Having a quick flick through the news this morning, I was astonished to see that complaints have been made by the parents of a toddler to a bakery that has refused to put the child’s name on a birthday cake. The parents of three year-old Adolf Hitler seem to be missing the point I think.
The American couple, from New Jersey, also have a child named Aryan Nation who surprisingly also had to forego the treat of a personalised birthday cake from the politically sensitive bakery at ShopRite. The parents claim that the names of the children have nothing to do with the Nazi regime, and insist that names are just names and their children will obviously grow up to be model citizens.
I can’t help thinking that the issue here isn’t whether the children will grow up balanced individuals, or whether the bakery was right or wrong to refuse to inscribe the cake. The point is that the parents have chosen a name that will cause these children a lifetime of torment. I mean, you wouldn’t want to call your kid Harold Shipman just to prove a point that he won’t grow up a serial killer.
