Subject:
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Re: Family values?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Sun, 7 Jan 2001 22:00:26 GMT
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Viewed:
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371 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Dave Schuler writes:
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Christopher L. Weeks writes:
> > In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Maggie Cambron writes:
> >
> > > I agree that the man is taking the hit in this case, and he definitely has
> > > my sympathy, but the greatest consideration should be given to the child.
> >
> > Why?
>
> More specifically, why should the child be given greater consideration than
> a more-or-less arbitrarily chosen man? Remember--in this thought experiment
> we're not discussing a man who has agreed knowingly to act as the
> father-figure for the child of another man, and who thereafter abandons the
> child; we're talking about a man who has been deceived--deliberately or
> not--into accepting financial and moral responsibility for a deadbeat's
> offspring.
Once the man is known as Dad in the child's eyes, he is no longer just another
man. As to why the child should be given greater consideration, even if you
don't believe it is the right thing to do, from a pragmatic standpoint it is
better for society as a whole if the child is raised to be as well-adjusted as
possible, and if the father is willing to abruptly walk away from a
father-child relationship that developed over years, he will cause emotional
trauma to the child that could be avoided were he not to be so rejecting. The
man is already hurt by the discovery that he is not the genetic father. This
discovery and the pain that goes with it cannot be undone. Why cause additional
pain to someone else if it can be avoided?
Maggie C.
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Family values?
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| (snipped, but I don't think unduely so) (...) At the same time, society has already invested a great deal of resources into the adult and almost none into the kid. From the point of view of "society," doesn't it make more sense to value the adult? (...) (24 years ago, 8-Jan-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Family values?
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| (...) More specifically, why should the child be given greater consideration than a more-or-less arbitrarily chosen man? Remember--in this thought experiment we're not discussing a man who has agreed knowingly to act as the father-figure for the (...) (24 years ago, 7-Jan-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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