RACHEL THE DESTRUCTOR!
Bill O’Reilly’s knickers are in a twist. I’m not a fan, but I know enough to know that this is a general state for him – it’s also a genius way to garner press for his neo-con TV show, oops, sorry, I meant news tv show. Anyway, his latest beef is with Jennifer Aniston. Yes. I really typed that. I’m thinking it must have been a very slow news cycle in the world of Billy boy. So, his problem is with her latest statement that women don’t need a man to have/raise a child. In essence, that in today’s modern age, women have more options than to just wait around for the perfect guy.
He claims – angrily and aghast of course - that she is sending the wrong message to teens, i.e. ‘you don’t need a guy or a dad,’ and this message is destructive to society as it glamorizes single parenthood...Oh PLEASE. Bill, with respect, calm the heck down. This is Rachel from friends we're talking about. What is destructive to society is father’s walking out on their kids, or child abuse, or how about good old fashioned drug addiction...or reality shows. How about what they’ve done to the fabric of society! I’d be much more worried about my teens looking up to Paris Hilton and that over plasticized Heidi creature than choosing to raise a child on their own. Let’s get some perspective Bill shall we?
From where I sit, Jennifer Aniston saying that in this day and age women don’t need a man to have a child is kind of stating the obvious. Cause, well, we don’t. I’m not saying the normal route isn’t preferable, but if a woman does not find herself in the position to have a child with a partner at the necessary time (we women have a clock Bill, and once it starts ticking there is no shutting that thing up; guy or no guy), there are plenty of alternatives that result in perfectly happy healthy families. Then again, I suppose it depends on how one defines family. From the sounds of it, Bill defines it as the traditional nuclear family with 2 kiddies, a dog, and a white picket fence. More importantly, I think women have enough pressure on them in life let alone finding the perfect guy to have the perfect family with at the perfect time. For some sadly it just doesn’t happen that way. I consider myself very lucky to have found a man to raise a child with, trust me. But if I had wanted a child and hadn’t come across my man, I would’ve had no problem zipping down to Haiti and picking up a cute little orphan.
Besides, they say women do 80% of the heavy lifting when it comes to child rearing anyway. Don’t get me wrong I know some amazingly involved, active fathers. But saying that, I think I know more uninvolved fathers – or downright absent ones, that make me think that the good men out there need to sort out the rest of their gender.
So Bill, take heed, society is not in freefall because of single women raising kids. In fact, the single parents that I know that raised children (my partner’s mother included) did it to such an amazing degree, they made it look easy and they deserve a freaking medal. I’m not saying it WAS easy; I’m saying it can be done, and often times it is done far better than a two-parent household.
All this said, the cynic in me is wondering if Bill and Jen were in cahoots this week to promote her film and his TV show; ratings must be slipping.