I don't believe in love as anything beyond a social construct. Love and subsequent monogamy is merely a construction of Judea-Christian beliefs. I am aware that there have been a multitude of societies that have believed in different types of marriage and family, namely polygamy or polyandry, or didn't believe in marriage and subsequent families at all. It seems ignorant that we would assume that our society automatically offers the best idea of family, which I talked about in "A Society of Evil Faces." So, it seems I have accepted that there is nothing particularly "right" about our system of family arrangement. I am pro-gay marriage and have absolutely nothing wrong with single parents. I simply can't help but ask myself if there is something wrong with a society in which 50% of marriages end in divorce.
I still feel as though losing this family construct will have a detrimental effect on our society. I don't know why. Maybe it is all the studies that show that children of two parent families, that is a mom and dad, tend to have lower rates of incarceration and addiction.
There are two hypothesis I have for these findings. My first idea is that these children are affected by the subliminal social belief that those without two parent families are abnormal and therefore are emotionally scarred. My second belief is that people growing up in poverty have higher chance of having a parent killed, and those in poverty (unfortunately) tend to find themselves back in the cycle of poverty, which often includes jail and drugs.
I don't, however, believe that I will never get married. There are lots of things that I accept as social constructs. I believe that the idea that one shouldn't euthanize is a social construct. I will not, however, become another Dr. Kevorkian. I think that's the reason that I feel so attracted to monogamy, I've become indoctrinated by the social construct of our families.
LOTS in here, Sam, as usual. Try to stick to ONE thing at a time because you are raising some very interesting and provocative questions that get easily muddled in this medium.
ReplyDeleteFor example, you argue that love is a "social construct". That's already enough to start a war. But then you jump to monogamy as a social construct as if the two (love and monogamy) are synonymous.
You need to cite a little more research and bring us back to our theme.
I can't wait until you meet your "true love" either next year or in college. Then come back to see me and we'll talk some more! :)