Thursday, November 21, 2013
Romantic vs Economic Marriage
We recently discussed the fundamental and ethical problems with the institution of marriage, how the linking of two people in marriage acts more as an economic benefit than a declaration of love in our society. This is an unfair advantage, which deals mostly with the luck of the draw. There are many people who cannot find a person they want to marry, and it is not their fault that they aren't finding love. It is due to this unfair advantage that Dr. J is against the idea of gay marriage (and straight marriage). However, I think that it is more beneficial to vote for gay marriage than against it, even if one is against marriage as a concept. For good or bad, the institution of marriage is a fundamental part of our society. I cannot imagine the United States as a whole one day voting on the disestablishment of marriage, the idea would be ludicrous to millions and the idea would be shot down before it had a chance to start. Americans just love marriage. It's implanted in our heads that marriage is the ultimate goal, that happiness will emerge from union. There are boys and girls who are still in kindergarten already planing their future weddings, marriage acts as a modern day fairy tale. The romantic angle is definitely in the limelight, distracting the majority from the unfair economic attributes. I believe that no matter how well a person articulates why marriage should cease to exist, the majority will not be swayed. Which is why I think that it's better to vote for gay marriage, so at least gay men and women will be able to take part in a bond that is included in the American dream. Marriage may be unethical, but it's also irremovable, and it is better to be included than excluded from the right to marry. I'm not going to lie, the idea of finding love and getting married is extremely appealing to me, so maybe my own personal bias is clouding my judgement, but I do think that gay marriage is a progression in today's society. I think that what we need is a redefining of what marriage means, instead of doing away with it all together. In my ideal world, marriage would still exist, but the economic benefits wouldn't be nearly as extreme, it would focus more on the union of two people instead of the union of two paychecks.
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I agree with you on this. In America where every child is fed Disney movies and the like from a very young age, marriage becomes associated with something that, strictly speaking, it isn't. This trend of encouraging marriage to an almost cult-like level is deeply ingrained in our society from times when marriage was more important to successful procreation and sustaining a child, but now times have changed so that marriage is no longer necessary, just an extra paycheck (effectively). Despite this though, even if someone is against marriage in principal, there's just no way around the fact that it's here to stay, and so we might as well do what we can to bring marriage up to modern times. In this world, no matter how right any one person may be, there are enough millions of ignorant naysayers that the best we can do for now is make whatever movement we can in the right direction.
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