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I have been doing a lot of quick
updating of my life in my The other thing I mentioned on my club page was that my fellow camgirl Anarchista aka Kari has decided to end her cyber persona. This is sad for me because I was addicted to her site, as I am with http://khava.com--they were the two webgirls that I know and follow who I have happen to have met in person. I was hoping to see Kari go towards web stardom, and I could say "I knew her when." Jaffo, another cyber persona, recently ended his site, so I am wondering if this is the wave of the future. Weirdly enough Kari's departure comes about right after her opening a members only site which she was making money off of. Also, the episode that she was on the Ricki Lake show will be shown soon. Right now her site is still up, so if you want anything from it, check it out soon at http://anarchista.com. The one thing I wish she had done differently in this departure was to not have ended her Yahoo! club so soon and abruptly. I think her fans (including me) needed time to mourn, and to say our goodbyes. During this past week I have also been participating in a debate on the email list objectivism-l about Elian Gonzales. Here are the two posts I wrote: Post #1: I was wondering what people on the list thought about this week's events surrounding Elian Gonzales. When the whole thing started, I thought Elian Gonzales should stay here in the United States, basically because I didn't think someone his age should be sent back to Cuba alone. However, now that his father is coming here, I think that Elian should go with his father, whether it is here, or to Cuba. I think this issue is a complicated one, partly because it is so unique, and because the parental rights issues are muddled by politics. I tried to look at this case minus the Cuba issue, first of all. If Elian's father lived in Virginia, Elian would automatically go back there. However, I think that the only thing anti-Castro groups are seeing is the fact that Cuba is involved. The issue for them then is that Elian's mom sacrificed her life to give him freedom. I think this view makes the assumption that no one could in their own freewill live in Cuba. I think that there is a chance that Jose Gonzales might defect. Yes, his family is vulnerable back in Cuba, but that is true of anyone who defects. However, he might chose to go back to Cuba, and if this is true, we should respect his wishes, and not interfere with the raising of his child. I thought of how Ayn Rand had her sister from Russia visit, and how she could not handle all the choices that were in this country (e.g. the number of brands of toothpaste in a supermarket made the sister go almost catatonic). Jose Gonzales has a good life, friends and family, and he might not want to make any change. I think it is possible to become acclimated to a Communist country--think of We the Living, and one of Kay Nolte Smith's novels--but the anti-Castro people don't want to acknowledge this. Back to substracting Cuba from this situation, I thought of the fact that if Elian was from a gang-infested, impovershished area of Miami, no court would take the child if he was treated fine by his parents. Welfare mothers have lots of children, and no court interferes. A bad external environment is not enough for a family court to get involved--and I don't think it should in this case either. I think that this issue should be interesting to Objectivists, and I certainly like to hear back especially from people who disagree with me. Melissa Miles P.S.: This should go on the BKS list, but I wanted to mention that the new series Wonderland is a great show. The second episode was on last night, Thurs. 9-10pm (central time) on ABC. It does to mental hospitals what ER did to emergency rooms. Post #2 I am going to try to reply to the various posts commenting on my views about Elian Gonzales. Tom Hall <tlhall@royal.net> points out that "I don't think I know enough about the whole story to be able to really make a judgement." I agree. I have read more than one conflicting account of the background of Elian, the relationship he had with his father, the nature of the mother/father relationship, and what the custody originally was. Tom goes on to say that, "as I understand the story, Elian's parents were on a boat that "illegally" (without govnt permission) left Cuba with people who wanted to escape to the US, and his father knew it." It was an illegal escape for two reasons--against Cuba and the US immigration law. Not all people who land on the shores of Florida or are rescued by the Coast Guard are allowed entry into the US. Many are sent back to their home country, whether it is Cuba, Haiti, or another place. I definitely disagree with his statement that "I think that his real parents - the ones actually raising him as opposed to his biological parents - should decide where he should live and with whom. Since his real parents risked, and actually lost their lives in order to get him here, I assume that they'd want him to stay, even without them." This is a contradiction, his "real" parents, i.e. the one's raising him, did not risk their lives to get him here. One of his biological parents did, and the other did not. His father supposedly knew of the plans, and he did not choose to go. And as I understand it, he did not know that his son was to be taken, nor did he agree to this. In our country, this is called kidnapping. RTPLaw1@aol.com writes, "From what I've heard, he would prefer to remain in Florida, where his personal living conditions are much better than in the poverty which socialism ensures in Cuba." We do not know that he thinks this. Nor do we decide on the basis of a 6 year old's perceptions. And I think it is ridiculus to make decisions based on his ability to go to Disneyland (as another poster claimed) as a reason to keep him here. We can make this an economic issue if you want, but it isn't just socialism that causes poverty, but the embargo against Cuba. If this embargo had ended years ago I bet you that Cuba would be sharing the same freedom that Russia has now. We do not lure children away from their parents with visions of a happy meal. Let me point out, the child is not the ward of the state. He has a parent. Under family law, he should go to the parent left living. We are not in the position, legally or ethically, to decide what is best for this child. If the shoe was on the other foot, and a child was left in Cuba with a parent here in the US, would we believe that Castro has the legal right to hold onto that child because of the evilness of the US? Many people live in Cuba who are miserable, yes. But many also believe that this misery is caused by the US and their economic policy. Unlike in Russia, the Communist experiment has not ended. They believe that it would succeed, if only the US would not starve them. Ironically, they want free trade with the US, which would probably end the experiment anyway. Teresa L. Summerlee writes "What the government giveth, the government can taketh away. Have you learned nothing from Rand?" First of all, this is an offensive comment. Just because I disagree with _you_ (and not neccessarily Rand--we don't know her opinion on this case) doesn't mean I haven't learned anything from Rand. In fact, I believe the fact that I am thinking about this issue without coming to an emotional conclusion (UP with Happy Meals!) means I have learned something from Rand. Regardless, I have NOT agreed with everything Rand has said, especially when it comes to politics. And let me say one more thing. I think that people of Cuba are not comparing the current lives with that of Americans. They are comparing their lives with the state of Cuba in the beginning of this century. The country of Cuba was basically feudal. They NEVER went through a capitalist stage. They had no taste of freedom to compare their lives to. So are we going to teach them, "What the government giveth, the government can taketh away." with the giving being parental rights, and the taking being Elian? Thanks for the good discussion. Respectfully, Melissa Miles Anyway, it is time for me to go to sleep. Have a good day! Melissa 04/13/00 12:08:30 AM |
