Adopting Foreign Children is a Cruel Joke
Adopting a child provides these feelings for a celebrity: superiority, willfulness, godliness, and cultural imperialism.
Although this individual act may be noble, and indeed, children are the "future", the underlying problems within the society have not been solved by that act of charity.
Adopting a baby does not create infrastructure in a country. Adopting a baby does not discourage the spread of AIDS. Adopting a baby does not provide clean drinking water for a village.
Adopting a baby saves one life; choosing that child is pretending to play God, even though it was probably done for sympathetic reasons.
And even though that adoption was meant to be an act of goodness, the native culture of the adopted child may have been caused serious harm by that act. Adoption of foreign children could be considered a form of international humiliation. Call it crass cultural imperialism. Imagine if a celebrity from another country came to America and adopted one of our children. What would our response be? I imagine people would find it repulsive and strange.
After a foreign child has been adopted, the celebrity can sit back and say "What a benefit I have made to the world!" This attitude contains a self-important subtext. As far as the actual benefits to the "world" that a celebrity has made, most of the time, they have simply acted in a few decent movies or are a musician.
Brad Pitt was in Thelma and Louise; Angelina Jolie was in Tomb raider. Madonna sang "Ray of Light". Apparently if you earn enough money, you deserve to have a say in international affairs, regardless of credentials.
Another effect of celebrities is the lessening of the tragic perception of the nations where they adopt.
We will recognize Cambodia as the land of adopted babies; not the land of children-warlords, the killing fields, and cold-war espionage.
Ethiopia will not be recognized as one of the birthplaces of Christianity, with the apocryphal bible and a rich heritage of trade and customs; no, we will remember Ethiopia as the land of the famine, the land where our coffee beans come from, and the land where you can adopt a baby if you're rich and famous.
Someday, historians will look at our era of decadence and futile suffering and wonder: "Why did people ever live this way?"
Published by Aster C. Lilly
Aster C. Lilly is a freelance writer living in Chicago, IL. He has a complex background and a working knowledge of hundreds of subjects, most of which are interesting. View profile
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8 Comments
Post a CommentMaybe u'r right and that child is lucky to have been adopted by anyone, let alone a celbrity, or anyone with more than enough money. But looking at the wealth and riches these people have is it not obvious they could do soo much more. Instead of just adopting one child could they not help the entire village by just providing just a few simple things. Helping build schools, invest in the local economy, anything? This way you are not just helping the one child, you are also helping al the others that could not be adopted. And besides you also help the people of the village fend for them selves. This way a lot op people will profit and not just one.
You know.. I think it's extremely ridiculous how everyone always brings up stupid and racist comments into everything. I am Mexican, and I lived there for nine years. Howevery; I was very fortunate to have a father who worried about giving us a better future and came to the United States to achieve that goal. He came with a green card first, then he was given the opportunity to become an American Resident. Soon after that, he became an American citizen and worked his way through to give us American Residencies too and bring us to the United States. Now, thanks to god I am an American citizen and I can have many more opportunities and achieve all of my dreams and goals; Why? because The United States gives it's ciitzens much support for everything; going to college, getting a home, loans for this, loans tor that...and more. And I have to say that one of my biggest dreams is to have children. I want to have biological children, but I also want to adopt a child from Ethiopia Af
You know.. I think it's extremely ridiculous how everyone always brings up stupid and racist comments into everything. I am Mexican, and I lived there for nine years. Howevery; I was very fortunate to have a father who worried about giving us a better future and came to the United States to achieve that goal. He came with a green card first, then he was given the opportunity to become an American Resident. Soon after that, he became an American citizen and worked his way through to give us American Residencies too and bring us to the United States. Now, thanks to god I am an American citizen and I can have many more opportunities and achieve all of my dreams and goals; Why? because The United States gives it's ciitzens much support for everything; going to college, getting a home, loans for this, loans tor that...and more. And I have to say that one of my biggest dreams is to have children. I want to have biological children, but I also want to adopt a child from Ethiopia Af
You know what, Adopting a child from another country may not save an entire Village, but it at least saves one life. This is how it is, WE TRY AND HELP AND SAVE PEOPLE 1 PERSON AT A TIME.
And Even if celebrities try and play "God" I am at least glad that the child they adopted will have a life that not everyone can have. And they should be blessed for that. Coming from no food for days, to a full stomach every night. THAT IS A FULFILLMENT,
WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING TO SAVE A PERSONS LIFE? even 1 life saved is a big deal.
I do know that there are children in the U.S. that need help too, but imagine if people stopped adopting internationally and only focusing on the children of America, America will be know for being "prejudice" and "racist".
This topic is way to deep. Grow Up. And not only celebrities are adopting from other countries, Regular normal people are too.
Yes, it's a tragedy of the times. Starving children being adopted from third-world countries into the loving arms of an American family that can provide anything the child needs or desires.
I must agree with Desiree. Even celeberities have every right to adopt. These children would never be adopted if they were not up for adoption in the first place. I am one that was thinking of adopting from another country as well or even from the USA. I have two children of my own but could not carry anymore because of health problems. It is an outlet for me to enjoy another baby and another baby to enjoy having a mom as well as a family.
I can see where you are coming from. I think that foreign born children miss out in some ways because they lose their language and culture when they are taken to another country.
Sophie
OMG! Thats outragous! Grow up! I have a girlfreind who is adopting a Ethopian baby and she is far from rich and famous. What is the problem if a rich and famous person does adopt also, there was nothing in there that lead to any facts. I'm sure what is running through their minds is that they have the money, resources, help and obvious love to properly care for these children! Not playing God. We can't save the world unless we take small steps and if it begins with saving one life what in the world could be wrong with that????