Our Anti-Child Culture

I previously wrote about the anti-child movement, but most of the movement, as I knew it at the time, was fringe groups that had a small sphere of influence. The groups included radical environmentalists who believe humans need to be eradicated and those that want to have a lot of fun and think kids are a distraction.

But, I was wrong, because the trend isn't just fringe groups. A recent article shows how mainstream the movement is becoming and it is a very disturbing trend. Here is a snip:

"Call me a grinch, a misanthrope, a DINK (dual-income-no-kids), or the anti-cute-police, but I hate (hate a thousand times over) ill-behaved children/infants/screaming banshees in upscale restaurants (ok, anywhere, really, but I don’t want any death threats)," writes Charlotte Savino on Travel and Leisure's blog. She lists a slew of a popular destination restaurants with kid-free areas and policies for travelers looking for quiet vacation dining.

Traveling is one thing, but what about in kids' own hometowns? Should kids been banned from local movie theaters, like they were at a recent adults-only Harry Potter screening? In Texas, one cinema chain has even flipped the model, banning kids under six altogether, except on specified "baby days".

Even running errands with toddlers may be changing. This summer Whole Foods stores in Missouri are offering child-free shopping hours (kids are allowed inside but childcare service is available for parents who want to shop kid-free.) Meanwhile in Florida, a controversy brews over whether kids can be banned from a condominium's outdoor area. That's right, some people don't even want kids outdoors.

I echo the article's author when she asks, "When did kids become the equivalent of second-hand smoke?"

What a tragedy, our future interfering with our present pleasures. Another example of the me-first, pleasure-seeking, damn-you-if-you-get-in-my-way attitude that has filled our culture. We are a spoiled culture of people that has forgotten the value of humanity. Where does it come from? It comes from a God-less world view that tells us the ultimate purpose of life is to eliminate pain and maximize pleasure as much as possible, because pleasure is the greatest of all goods.

The sad thing is that if pleasure is the greatest thing there is in life, there is no hope. Without hope in the future our culture has no future.

This is why Catholics must offer the alternative world view that the purpose of life is much more grand and that we are all made for something much better.

We must bring the antidote to our culture which is killing itself and everyone who lives by it's laws of pleasure.