For the Children: Part I

Unfortunately, I am unable to share the video that inspired the following.  I will try to describe it adequately.

Some television or Internet program of nattering female quasicelebrities and one token smart woman (I'll get to her soon) called The Talk (or some similar fatuous moniker) randomly came to my attention.  It seemed to attempt to fill the void caused my Oprah Winfrey's lamented departure by entertaining suburban housewives in the hours before Prancing with the Schmucks comes on the air.

The hens were cackling about a law recently passed overseas.  To prove that the Endarkenment is global and not local (and that nations that are likely freer than the United States now also pass asinine legislation), take a look at this article, which describes said law: New Zealand Bans Weird Baby Names.

The ladies were discussing the propriety of the aforementioned law and whether similar ones should be passed in this once-free country.  One of them responded in the affirmative.  Most of them seemed to concur.  They stressed that children of celebrities--the ones with "unusual" names--have "issues" related to them.  At least one of them also remarked on the penchant for a few racist numbskulls (exhibiting the same kind of non-thinking as sponsors of such laws to a different degree and in a different direction) to give their children names like "Adolf Hitler" and "Aryan Nation."

There was an objection on the panel of approximately six women.  I do not know if it was a token objection or if her presence was merely for "balance," but actress Sara Gilbert replied that those were extreme aberrations and that, in general, she thought that parents should be free to name their children what they wanted.  She reminded the "stars" around her that the kids could always change the names if they did not like them.  She went on that she almost wished that her parents had given her an "unusual" name because every third person she meets is also named Sara or Sarah.

Now I understand why I never missed an episode of Roseanne when I was a lad because of a then-ineffable crush on Miss Gilbert (among other reasons).  The intelligence and awareness she evinced in the character of Darlene Conner was no act.  Lesbian or not, I think she is, as they used to say, a major babe, and she is likely making some lucky woman immeasurably happy.

Her comments were perspicacious (particularly considering the setting and context) and reminded me of the stories of three different boys with three different names and the men they became, as well as the various "issues" (or lack thereof) they had with their names, the lives they led, and the lives they are leading.

I will tell you their stories in the follow-up to this post.  Right now, I have a screening to attend.