Celebrate Divorce?
Atop the front page of the Huffington Post is a collection of tabs that feature the regular topics covered by the site. Politics, Business, Media, Entertainment, Sports, Food, Travel, Religion, Education are among the subject headings. Can you spot the missing heading?
Divorce.
But fret not -- divorce is a topic that will be ignored by HuffPo no longer! Continuing its expansion into new regularly featured subjects, the Huffington Post is launching a new section devoted entirely to the topic of divorce. Delia Lloyd of AOL's Politics Daily asks, "What took you so long?"
After all...marriage is at a historic low in the United States. And while U.S. divorce rates have declined slightly with respect to their all-time high in the early 1980s, they are still high by international standards.
[W]e are witnessing a shift wherein divorce is now firmly a part of our cultural zeitgeist, rather than eternally outside it. And thank goodness for that....
[B]y making divorce something we talk about within a mainstream cultural publication the way we routinely address issues like relationships and marriage, we will be normalizing those discussions and lessening the stigma.
Is the purpose of the Huffington Post's new divorce vertical to normalize the discussion of divorce, or to normalize divorce itself? Frankly, either seems a sad goal to which to aspire. I don't mean to suggest that an honest discussion of divorce isn't worthwhile; we'd be well served by exploring the deleterious effects of divorce on children, families and communities. But I'm skeptical that the Huffington Post, with its very evident tendency toward social liberalism and moral complacency would discuss the topic in anything short of a celebratory tone. All of this said, I've admittedly never been divorced (let alone married), so perhaps I'm failing to see the deep value in Arianna's latest endeavor.
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Aug '10
Re: Celebrate Divorce?
The Huffington Post is a mainstream cultural publication?
May '10
Re: Celebrate Divorce?
While this is no laughing matter...this is one race that Mr. Breitbart did not win. I don't think Big Divorce is even close to a launch yet.
Re: Celebrate Divorce?
Misthiocracy: The Huffington Post is a mainstream cultural publication? · Oct 6 at 10:16am
I was shocked by your comment and went back to see where on earth I'd written that. Relieved to see I hadn't.
The Huffington Post is mainstream in the same way that the Daily Kos is mainstream.
May '10
Re: Celebrate Divorce?
As sickening as this is (makes me want to vomit), it's just the next step in the evolution of our culture.
The other day we were trying to enjoy a nice Froyo cup, but we were nearly driven away from the place, when "I Kissed A Girl" (a celebration of bisexual experimentation, in case you've managed to miss it) began playing loudly over the radio. When this kind of stuff is mainstream and people merely shrug at it, our culture is definitely in the toilet and our society is in decline.
Edited on Oct 6, 2010 at 11:07amMay '10
Re: Celebrate Divorce?
Divorce is so '90's.
No one Really Cool bothers to get married these days. It kind of cramps the style, y'know?
I will say that marriage is kind of losing out these days to weddings. It seems to me that so many couples pour all their energy and resources into the wedding (Dr. Laura famously referred to "Queen for a Day") and next to nothing into the marriage itself.
Edited on Oct 6, 2010 at 11:15amAug '10
Re: Celebrate Divorce?
Diane Ellis, Ed.
I was shocked by your comment... · Oct 6 at 10:24am
Sorry about that! I wouldn't want to be the cause for a writer's heart attack!
;-)
Jun '10
Re: Celebrate Divorce?
For several years I held an ecclesiastical position that required me to counsel couples with marital problems, and children dealing with the divorce of their parents.
I learned two things. First, no divorce, no matter how civilized and no matter how hard the parents try to make it easy on their children, is inconsequential (especially on the children). It always hurts the children.
Second, I was shocked at how quickly couples play the divorce card instead of trying to save their marriages. For many, it's becoming the first option and not the last. Marriage and raising kids is hard, but it's worth it--and marriages are worth trying to save.
The breakdown of families is, in my humble view, the quickest, surest way to cultural and civilizational decline.
May '10
Re: Celebrate Divorce?
Why is it that when conservatives talk about freedom it revolves around the wallet and when liberals talk about freedom it revolves around genitalia?
Everything has a sex angle. Freedom from getting pregnant during sex, freedom from being pregnant after sex, freedom from marrying the guy you had sex with, freedom to become just like the guy you had sex with, freedom from getting AIDS with the guy you just had sex with.... It goes on and on and on. And ideally, getting the "rich" to pay for it all!
Aug '10
Re: Celebrate Divorce?
That's going on the "favourite quotes" section of my Facebook profile.
Aug '10
Re: Celebrate Divorce?
The World of Mrs. McGreevey column . The long,lonesome list of Picasso biographers ? Not sleeping with Al Franken.
Arianna Stassinopoulos has come a long way.
Aug '10
Re: Celebrate Divorce?
Duane Oyen:
I will say that marriage is kind of losing out these days to weddings. It seems to me that so many couples pour all their energy and resources into the wedding (Dr. Laura famously referred to "Queen for a Day") and next to nothing into the marriage itself.
The book "Unmarried Couples with Children" talks about this problem as it relates to poorer families. Many poorer people apparently see marriage as the crowning achievement of adulthood rather than a point of departure. They therefore apparently believe that weddings must be lavish, expensive affairs that show economic achievement -- that if they're not, they're not "real" weddings.
This is rather sad, when all it takes to get married is the small fee for the license and simply showing up at the registrar's together, and even a very nice wedding can be had without too much money or planning if you make canny decisions and don't get too ambitious. (As a matter of fact, I've found cheaper weddings more enjoyable because people act more relaxed and human at them.)
Over-emphasizing the wedding day, rather than the fact of marriage itself, does the poor no favors.
Aug '10
Re: Celebrate Divorce?
"And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold" - Matthew 24:12
Kind of fits our society to a tee, doesn't it? Successful marriage takes love and sacrifice, two concepts which are becoming completely foreign to far too many people in the modern world.
Jun '10
Re: Celebrate Divorce?
Frozen Chosen: "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold" - Matthew 24:12
Kind of fits our society to a tee, doesn't it? Successful marriage takes love and sacrifice, two concepts which are becoming completely foreign to far too many people in the modern world. · Oct 6 at 12:28pm
Amen, brother. New rule: "If things get hard or inconvenient, I dump 'em--after all, my self-esteem is the highest good."
Edited on Oct 6, 2010 at 12:58pmJun '10
Re: Celebrate Divorce?
As many religious would say, real freedom is the freedom to pursue the good, the true, and the beautiful. An American might say, "who doesn't have the freedom to do that?" Well...North Koreans, Tibetans, Iranians, and lots of others around the World don't. Americans have the freedom to do good, but also have the freedom to pursue unjustified divorce, promiscuity, and just general selfishness. Some freedoms enrich you, but not all do.
Jul '10
Re: Celebrate Divorce?
"Celebrate Divorcity"
I can see it becoming the new catch phrase.
"It's Divorces that Unite Us."
May '10
Re: Celebrate Divorce?
Lots of good comments already; can't really advance the discussion. But I'd like to use this opportunity to say one thing: Diane, you are one of my very favorite Rico posters. You never fail to produce thoughtful, challenging posts on a wide variety of topics. And I have never begun to read one of yours, shrugged it off and skipped to the next. When you write you have a high "value added" quotient. Your posts and topics are simply exceptional. Thank you.