The New In Thing

Marriage. Topping the list of What’s Hot right now. Fox is premiering several new blockbuster mega-hypo shows where the winners and losers get married to each other, themselves, and total strangers. Not to mention the past classics like marrying millionaire monkeys and throwing turtles at wed-shops in vegas. And ThankYou Joe (Evan).

It’s freakin bizzarro to me, the trend. Now that the concept of marriage has been totally despoiled by the likes of wadded up right-wing Family Values groupies pulling anti-gay anti-choice propaganda, and our (me being pretty solid Gen-X) parents’s generation treating them like Kleenex, snotted or no.

It’s tough to believe that the end-all for so many people is to tie the knot. Despite all that, I do believe that there is value in marriage. Be it intangible or no, there is still a silent strength to it. When you see two of your friends, and suddenly remember, with a double-take, that they’re married, there’s something there. Maybe the introduction of children draws value from the marriage. Perhaps it makes taxes easise, but I doubt it. Benefits are easier for married couples than partner-types, but some progressive locales are stepping up there.

Weddings can also be quite fun. Not pizza though, a bad one is no good, and that’s one spendy pie. So make it a good one. Get your friends there, dress ’em up and get them drunk on something, make sure the music doesn’t suck because that’s going to be the deal-breaker. A DJ or a band that you know will be fun…probably a bit of cheese is good, because these are drunk people and they don’t need to be chinning up in some cotillion.

In the past times of war and uncertainty, Americans have shown a tendency to marry recklessly and breed. We get the baby boomer generation. Also, a ton of army men coming back from the Gulf and marrying promptly. Not just the millitants, but others, particularly in a down economy, snuggling to stay warm against the heating bills make their babies as a symbol of power and security.