Frequent readers are already aware of my annoyance with parents who saddle children with names guaranteed to make life exceptionally difficult. I think we have found a new winner in the ongoing Dumbest Names contest. Even better (worse?), we have also reached a whole new level in dumb reactions to the results of a dumb name.
Heath and Deborah Campbell, of Easton, Pennsylvania, made the news this week when a local Shoprite refused to decorate a birthday cake with the full name of their child. The name that Shoprite refused to use may ring a few bells. It was Adolf Hitler Campbell.
By all means, go back and read that sentence again just to convince yourself that it really says what you think it says.
Daddy Campbell claims that the name was chosen because of his own German heritage and because it is a name no other child would have (I can't imagine why not). He has made a big show in the media of calling for tolerance, but do you really believe that he chose this name for those reasons or that he is interested in tolerance? The Campbells have another child named JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell [stress added by me]. Anyone else seeing a trend here? Did he choose that name because he liked the way it sounded?
First of all, the Campbells made a decision to put the child's full name on a birthday cake. When was the last time you attended the birthday party of a toddler and the cake had the child's full name printed on it? I don't think I have ever seen this. The logical conclusion is that they were trying to get exactly the reaction they got. Then they go to the news and make a big stink about it, claiming to want tolerance when their own naming conventions clearly demonstrate their opinions on tolerance.
They saddled this child with the name of one of the most reviled men in modern history and then made that child famous by creating a media storm where none was necessary. While they certainly have the right to name their child what they choose, I doubt anyone is believing their protestations of innocent intent. Of course, the rest of us have the right to believe that these two so-called parents are a couple of World Class Idiots for doing what they have done.
I am just about speechless... those poor children. Why on earth would anyone sentence thier own child to a lifetime of suffering? Odds are that those children will be in foster homes with pending name changes in the next five years. Poor little tykes.
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