Just Because You're Paranoid Doesn't Mean the UN Isn't Out To Get You

At the end of the semester, I have to write a 4000-word paper for my Childhood Theory class. I must choose something related to children's lives and analyze it using two theoretical perspectives. If that sounds vague to you, I agree. But that is the UK way, and actually I love it, because I get to write about whatever I feel like! So I've been trying to decide what to write about, because 4000 words is a lot of words. Right now I'm really focused on the It Gets Better Project and the related Make It Better Project. How can I pass up the chance to write an academic paper about Dan Savage? Love that guy.


[Nerd Alert] Since I would be analyzing these two projects from a theoretical viewpoint, but only have half a semester's knowledge about how to do that, I spent today browsing journal articles to see how other people do it. At one point I thought, "Hey! Maybe I can use the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to analyze them!" (This was a stupid idea, because the UNCRC is not a theory, and a good example of why I need to not leave this paper until the last minute.)

Even if that hadn't been a stupid idea because the UNCRC is not theory, it was a stupid idea because the US has never ratified the CRC. Of course Dan Savage's work is not federal policy (oh, the possibilities!). It would still be tricky to analyze his projects, which base their activism on US anti-discrimination law, in terms of a UN policy document that the US doesn't recognize. [End Nerd Alert]

I decided to procrastinate by Googling "UNCRC America" to find out why we haven't ratified this document. The only other country that hasn't is Somalia. Apologies to Somali pirates, but do we really want that company?

Here are some of the links that popped up:

Say Goodbye to Your Children America...the anti-family UNCRC!
Fight the UNCRC-Stand Up For Family Rights
Teaching Children that Authority Doesn't Matter: UNCRC Article 12
UNCRC Assault on Parental Rights to Be Expedited
Somalia to join child rights pact (Uh oh!)

Based on the scientific method called "clicking around" it would appear that the big issue here is parental rights vs. child rights and the ideological difficulty of making friends with the UN. Also homeschooling, with a dash of paranoia.

As the last link points out, not signing the CRC does not mean that the US is somehow violating children's rights, or that states can't be in line with the CRC in many ways without having the document officially ratified. I just think it's a neat little illustration of US attitudes toward the rest of the world.