Glendon

"A war over the family is, to a great extent, a war of words, and about words." (121)
I found this passage very interesting. Many view the family as the most private and important part of their lives, yet "the family" enters political and legal discourse all the time. Glendon explains how, through history, the idea of family has been viewed and discussed in society. One of the most interesting examples she notes is one about divorce. Although divorce has been a legal as well as personal choice, Glendon claims that in the recent years divorce has become almost and individual right, one that either party can chose to exercise. "In constitutional law, the image of marriage shifted suddenly from a community of life to an alliance of independant individuals." From this, other ideas about family have shifted as well. People are not finding community, but a loose alliance, with family members. Ofted, one can see that these relations are not interwoven, and as Glendon claims, they are "detachable". Instead of a unit, a family is seen as a sum of parts, or individuals. The "lone rights bearer", as the members have become, is becoming self-interested and focused. Rights talk has entered family structure.
There are many reasons why the family unit is not based on community, but individuals. Many socially accepted relations have changed. Premarital sex is widely accepted, and many individuals form families without legal ties. Further, marriage is considered a union, even if the individuals are not legally bound. Abuse, rape and violence have entered the conversation and that is where the prevasive rights talk has taken place. Unfortunately, the social services and community is not in place to substitute legal means. Many problems could be solved through counseling, and perhaps violence and crimes could be prevented.
There have been claims that children are the center of family and it's place in society. Children have become important in discourse because society sees them as vital for the future, and therefore places the interest and importance on their well being. Although, this leaves out families without children.

"The lack of public discourse regarding responsibility, sociality, and civil society, leaves us to work out our own vision of the kind of people we are and the kind of society we want to become, mainly in terms of the individual, the state, and the market. Our overblown rights rhetoric and our vision of the rights-bearer as an autonomous individual channel our thoughts away from what we have in common and focus them on what separates us." 143
Perhaps that is why there is so much hatred and violence in the world. People are becoming more individualized and forgetting community and relations to eachother. Like Prof. McCrickerd's neighbor said, he has the right to say what ever he wishes. He has that freedom of speech. Even so, his behavior and speech is disgraceful and should not be uttered. Although we are becoming more inwardly focused, there is only so much that individuals can do by themselves. By nature, we are social beings, and I feel that we are going against nature by shifting to inwardly focus and relying on rights as the only means of communication.