvious in any way. I personally think a shot of Depo-Provera when you come to pick up your cheque would go a long way, but can’t interfere with people’s reproductive “rights,” you know, in spite of the people we’re discussing being willing to do nothing more with their lives than act like brood mares. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irresponsible-motherhood-recreational-outrage-i-guess/406314.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irresponsible-motherhood-recreational-outrage-i-guess/406314.md?page=3)