Mike Doughney

Another day, another diary and comment thread on Daily Kos that again shows that when it comes to matters of reproduction, Americans are incapable of rational thought.

The troll-rating is as usual widely abused to squelch certain kinds of opinions when they involve personal matters.

The relevant excerpt from the diarist:

So, then we try to adopt. We want an infant. We don’t specify race, ethnicity, or whatever, we just want an infant, because we want to raise a baby. After considering some options, we decided we wanted a domestic adoption. Well…. the rules (at least then) would not ALLOW us (a White couple) to adopt a Black child! You read that right. So, we join groups, and we wait. We get an 800 line installed. We publish ads. We do a lot.

We get a call from Texas. A pregnant teen saw our ad and wants us to adopt her baby. HURRAY! We fly down to Texas. We see the baby. Adorable! Cute! A baby! We hold the baby. The mom signs the papers. But where is the bio-dad? Off in Oklahoma. He says he’ll sign. But then he can’t find a fax machine. Then the mom decides she wants the baby herself.

Bye bye baby.

I almost committed suicide over that (thanks to my wife for stopping me).

I’m not doing that again.

We have two kids by artificial insemination. We chose the donor father from a book. They’re our kids.

My replies, since hidden by the diarist and others:

• “I almost committed suicide over that” (2+ / 4-)

  Because you lost the opportunity to buy someone else’s kid? Because you got attached to something that was never legally yours? Boo-hoo.This diary is just another example of how Americans are completely bonkers about reproductive matters and how people get it into their heads that they’ve just gotta get their hands on a kid (usually someone else’s) at almost any cost.

  Infertility never entitled you to someone else’s kid. Feigning suicide just drives home the fact that you have real entitlement issues.

  Biblical America Resistance Front
  “Resisting The Biblical America”

  by Mike Doughney on Mon Jun 29, 2009 at 09:12:37 AM PDT

  • Were you abandoned at childbirth? (0+ / 0-)

    by Purple Hazer on Mon Jun 29, 2009 at 09:38:23 AM PDT

    [ Parent ]

    • No, but my adopted partner was (n/t) (1+ / 0-)

      Biblical America Resistance Front
      “Resisting The Biblical America”

      by Mike Doughney on Mon Jun 29, 2009 at 09:40:32 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

    • No but he was dropped on his head (0+ / 0-)

      and the empathy leaked out.

      Artificial insemination is NOT perverse. Exclamation point
      is now open

      by plf515 on Mon Jun 29, 2009 at 09:58:56 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  • “Buy” someone else’s kid? Adoption is the same to (2+ / 0-)

    you as buying a kid? That’s warped.

    The mother was planning to give that baby up for adoption. She changed her mind. The diarist didn’t deny she had the right to change her mind.

    But when you want a child and are told you can adopt this child, and you hold the child in your arms, yes indeed, you are likely to attach to that child. Those emotional/instinctive reactions don’t wait for legal validation.

    This comment is pointlessly heartless.

    by Fiona West on Mon Jun 29, 2009 at 09:48:56 AM PDT

    [ Parent ]

    • Threatening suicide is… what? (0+ / 0-)

      “The diarist didn’t deny she had the right to change her mind.” No, but he goes around after the fact and says shit like that? I’m supposed to simply ignore his theatrics?

      So you get to hold a child, it’s marketed to you, and just because of that you assume it’s yours, and that’s okay?

      And you call me, “heartless.” Treating someone else’s kid as your property just because you assumed an adoption might go through sure sounds like heartlessness to me, but that of course is directed at other adults often rendered invisible, not some idealized infant.

      The woman gets to change her mind until she signs the papers (and even after that in most states) and threatening suicide because she changed her mind is simply madness.

      Biblical America Resistance Front
      “Resisting The Biblical America”

      by Mike Doughney on Mon Jun 29, 2009 at 10:01:29 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

Update: A reply from someone in charge at Daily Kos:

Return-Path: <dkoscommunity@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:19:16 -0700
Message-ID: <68fe6c0f0906291119o363510e1kc4dcd46f2a832a68@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [DKos Community] Mass troll-rating abuse
From: Tim Lange <dkoscommunity@gmail.com>
To: mike@….net

The diarist did not “threaten suicide.” And the HRs are clearly within the
guidelines.

On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 10:25 AM, <mike@….net> wrote:

> Thought you should take a look at
> http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2009/6/29/725/18020/151#c151
>
> The diarist openly talked about threatening suicide after being denied an
> infant for adoption, and it is completely within bounds to address that.
>

To which I reply:

And the diarist replying that “By your logic you should commit suicide
immediately” is OK. Gotcha.

http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2009/6/29/725/18020/197#c197

Time to avoid wasting time on your site.