I don’t usually descend into the most tawdry of popular cultural media events (at least I don’t think I do…) but I just want to register here my dismay and disgust in regard to the sordid haggling over the estate of Anna Nicole Smith.  What is most disturbing is the involvement of Smith’s infant daughter, Dannielynn.  Various and sundry interests are struggling over questions of parentage and inheritance, obviously as a means to enrich themselves.  Yesterday it was determined that Smith’s boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, was the child’s biological father, compete with fist-pumping scenes of celebration on the courthouse steps.  Perhaps his happiness is rooted in his Confucian-like expectation that he will now be able to find his Humanity through the performance of his daily duties toward his child; but excuse me for thinking that motives here are driven more by material gain.

     To cut to the chase, if Birkhead wants to establish himself as the father, not merely the carrier of certain biological material, but as a full-blown social and moral agent of father-ness, he should immediately start to perform the daily duties of fatherhood.  Is he changing diapers?  Is he getting up at night to give her a bottle and rock her back to sleep?  Is he going to the doctor’s appointments?  Is he surrounding her with music and words to draw her into the world of learning?

    Of course, at this point, he is not.  But, if he is going to be the father, he should be put in the position to perform all facets of the role as soon as possible.  And if carrying out those duties is not a source of happiness and humanity for him, then he should not be awarded the millions of dollars in the estate.

     This won’t happen, of course.  Rather, the money will rule, the human connections will be infected with material grasping and gain, and Humanity will not be served.   But then, again, we should not look to celebrities for our social ideals; by and large, they get to where they are precisely by ignoring Humanity…..