2318 K Tue 23 Jul 2002
There is a courageous statement in The Age today by Virginia Haussegger:
I am childless and I am angry. Angry that I was so foolish to take the word of my feminist mothers as gospel. Angry that I was daft enough to believe female fulfilment came with a leather briefcase.
It appears three times in The Age, highlighting its significance:
1. In the article "The sins of our feminist mothers"
2. At the top of page 11 in large letters
3. On page 12, in the "Express" section.
Today I read Chapters 2 and 3 of Hugh Stretton's Economics: a new introduction. Both are about causes and effects. On page 17 there is a summary:
1. What causes what in economic life is very complicated. There are seamless webs of interdependence here and now, and endless chains of cause and effect through time.
2. No analysis of what causes what in a general way, or of what causes any particular economic effect, can be complete or sufficient, if that means specifying all relevant direct and indirect causes. All analysis has to be selective. ...
There are many causes of Virginia Haussegger being childless. She has selected "feminist mothers" as a main one.
What were the causes of the available instituted lectors at Sunday's Mass at St Patrick's cathedral not reading, when the liturgical books say they should? I brainstormed a list of 30 causes. Its an interesting process that hopefully gave me a better understanding of the problem and brings a solution closer.
Posted by J.R. Lilburne, 23 July 2002. Extract from Hugh Stretton, "Economics - a new introduction", UNSW Press, 2000, page 17.
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