Enter fake news CNN with a special report that exposes what a lot of us have known for some time: very few "orphans" in third world nations are really orphans at all: The 'orphan' I adopted from Uganda already had a family.
Orphanages are a big deal in evangelical circles. Combining a lifetime of being bludgeoned by White guilt and a modern form of the White man's burden, supporting orphanages in places like Ethiopia, Haiti and India are a way for White evangelicals to virtue signal their concern for non-White kids without actually doing much. It is even better if you can visit one of these orphanages as a vaca-ssionary and get some pictures of yourself with a brown or black kid in an orphanage that you can post to social media, a guaranteed way to get many breathless sighs of guilt-driven approval from friends/followers. But adopting an "orphan" is a whole other level of virtue signaling because they come home with you and have to be integrated into your White family, White church, White neighborhood and White schools. Adding to this the reality that a lot of these kids have serious mental/emotional/physical issues and many of them are abused, and you have the mother of all virtue signals living at home.
The problem as I mentioned is that many of these "orphans" have families and even parents already. A lot of "orphans" are sent to orphanages by their own family to get a better education and to let someone else feed and clothe them. The story from CNN, an important story unfortunately filled with nauseating counter-virtue signaling by the author Jessica Davis yammering about her privilege and how noble she is for sending the child they adopted back to Uganda, is of a mother that unknowingly gave up custody of her child but there are certainly plenty of families that sell their children to Americans for adoption to rid themselves of a mouth to feed and as a way to pocket some extra money.
The other problem is that it is hugely expensive and time-consuming. From the story....
Too many White Christian women think that black children are a fashion accessory. Ugg boots, yoga pants, a knock-off Coach handbag and a couple of black kids to set off the whole ensemble. They are not. I don't want Africans coming to this country but I also am not blind to the plight of people in third world nations. If you want to adopt, do it in America and send your virtue coins to people on the ground in these nations. It might not make for appreciative murmurs from your social media circles but it will actually help the most people possible. If that is your concern rather than showing off your little black or brown adopted kids, the solution is pretty obvious.
Orphanages are a big deal in evangelical circles. Combining a lifetime of being bludgeoned by White guilt and a modern form of the White man's burden, supporting orphanages in places like Ethiopia, Haiti and India are a way for White evangelicals to virtue signal their concern for non-White kids without actually doing much. It is even better if you can visit one of these orphanages as a vaca-ssionary and get some pictures of yourself with a brown or black kid in an orphanage that you can post to social media, a guaranteed way to get many breathless sighs of guilt-driven approval from friends/followers. But adopting an "orphan" is a whole other level of virtue signaling because they come home with you and have to be integrated into your White family, White church, White neighborhood and White schools. Adding to this the reality that a lot of these kids have serious mental/emotional/physical issues and many of them are abused, and you have the mother of all virtue signals living at home.
The problem as I mentioned is that many of these "orphans" have families and even parents already. A lot of "orphans" are sent to orphanages by their own family to get a better education and to let someone else feed and clothe them. The story from CNN, an important story unfortunately filled with nauseating counter-virtue signaling by the author Jessica Davis yammering about her privilege and how noble she is for sending the child they adopted back to Uganda, is of a mother that unknowingly gave up custody of her child but there are certainly plenty of families that sell their children to Americans for adoption to rid themselves of a mouth to feed and as a way to pocket some extra money.
The other problem is that it is hugely expensive and time-consuming. From the story....
I remember reading that there are almost 3 million orphans in Uganda, and with that statistic in mind (and a bit more research), in October of 2013 we began the journey to adopt from there. We did piles of paperwork, got countless sets of fingerprints and spent tens of thousands of dollars. It took a little over a year to get through all the formalities, but I was driven to get to the best part of this process, meeting the needs of a child.I know of people who adopted from Guatemala, Korea and Russia and in every case it required a ton of money, usually cash. I am all in favor of helping the less fortunate, although I also think there are a lot of people right here in America that could use help, and I understand the impulse to help people in places like Uganda that are a train-wreck and don't have the same social safety net that we have in America. But if you really want to help people in Uganda, which is more cost effective: spending tens of thousands of dollars to adopt one kid, a kid which ended up back in Uganda anyway thus completely wasting all of that money, or finding a local ministry that helps Ugandans in Uganda to live a better life. Uganda is a very poor nation, with a third of families living on about $1.25/day. Just think what $30,000 could do to help an entire village! For less than $2000 you can provide a well for an entire village. Taking one kid out of Uganda helps that kid, and virtue signaling from Jessica Davis aside by almost any measure a kid in a middle-class family in America has it far better than in a Ugandan family, but it does nothing to change the issue in Uganda. It is similar to the refugee nonsense. For what it costs to house and provide for one "refugee" in Europe you could help dozens or even hundreds of actual refugees in their own region. When it comes to helping the less fortunate, you must keep in mind the idea of maximizing utility. Moderately helping 100 people is better than really, really helping one.
Too many White Christian women think that black children are a fashion accessory. Ugg boots, yoga pants, a knock-off Coach handbag and a couple of black kids to set off the whole ensemble. They are not. I don't want Africans coming to this country but I also am not blind to the plight of people in third world nations. If you want to adopt, do it in America and send your virtue coins to people on the ground in these nations. It might not make for appreciative murmurs from your social media circles but it will actually help the most people possible. If that is your concern rather than showing off your little black or brown adopted kids, the solution is pretty obvious.
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