Dear Foxy,

I understand what you are talking about. But you have to take into consideration that a lot of people on The Forum are only just engineers (or people who have completed similar trade degrees) and describing the anthropology of marriage systems to them is much too intellectual for them to understand. Image what would happen if you start to talk about Levi-Strauss and the structuralists' position on marriage and kinship. You would throw the poor old engineers into a complete spin.

Well said Foxy, but not many on this forum would have the broad minded attitude towards love and marriage today that you and I do.
Many would prefer to live in the past and let others dictate who they can and can't love or marry, or even worse, some religious guys who tell others they know what is best for us.

Marriage today in our society is what it is. Just like our parents and grandparents before us, many senior members will tutt-tutt about the way the 'new generation' choose to live their lives.

To my mind, married life today is no worse or no better than in the past, just different.
One good difference is that women in our society now are supposed to have an equal say and equal rights in marriage, and that is as it should be, but this fact tends to threaten some of the old boys...

Dear Mr Opinion,

You flatter me. However I do have
a great deal of respect for engineers'
and anybody who studies, be it for a
profession, a trade, or an Arts degree.
Studying and completing any field, is
quite an achievement in itself.
Studies are not easy - and have to be
given their due respect.

As far as understanding the broader picture
of marriage, family, kinship,
all people have to do is a bit of
research on the subject and they would get
the history of the social institution
and how it is changing today.
Of course people's own values and experiences
(and religion)
come into the equasion.

Dear Suse,

Very well put.

You've summed things up very well indeed.
I tend to rant a bit and usually end up boring
people.

Dear Foxy,

I agree with you that getting through any degree program is extremely hard work. Especially a PhD, which is one the hardest tasks in the world to complete.

But you should note that engineers do think that Claude Levi-Strauss is a pair of denim jeans.

Gees AJ Philips, why the hell didn't you tell me about all this earlier. I would have much preferred someone giving me lots of stuff to take my daughters off my hands, rather than me spending a king's ransom on wedding receptions to get rid of them. All I got from the deal was people wanting me as a guarantor for housing loans.

Perhaps the poofters do have it right, it would be a lot cheaper if we couldn't breed.

I admit I've indulged in some pretty expensive hobbies in my time, but this mirage is the most expensive hobby I've ever found.

Someone once said, mirage is a very bad hire purchase agreement. For blokes it's everything you have down & everything you earn for the rest of your life, & you are not even allowed to trade the old model for a new one.

Engineers are probably changing now, with all this alternate truth the humanities people are pushing in universities. Get enough of that in real disciplines, & the alternative will be, do the bridges stay up or fall down. Now that is where these clowns would have us go.

Dear Hasbeen,

This is the first I have heard of this 'alternate truth the humanities people are pushing in universities'. Can you give us details on it with some examples?