This isn't representative of NA culture any more than Leave it to Beaver is representative of WASP culture.

This is a really good question, and one that I can only partially answer.

I cringed when I read this.

Brilliant comment. Thank you.

I like to think that I am a sensible and scientifically-minded person who tries to strike a balance between my own instincts and the advice of experts. In my experience, so are most parents. As misguided as some of them are, their concerns are valid and should be addressed. That's all I'm saying.

Did you even read my original post? Or any of my posts? I never said that I was opposed to vaccinations. My children ARE vaccinated, for the fucking third time. I was stating that people need to listen to parents oftentimes valid concerns if they want to be able to educate them. Calling people idiots doesn't help…

Did I ever say that my children weren't vaccinated? No. I did not. Reading comprehension. Use it.

My family has a history of adverse reactions to vaccines, so no, I am not, and will never be comfortable with just going with what works for everyone else. My children ARE vaccinated, but the vaccinations were spaced out, at my insistence, because that's what made sense for us.

I do! And I also speak asshole, so let me make this clear:

Exactly. My mother was hugely anti-vaccine, sort of a proto-Jenny McCarthy, but she has very valid reasons for being afraid of doctors and pharmaceuticals. A doctor's fuck-up rendered her mute and caused her to hallucinate for over a month (this was back in the 60's). When people profess skepticism towards the medical…

Another reason that parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children is a (sometimes healthy) distrust of the medical establishment in general. It didn't help that several states tried to force parents to give their daughters HPV vaccines, either. Nothing makes people more suspicious than when the government…

I'm too emotionally exhausted to do any more hand-wringing over Rihanna's relationship messes. You can't save someone from themselves.

Love this. So much.

No, I was just thinking the same thing. It's your standard "let's mock the stupid (and genetically inferior) poor people" trope.

No, that part doesn't bother me. I just find it kind of weak that she's talking shit about other actors' methods when she doesn't have one of her own.

Okay. Kristen Stewart has now officially crossed the line for me. I used to be ambivalent about her- thought of her as mildly annoying, but ultimately harmless. Now... I kinda hate her.

I realize that, I just think that it would help foment change if more and more people were like "Fuck it! We're having a wedding!"

I don't think so. I don't know what SC2 is.

I'm not trying to downplay the importance of the benefits that come with a state marriage license; I just think that couples that want to have a ceremony with their friends and family in attendance, they should do it- and screw what the state has to say about the "legitimacy" of it.

There is SO MUCH money in weddings, it surprises me that a country as soulless and capitalistic as this one wouldn't get over their ridiculous moral qualms in order to exploit the gay wedding market.