Articles by Carolyn Moynihan on ArticleSnatch.com

Europe Has Forgotten Its Families

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Leaders of the 27 countries of the European Union are gathered in Brussels right now to hammer out a new treaty for the enlarged union. The grander idea of a constitution has been dropped, following rejection of a draft two years ago by French and Dutch voters, and because of deep scepticism about it in the United Kingdom and Czechoslovakia. With trappings of unity such as a flag (blue with 12 gold stars) and an anthem (Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy') shelved; with the idea of an EU foreign "minister" dropped and even the proposed charter of fundamental rights downgraded, the business of the meeting revolves around a new voting system - hotly contested by Poland. The thing you really need to know about the European Union is this. It has deliberately and shamefully neglected the one institution that can guarantee its future: the family. But forget about the constitution and the treaty for a moment. The thing you really need to know about the European Union is this. It has deliberately and shamefully neglected the one institution that can guarantee its future: the family. Although the European Commission has five vice-presidencies and 21 committees, none of them covers the family. **End Summary** Topics: European Families]]> abortion]]> European Treaty]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Carolyn Moynihan is Deputy Editor of MercatorNet. MercatorNet analyses current affairs and international news and believes that ethics is more than opinions, that there is a transcendent dimension to our lives, and that facts are sturdier than ideology. Learn more at mercatornet.com .

Netiquette Rules - OK?

Sat, 07 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Has it ever happened to you? Your friend or colleague sent you an amusing email. You quickly composed a clever riposte. You clicked "send". And then you had second thoughts: Oh dear, I forgot that X is a little vulnerable in that area; she might take it up the wrong way; I wish I hadn't sent that message. It is so easy to forget your manners when you are not dealing with people in the flesh, or even on the phone. Easi-er, anyway. We make blues in face to face conversation, of course, but seldom with the drastic effects that an email blunder can bring. A major incident occurred in one large organisation when a surly complaint about the cleaning staff was sent by mistake to all the staff representatives instead of department managers. Such anecdotes abound. The potential for messaging meltdown is increased when such systems are used precisely to avoid direct communication. There is a tendency in our society to seek technological solutions for human problems: Depressed? Take Prozac. Don't like your figure? Get some liposuction. Find the times tables hard to learn? Use a calculator. **End Summary** Topics: Internet etiquette]]> email use]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Carolyn Moynihan is Deputy Editor of MercatorNet. MercatorNet analyses current affairs and international news and believes that ethics is more than opinions, that there is a transcendent dimension to our lives, and that facts are sturdier than ideology. Learn more at mercatornet.com .

The Truth About Contrarian Couples

Sat, 07 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Last week United States health officials released the results of a survey of what some would call "reproductive behaviour", conducted in 2002. The National Survey of Family Growth revealed a striking decline in contraceptive use over the last decade, the New York Times reported. Among sexually active women who said they were not trying to get pregnant, the percentage not using contraception in 2001 increased to 11 per cent from 7 per cent in 1994. No survey of this type appears to be complete without an income and ethnicity analysis. Reaction has therefore focused on the fact that the trend is most pronounced among women in lower-income brackets, Hispanic and black women, exposing them to "unintended pregnancies" which are often ended by abortion. All the same, non-use of contraception had risen by three percentage points to 10 per cent among women on higher incomes. Predictably, the trend is causing consternation among birth control advocates, who publicly blame reductions in public funding and privately, perhaps, give vent to exasperation with what they see as the sexual irresponsibility of certain sections of the community. And there are more basic fears. **End Summary** Topics: contaception]]> birth control]]> faily planning]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Carolyn Moynihan is Deputy Editor of MercatorNet. MercatorNet analyses current affairs and international news and believes that ethics is more than opinions, that there is a transcendent dimension to our lives, and that facts are sturdier than ideology. Learn more at mercatornet.com .

Who's Afraid of Commitment?

Sat, 07 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0400

One of the most popular films of last year was the French-made March of the Penguins, a documentary that reveals the extraordinary lengths to which the Emperor Penguin goes in order to raise a chick. Sentimentality aside, there is a rather sober lesson to take home. If the penguins teach us anything about love, it is that love demands commitment, and that is something the human species finds it increasingly difficult to manage. We would rather pledge ourselves today to the preservation of penguins, or the Snow Leopard or the Hairy-eared Dwarf Lemur than give ourselves till-death-do-us-part to a spouse. If you Google "commitment" on the Web, one of the first things to come up is commitmentphobia.com, a site dedicated to bagging the pathologically reluctant spouse. We all know the trend. In the United States, for example, the marriage rate has fallen nearly 50 per cent since 1960 and unmarried partner households have increased from 523,000 in 1970 to nearly five million. **End Summary** Topics: commitmentphobia]]> divorce rates]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Carolyn Moynihan is Deputy Editor of MercatorNet. MercatorNet analyses current affairs and international news and believes that ethics is more than opinions, that there is a transcendent dimension to our lives, and that facts are sturdier than ideology. Learn more at mercatornet.com .

Who Cares? The Crisis Facing An Ageing Society

Sat, 07 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The identification of this syndrome from among various symptoms of senile dementia, and its increasing incidence due to the ageing of the population, has made it a symbol of the (terrifying) burdens of old age. The report therefore focuses on this illness as it reflects in detail on the looming crisis of caregiving and the ethical challenges it poses. Crisis of caregiving Until now, family members,spouses, daughters and sometimes sons have supplied the bulk of long-term care. We have done it in our family, nursing our mother at home before she died and now helping with care of my eldest sister who lives in a nursing home. But this sort of thing will be more difficult in the future (I have no idea who would do this for me!). Families are smaller and there are fewer adult children to care for their aged parents. Many more old people are childless and alone single-adult homes are already the most common type in the US. Increased family instability and greater geographic mobility have an impact, as does the pre-occupation of younger women with paid work. Even institutional care is beset by problems. **End Summary** Topics: aged care]]> dementia]]> euthenasia]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Carolyn Moynihan is Deputy Editor of MercatorNet. MercatorNet analyses current affairs and international news and believes that ethics is more than opinions, that there is a transcendent dimension to our lives, and that facts are sturdier than ideology. Learn more at mercatornet.com .

What's Up With British Youth?

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0400

You have to admire the British, as represented by their current government and its intellectual constituency. They never stop trying to improve their society. What other country wants to keep schools open 10 hours a day and put every single child on a national database? Whether driven by a Marxist hangover or by ethics derived from Christianity, the commitment to a better Britain is tireless and impressively resourceful. It is also necessary. A couple of weeks ago the Institute for Public Policy Research grabbed headlines with a report claiming that British youth are the worst behaved in Europe and that their elders live in fear of them. Drawing on international research, the report - Freedom's Orphans - says British teenagers are drunk more often, involved in more fights and are more likely to have had sex compared with their counterparts in Germany, France and Italy. One study suggested that 38 per cent of 15-year-old British children had tried cannabis, as opposed to just seven per cent in Sweden and 27 per cent in Germany. **End Summary** Topics: marriage rates]]> de facto realtionship]]> youth]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Carolyn Moynihan is Deputy Editor of MercatorNet. MercatorNet analyses current affairs and international news and believes that ethics is more than opinions, that there is a transcendent dimension to our lives, and that facts are sturdier than ideology. Learn more at mercatornet.com .

Meeting Your Match

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Several years ago during an all-female seminar I was startled to hear a young woman at my lunch table announce: "I'm looking for a husband. So, when you go back home, keep me in mind." Surprise and amusement - it was my first experience of such a direct approach - soon gave way to the thought, "Why not?" Miss X was in her thirties and didn't have any time to waste in finding Mr Right. Attractive, extroverted and accomplished in her profession, she could have landed a date at the office or among the gym crowd with no trouble at all. But she was a practising Catholic and wanted to meet someone who shared her values before she would consider dating them. Anything else would be a waste of time. I was reminded of Miss X (now, happily, Mrs Right) by a recent New York Times article describing courtship arrangements among American Muslims. Here is another faith community, much more socially defined than Catholics, but also immersed in a secular culture more or less unfriendly to its sexual values and customs. **End Summary** Topics: arranged marriages]]> online dating]]> muslim marriages]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Carolyn Moynihan is Deputy Editor of MercatorNet. MercatorNet analyses current affairs and international news and believes that ethics is more than opinions, that there is a transcendent dimension to our lives, and that facts are sturdier than ideology. Learn more at mercatornet.com .

The Future of Female Altruism

Fri, 09 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0500

"Take care," said the doctor at the end of one of my rare visits to her clinic. I thanked her and went off wondering idly whether this meant, "Keep working on that cholesterol reading," or whether it was just a friendly valediction I was as likely to hear from the butcher or a bank teller. Either way, it was up to me to take care of myself. That, it appears - at the risk of reading too much into a current fashion - is what we most want our family, friends, casual acquaintances and the world in general to do these days. Fortunately, most of us can look after ourselves. What is in doubt today is whether we can look after anyone else. Life begins and ends in helplessness, and there are people who need to be cared for throughout their lives because of physical or mental disabilities. But the needs of all these people seem to tax contemporary culture in a new way. **End Summary** Topics: parenting]]> stay at home mothers]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Carolyn Moynihan is Deputy Editor of MercatorNet. MercatorNet analyses current affairs and international news and believes that ethics is more than opinions, that there is a transcendent dimension to our lives, and that facts are sturdier than ideology. Learn more at mercatornet.com .

Three (hundred million) Cheers For America

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 00:00:00 -0500

There were two bombs in the news this week: North Korea's underground nuclear weapon test, and the population explosion - as some see it - that brought the number of people in the United States to the 300 million mark, and past it. It is hard to guess which caused more gloom in the office of Population Connection (formerly Zero Population Growth), which churned out a press release bemoaning the effects of growth on the environment and proposing a four-point plan for stabilisation. Most of the commentary from any quarter has focussed on immigration, which adds about 1.5 million people to the US each year. But newcomer 300,000,000 is more likely to be a baby born in the country, since births add about 4 million to the population each year. It is likely, too, that this squalling bundle of new life is a cause of joy to its parents. But does she or he herald joy to the nation and the world? Is it a Good Thing that there are more Americans than ever? Yes, I say. Let the population clock roll. **End Summary** Topics: population control]]> abortion debate]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Carolyn Moynihan is Deputy Editor of MercatorNet. MercatorNet analyses current affairs and international news and believes that ethics is more than opinions, that there is a transcendent dimension to our lives, and that facts are sturdier than ideology. Learn more at mercatornet.com .