Discussion thread: Biological vs. Adopted

Okay folks, back by popular demand, let’s start up another discussion thread. Several of you have asked for another one after we had a few really great discussion threads over the past few weeks, especially since we’re pretty much getting crickets chirping from the Jolie-Pitt homestead right now. Which is good, of course – it means Brad Pitt is getting whatever filming remains taken care of for Tree of Life and it means Angelina Jolie and the kids are enjoying a bit of privacy without worrying about cameras in everyone’s face.

I did some thinking to try to come up with a good topic for us to discuss and it finally came down to this one since so many of us have expressed annoyance over this issue in the past. Why is it that so many media sources constantly differentiate between the Jolie-Pitt kids as far as whether they are adopted or biological? It seems like just about ever story I read has some blurb along the lines of “Brad and Angelina have three adopted children and one biological daughter with another biological addition (or two) on the way” and it drives me completely insane.

They are all their children. I don’t understand the point of bringing it up in every single article out there. I’m quite certain that when it’s time for dinner, Angelina isn’t calling out, “come on adopted children and biological kid, time to eat!” Why does the media do it? Is it because people are so fascinated by such a blended family that they feel it’s important to mention it at all times? Is there underlying snark? Is it that journalists are, perhaps unwittingly, pitting them against each other like there are two teams of children? Is it because they think that there are still two or three people out there who don’t know who Brad and Angelina are and aren’t aware that they’ve both adopted and conceived children together?

I don’t like it. If it’s an article specifically about adoption then it makes sense, but just throwing it in the middle of every article or blog post about them is annoying. I don’t differentiate because they’re all children. Maybe it’s just because I’m used to adoption. Two of my cousins were adopted and I don’t go around making references like “my adopted cousins and my biological cousins had a great day together”. It was just a general known fact and it didn’t need to be discussed ad nauseum because they were just my cousins and I didn’t really care how they arrived in my family. I also have some friends with adopted children and we don’t differentiate there either, there’s no discussion of “let’s have all the adopted and all the biological kids over for a playdate!” it’s just “the kids”.

So why? Why does the media do this all the time? Let’s talk!

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