(no subject)

[apocalypsos]

So I'm back from Hitchhiker's Guide, and can I just say how brutally disappointed I was that instead of the Serenity trailer on the big screen, I got The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl? Bite me, movie theater employees. Grrrr.

But then the movie started, and yea, it made me giggle and snerk for two hours. I was horribly tempted to reread the book before I went to see it, since I haven't read it in years, but I decided against it because I had a feeling I'd like it if I just let myself go with it and didn't nitpick. And yay, I loved it. Especially Ford, because Mos Def was just way too cool, and Marvin. (Marvin! *squeals, then hugs the poor, depressed android*) Also, I want a Hitchhiker's Guide ... right now. No, now. Seriously, GIMME.

Then I went to Borders and committed minor acts of commerce. I finally got around to picking up a copy of Lucifer's Hammer, which everybody and their brother has suggested to me, and I picked up the new Lynn Kurland book. Which, okay, they're pretty much all the same, but there's time travel nearly every time, which is my other bulletproof non-sexual kink in stories.

I also have strawberry banana yogurt, so, you know, I've got that going for me.

Oh, and did I mention the dumbass kid at the metro who jumped onto the tracks between trains to pick up some loose change that somebody else must have tossed down there? And then he crawled back onto the platform and showed his findings to somebody else as if they were going to be impressed.

Somebody else's pocket contents: forty-three cents.
A copy of the next volume of "The Darwin Awards" with your name in it to proudly present to your parents: fifteen dollars.
A mop, some soap, and a bucket of water: twenty bucks.
Having to be squeegeed off a metro platform after you've been creamed by a yellow-line train: priceless.

EDIT: *headsmack*

OTHER EDIT: Am watching A Series of Unfortunate Events while I work on editing The Monsters of Moosic. I know it's pretty obvious considering I have two icons on her, but Sunny is SO my favorite. :)

Comments

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Personally, I don't think they're going to force her to raise a baby. Of course, forcing or anyone to carry a child against her wishes is still revolting, and to do so to a thirteen-year-old is even worse.

[lots42.livejournal.com]

Someone has to make the decisions for the 13 year old, she's too young to.

If the baby is going to fuck up the 13 year old's body [1], abort away.

[1] This situation is horribly fucked no matter what happens.

[sesana]

According to Florida state law, as per that article, she doesn't have to consult anybody about whether to abort. Minors in Florida don't have to seek parental permission. You may think she's too young to make that decision, as the judge in this case obviously does (I think she's too young for this entire situation, but that isn't the point), but legally, she isn't.

So, assuming that the judge here has his way and gets to dictate to this girl whether or not she will bear the child, will he stop his involvement there? Or will he then decide what ought to be done with the child itself, since she's obviously too young to make that decision?

[fyrdrakken]

Someone has to make the decisions for the 13 year old, she's too young to.

This is a thing I have issues with in our culture, that children's ability to make their own choices is often completely withheld until they reach 18 and then suddenly foisted on them with no practice in considering serious consequences or their own futures. Which is why so many college kids kind of go nuts, away from parental authority for the first time in their lives and with no practice in being treated like an adult or someone genuinely approaching adulthood. And I see a lot of adolescent problems that are caused by their parents or other authority figures around them treating them as not just incompetent to make their own decisions but unfit to have a say in the decisions that are made for them.

Granted, I've seen some teenagers (and, frankly, some people in their 20s) making horribly immature decisions. (It's a chicken-and-egg question how much irresponsible behavior is reinforced and encouraged by the refusal to allow adolescents to accept responsibility until it is foisted upon them with their legal majority, or how much it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that "Kids that age can't make their own decisions" when they aren't allowed to make any more serious decisions than what clothes to wear to school -- and not even that any more in some districts.)

The fact that this girl is pregnant at that age proves that she hasn't exactly been a model of clear thinking and careful evaluation of potential consequences. But I have some issues with flat, "She's too young to make decisions," statements largely because they exemplify the harmful mindset that treats children as property rather than as sentient beings.

That being said, I take comfort from reading that the injunction is only temporary and for the stated purpose of psychological evaluation to assess the girl's state of mind and capacity to decide upon this procedure. She isn't being flatly forbidden (yet), people are just looking into the matter to see if enough thought is being put into this.