Friday, January 9, 2009

Media Idiocy of the Week [Serge]

This may be a recurring theme, for there seems to be no shortage of material.

A recent study showed that there was a 3% increase in teen births nationwide in 2006, unfortunately ending a fifteen year trend of decreasing birth rates. No one really knows the reasons for this slight increase, and it may be a data aberration, but the media has a good idea what is causing this problem:

Some advocates also wonder whether the rise is tied to a growing depiction of young girls giving birth as acceptable in fictional and real-life dramas.

Bristol Palin, the 18-year-old daughter of Republican vice presidential nominee and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, got pregnant out of wedlock and recently gave birth to a boy.
Now the conception of new human life is truly a miracle, but it seems Bristol's child has power we had never dreamed of. This child has the power to turn back time and effect the sexual behavior of teens two years before he was conceived! That little guy is powerful!

Meanwhile, in the nationwide press (USA Today) we have a similar retroactive explanation. One of the reasons for the uptick in teen births could be a lower abortion rate. Not so says an "expert" in preventing teen pregnancy:

Sarah Brown, CEO of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, says she is less inclined to believe abortion is driving higher teen birth rates and suggests that increases in high-profile unmarried births in Hollywood, movies and even politics is a significant factor for impressionable teens.
Her evidence for this assertion? You guessed it:

"In the last couple of years, we had Jamie Lynn Spears. We had Juno and we had Bristol Palin. Those three were in 2007 and 2008 and not in 2005 to 2006, but they point to that phenomenon," she says.
Wow. She even realizes that the years don't add up but she can't help herself. This seems more like something that should run through your head before you actually say something and not a quote given to a nationwide newspaper. I'm sure the teens who became pregnant in 2006 were thinking that maybe an Alaska governor's daughter will become pregnant in the future. Just brilliant.

Next up: Goodfellas and the Sopranos must have influenced the crimes of Al Capone.

1 comment:

  1. Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston does have unbelievable powers. What else could you expect from a child whose grandmother can field dress a moose and whose grandfather is fastest snowmobile driver in Alaska? Next to that, effecting the pregnancies of teen girls before he was conceived is nothing.

    ReplyDelete

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