Are people stupid? More specifically, are women stupid? Last night I watched Tonight with Trevor Macdonald and they were focusing on FAS (fetal alcohol syndrome) and women who drink through pregnancy.
A stupid 60% of women drink throughout their pregnancy which increases (and is ‘incidentally’ the only cause) of fetal alcohol syndrome.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is basically when the fetus is unable to develop properly due to the intake of alcohol. It can cause physical deformities (such as flat mouths and droopy eyes), physical ailments (slow growth and inability to digest food) and mental deformities (the inability to mature and comprehend information normally assumed of the ‘x’ age).
Drinking alcohol while you’re pregnant impacts the baby’s development (DUH!) in the same way as medication, poison and drugs (legal and illegal). So while most people (other than crack hoes, self-harm addicts, Munchhausen syndrome sufferers or hypochondriacs) would use common sense and realise that what can harm you as an adult (long-term or short-term) can definitely harm your undeveloped child, why is it that this realisation isn’t translated in to reality? So why on earth would you CONTINUE drinking while you are pregnant.
On the programme there were interviews with a whole array of women. Most of them were drinking throughout their pregnancy, in what they called, diminished quantities. Now the government recommends 4 units per week and in small doses. Most of these women were drinking about 9 units per week.
Their excuse?! Their doctor didn’t tell them. They didn’t get/read the government booklet which advises pregnant women. I mean what lame-ass excuse is that! You are capable, I assume, of engaging your brain then do it. Do you need a booklet to tell you that you shouldn’t be jumping off tall buildings while pregnant? Sorry let me rephrase, most people, it would seem, need their hands held throughout their life. It’s the most pathetic thing ever.
There was an 18 year old who basically annoyed me with her dress sense and her Godforsaken illiterate remarks and accent. I mean she should be one of those people who should be sterilised at birth. She was partying and clubbing and she was pregnant. You’re pregnant, which means you should now be acting like a responsible adult because now someone else is dependent on you, for everything.
Women have had children at 18 for centuries so it’s not that at 18 you are immature. It’s just that then, women were smarter and had a pretty good idea of what they should be doing. They were mature. They didn’t assume and expect everything to be done for them. And they realised they couldn’t continue their lives they way had before. They had to behave responsibly.
Modern 18 year olds don’t seem to know that. They basically live the pathetic decadent and drunk student life. All well and good but don’t try and incorporate that with pregnancy. Your child deserves better. In fact they need better. It’s not even a question of choice.
There was also a 20 year old who was interviewed and she irritated me considerably. She went out with friends and had a drink a night when she went with friends because she felt ‘left out’. What are you? 12? You are feeling left out so do as stupid does? Christ! Do you not have a back bone to not give into peer pressure? I have friends who drink to get drunk, I am not pregnant but I don’t drink to get drunk. I don’t need to. If I don’t want to drink I won’t. If I want I will. I don’t answer for my behaviour to people around me because quite frankly I am surrounded by idiots.
My point being, act your freaking age and if you can’t, don’t get pregnant. Engage your brain and common sense and know and do what is right. Don’t sit there twiddling your thumbs and hoping for the bloody best outcome. Un-bloody-believable.
I am 20 years old. I am also pretty responsible and well-behaved 20 year-old. No drugs. No cigarettes. Minimal alcohol intake. No partying. My idea of fun is reading, going to watch films and walks at night. Still this does not mean I am capable of bringing a child into this world and looking after it. I like children (in limited doses and only the ones I actually have any affinity to – which is a grand total of 2 at present) but I don’t want them. I am not responsible enough.
So what makes an 18 year old who parties and drinks think she is? If you can’t give up your life style for a few months then you are never going to give it up. A child is hard work and you basically give your life up for it. I couldn’t do that. Neither can most people at my age.
It’s a good thing I don’t run any country or society. Everyone would be screened and have their DNA profiled and find whether they had acceptable parental genes. If not, sterilize the idiot. Stalinistic approach and granted that some might slip through the cracks but it would minimise stupidity on children. I am not saying sterilise people who might give birth to deformed children. That’s fine. What I won’t accept is the willingness to inflict suffering on your own child so they end up having a terrible life.
The American government issues health labels on all alcohol bottles warning pregnant mothers. So someone is telling me that it requires warning labels, leaflets and guides in order to bring anybody upto being a barely adequate parent? What on earth is wrong with you people! You need everything spelt out for you? Are you that stupid? 16 years of education (18 in America) and you still can’t figure out what’s a good idea and a bad idea?
What about the child’s human right to live a happy and healthy life? If the people in question can make the decision and decide the fate about the unborn child’s life, I personally feel that other people can decide the fates of those people.
What gives you the right to impose upon someone else’s life? Especially one that can’t talk or fight for itself.
