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September 11, 2008
Don't marry outside the faith
I know several people who are from Indian families (from India, not Native American), and a few of them have mentioned how their parents would be very upset if they married a non-Indian person. I don't understand this. It's not like the Indian culture is in danger of being eradicated. There's almost a billion of them, for heaven's sake. I'm not sure how one Indian marrying a girl from Iowa is going to wipe out Indian civilization.
Conversely, I get why Jewish people might be concerned about their children marrying gentiles. For example, one particular dentist was so adamant that his grandchildren marry fellow Jews, that his will disinherited any of them who married outside the faith. Naturally, the grandchildren disobeyed this wish, and now they're involved in a lawsuit wherein the Illinois courts must determine whether they can enforce such clauses in wills. The arguments for are that to cancel the clause would destroy the wishes of the decedent, and as it is his money/assets he can do with it as he pleases, even if such wishes are politically incorrect. On the other hand, opponents argue that courts shouldn't enforce discriminatory clauses like this, and that to do so would allow a "dead man's hand" to control distributions of assets.
Not to get all legal-googly on you, but the courts should keep the will as it is. The will isn't taking property from anyone, it merely expresses who it should go to. And although the will is not a "nice" or even prudent thing, it's his directive and it should be obeyed.
Now, back to the Indians. Here's Devendra Banhart's music video for Carmensita, which features non-Indian (but Israeli) Natalie Portman as an Indian princess in a Bollywood-inspired video. After this, the pube-showing Banhart and Portman started to date, which really is just kind of gross. I should have learned to play a guitar. And sing. And also express myself emotionally instead of hiding behind jokes about other people... God I need a hug.
entry no. 1212
Posted at September 11, 2008 11:12 AM