Thursday, May 10, 2007

God Bless America..

.though we have some straightening to do with our priorities.

Here's a billboard funded by, wait for it, a Chicago-area divorce lawyer:


This is wrong on so many levels that it actually hurts my head to contemplate them all. Needless to say, marital decisions should not me made by organs that reside anywhere between the knees and the navel. I imagine that the appeal of the billboard is to people whose troubles revolve around the concepts the lawyers are advertising with.

Here's an idea instead:

Show a pudgy, balding man moving into a small apartment. It's all he can afford, now that he's paying alimony and child support. Sorry, chump, no hotties for you. You don't have the money.

Then show a woman, harried from working all day, then coming home to the kids, and all eating macaroni and cheese for dinner. Sorry, ma'am, no hunks for you. Even if you had the spare cash, If you hang out in the singles bars, custody of the kids will go right back to daddy.

Someone somewhere will get the clue that most divorces cause more problems than they solve.

1 comment:

The Digital Hairshirt said...

Jimbob,

This ad pissed me off because I am a Family Law Attorney - NOT a "Divorce Lawyer." And yes, people who come into my office are given a hard lesson in life about what a divorce means. They often have the idea that a divorce will "solve" everything, inlcuding something like enormous credit card debt and a house in foreclosure - no, no, they learn, leaving your spouse does not undo stupid financial, or health-related, or educational choices that they ahve made in the past.

Too many people think divorce is another "magic bullet", like some socioeconomic fat-burning pill guaranteed to help you lose weight - and ads like that only serve to reinforce that image.

I hear the divorce rate is falling - the good news. The bad news? At least by my observations, it is because more people are simply living together and having kids.