Adoption should not
be a second option

> Stop thinking adoptive children are
less than biological children

Jessica Berget
Staff Writer

 

T° some, adoption is a second choice,
a back-up plan, or, even, a last resort.
But why? Just because the kid is not
your biological child should not make
them feel like they’re any less yours. It
does not mean they will love you any
less, and it definitely doesn’t mean that
you should love them any less. So why
is it always seen as the lesser choice?
While a number of families adopt
after dealing with infertility, some
families choose adoption to grow their
family, which is just as valid as having
biological children. Adoption is a great
way to expand a family, yet it is almost
never considered for families who
can give birth to biological children,
or it is the second option for families
who cannot conceive children.
The idea that adopting children
is only a backup plan, something to be

Boiling the frog

> Why Trump hasn’t been impeached yet

Rebecca Peterson
Humour Editor

W: are, shockingly, only two months
into the Donald Trump presidency,

and already the list of scandals, missteps,
and outright lies flooding from the
White House is far too long for me to
get into in the context of this article.
I’m operating on the assumption that

if you don’t know all the details, you at
least know enough to have a cursory
opinion on the matter. (My opinion, for
example, amounts to a constant stream
of horrified screaming in terror and
frustration. Yours may differ slightly.)

In light of the general shenanigans
and buffoonery, many have been asking
why Trump has yet to be unseated from
his current position as leader of one of
the most powerful nations in the world.
There are, in my opinion, two reasons
for this: the obvious political reasons
based in the majority-Republican
House and Senate, and a psychological
reason that should not be overlooked.

To touch on the first one briefly,
the people currently in charge of the
impeachment process are—for all intents
and purposes—on Trump’s side. They may
not agree with him, and they may not like
him, but at the end of the day it’s far easier
to pull strings within a political system
if the man in charge is from your team.
It’s heartening to see more and more

 

¥ Anti-Semitism is an alarming problem

Y Letitbe

And more!

considered only when you can’t have
biological children, is a stigma that has
to end. With 20 million children waiting
to be adopted worldwide, and 30,000
children in Canada alone, adoption should
be a more socially acceptable concept.
Every year, about 2,000 children
are adopted in Canada, most of these
internationally. Many orphanages are
filled with children waiting to be given
a home, or grow up and “age out” of the
system. At the age of 19, they become too
old to be in an orphanage and are sent
away without a home or a family, often
forced into homelessness. These children
have a right to a family and a home, and
by making adoption more than just a
second choice, these children can have
the homes and families they deserve.
There is a stigma that comes with
adopting children that indicates that
the adopted child is not actually your
own as they do not share your DNA,
therefore they cannot show you the same

love as a biological child. Some people
ask “Why would you adopt a child when
you can just have your own?,’ as if the
adopted child is not truly your own.
Some believe that having biological
children is more real, more yours.
However, if you cannot love someone
who does not share your DNA, how
can you love your partner, your friends,
or anyone who isn't directly related to
you? Why do you have to share a child’s

Republicans break from the hive mind
and senate pressures in response to loud
protests from delegates who are bound

to suffer under Trump’s regime. It is not,
however, enough to reverse the tide. I
imagine many Republicans are just as
afraid of losing the fervent and terrifyingly
blind support of Trump’s followers as they
are of looking like spineless lackeys in
front of the rest of the country for refusing
to stand up to him. The question at this
point is which do they fear more, and what
action will that fear drive them to take?

Examining the psychological
reason now, as there is a concept I’ve
brought up before when referring
to Trump: “boiling the frog.”

Harkening back to the days of
torturing animals to death in the name
of science, a well-known experiment
involves the slow boiling of a frog by
starting the frog in cool water, then slowly
turning up the temperature until the
frog dies. The idea is that the frog will
not notice the change by increments,
and thus will not save itself in time.

What we are experiencing,
psychologically, in the face of Trump’s
insanity, is not exactly like this
experiment. It’s more like if we were
dumped into a vat of frigidly cold water
at first, shocking our senses into a state
of paralytic numbness. Now that we
are starting to become accustomed
to the temperature, starting to justify
this “new normal” to ourselves, the

temperature is beginning to rise.

It is often said in political think pieces
that presidents have been impeached
for far less than what Trump has done,
and this is arguably true. However,
what Trump is doing—something he’s
been doing since the very start of his
campaign—is operating on a clever
system of bait-and-switch scandals. More
dangerous scandals, such as how people
in his campaign are now facing charges
of having worked with Russian hackers
and diplomats to rig the election, are
distracted from by minor scandals that are
usually leaked from the seat of Trump’s
“golden throne” on Twitter at 3 a.m. The
media is getting used to this system. We

 

DNA in order to consider them yours?
An adoptive parent is no less of
a parent because they adopted their
children. Biological parents and adoptive
parents are both parents. There is still
a labour of love that goes into raising
children, adopted or not. Adoption is
a great way to expand one’s family, just
as having biological children is. The
idea that adopting is a lesser option
is a cultural stigma that has to end.

  

Photo via www.yahoo.com

are getting used to this system. It’s almost
to be expected now that if Trump were to
sign a bill tomorrow declaring nuclear war
on Canada, we would almost immediately
be distracted by a tweet about what
Trump believes a woman’s ideal cup size
should be, even as the bombs begin to fall.

We can't get used to this. The media
is overwhelmed, overworked, and utterly
exhausted, as is anyone who has been
trying to stand up to Trump since the
beginning. The minute we give in to that
exhaustion, we hand over our liberty
to those who seek power over justice.

This is not normal. We likely won't
see normal again for quite a long time.