Welcome to another installment of Man-day from Jen’s husband Jen’s Guy
I don’t know how many of you have heard the interview with Professor Adam Swift from the University of Warwick in England on Australia’s national broadcasting system the ABC-
“Wait, a guy from England on an Australian radio show? Why should I care?”
Yeah, I promise I’ll make this worth it. Hang in there.
Anyway, this scholar has a message for you.
“I don’t think parents reading their children bedtime stories should constantly have in their minds the way that they are unfairly disadvantaging other people’s children, but I think they should have that thought occasionally,” he said.
So at first, I’m:
Then I thought Ahhh, Swift, like Jonathan Swift, the famous English Satirist (OK, he was Anglo-Irish. But that is close enough to England to be part of the joke.) We are all being had. This was left over from April Fools.
Only, Nope. Apparently this guy has a following, and they are going to philosophically define the best way possible for you to have a relationship with your children.
“What we realised we needed was a way of thinking about what it was we wanted to allow parents to do for their children, and what it was that we didn’t need to allow parents to do for their children, if allowing those activities would create unfairnesses for other people’s children.”
From this statement, I have already made a series of judgements about Mr. (I’m not calling him Doctor) Swift. First he is undoubtedly “bluetooth guy”, and is currently shouting at nobody you can see while in line in front of you at the grocery store. Nobody with that much self importance can escape being bluetooth guy.
Next, this guy should not be allowed anywhere near a functioning educational system. Any guy this hyper-obsessed about equality of educational outcome will destroy the hopes, dreams, and fun of ALL of the students, Kind of like the anti Robin Williams in Dead Poet’s Society.
Get down from those desks! Jimmy has equilibrium issues and could feel intimidated and devalued!
And finally, this guy needs to be mocked. Consistently, relentlessly, unmercifully mocked at every opportunity. Honestly, he has published half a dozen books on subjects like this and if we are going to survive as a society, people like this cannot be taken seriously, nor can we afford any accommodation with them.
I’m generally an easygoing guy. But Family is one of those things I’ll defend to the death. If I could safely grant my children the powers of x-ray vision, super strength and the ability to fly, I would do it. In a heart beat. They are my children, my responsibility, my life. My success in life is completely intertwined with their future.
They could all still be Batman at least.
I understand that some other parents may not feel that way, but I’m willing to bet that most do. We need to be left alone. If you want to wield the sword of Social Justice, work with those who haven’t caught the parenting vision yet. It is a more difficult path to reach those who are too indifferent to care and help them to improve themselves rather than to use the power of government and regulation to control and browbeat those who are doing a fine job parenting already. Fight THAT battle. It will be lonely and not offer the same opportunities for power and graft, but it is eventually the place where actual good can be done.
In the meantime, Mr. Swift, you will NOT be “thinking about what it was we wanted to allow parents to do for their children, and what it was that we didn’t need to allow parents to do for their children” without severe pushback. On your personal site Mr. Swift, I see that you are already backing away from these comments and are claiming you were “misrepresented”. I read six different articles that you authored and they are very much in favor of setting parental limits with children based on “equality”. A philosophical purpose for family organization isn’t really needed. Not authored by you, anyway.
And keep an eye open everyone. Since this article came to my attention, I have noticed Mr. Swift’s tone and philosophy is not as obscure as I would have believed. I stopped researching at one point because, frankly, it was kind of freaking me out.
I guess I’ll have to read two books at bedtime tonight to balance everything out. Because I’m extreme like that. . .
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