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We had a population explosion during the last 200 years that's only just starting to taper off. I was taught about it in school 30 years ago, except back then it was called a "demographic transition" and it was hailed as a sign of a country becoming economically prosperous. The "fertility crisis" is a moral panic manufactured by neoliberal capitalists.
Finances aside, it's still not selfish.
My father would beg to differ. Some of the things I've heard: "who's going to take care of you when you're old", "the ~~undesirable~~ immigrants with 5+ children will take over ~~and ruin Europe~~". He also told me I was being selfish when I was barely 18 for stating I didn't want to have children because carrying a child for 9 months and childbirth terrify me. That shit still terrifies me to this day, on top of all the other reasons why I still don't want to have children.
Also, according to him the feelings a parent has for their child are "unexplainable". That must be why my mom and and his mom were more a part of my childhood than he was!
Having a kid can be selfish.
I argue that both are selfish decisions, but having a kid eventually drags someone else into that didn't consent.
I wrote a blog post about it after I got a vasectomy. I'm not an anti-natalist but I think its a point to consider.
What’s wrong with being selfish? I didn’t want kids, full-time kids are annoying and a huge responsibility. If someone doesn’t desire children, it’s very much ok to dedicate the energy and resources of raising several kids to themselves.
People are selfish, reproducing doesn’t exempt you from being selfish, people can have kids for selfish reasons too.
I admit sometimes I’ve thought it would have been cool to raise a human from zero, trying to make them a good person, and be a demigod to them on their first years because they didn’t know better; but I still think the world needs less people, not more. Since the 70s we were warned about overpopulation and the environment, and we just added another 4 billion people anyway.
Edit: thank you for the correction, kind stranger.
Keep in mind that the "selfish" bit is just the Boomers projecting. We all know they're the most selfish generation by far, they just don't want to admit it to themselves
I mean, I decided to not have kids because I don’t want to subject anyone to the existential horror that is life, and I feel no obligation to crank out miniature replicas of me.
My logic is along the same line.
I didn't ask to be here, nobody asked if I wanted to be here. Being here, I kinda wish I was given that choice so I could say no.
Why would I force someone, who I supposedly love, to suffer through gestures at everything this? I love my potential children more than to condemn them to dealing with the children of those wealthy enough to have them.
Also... the future kinda sucks.
And it isn't looking better.
Unfortunately, the people who don't see the issue with the future are also the most likely to have more children who will likely also not see an issue with the future.
There's also an entire subgroup that just don't think that far. One of my very working class friends group has 3 kids, but when asked about his thoughts on the future has said things like "the climate is fucked anyway." Somehow it hasn't occurred to him his children have to live in that future...
Economy is probably the most commonly cited reason, but the world being a shithole has to be up there somewhere.
"I can't even take care of myself, but I'm going to bring a bunch of children into the world to suffer my consequences anyway."
No, THAT shit is selfish.
Actually based on the press conference the other day birth rates are down because... Airport breastfeeding spaces need to be renovated!
Meanwhile these boomers have multiple houses, affordable insurance, savings...
Very few help their kids.
It’s not just the money, it’s also the low value of human life and knowing the world just wants more bodies for the ~~meet~~ meat grinder.
Society had always been optimistic about the long term future until recently.
Up until the early 2000s, it really did look like the future would be better. Sure, wages have been stagnant since the 80s, but it really looked like with a lot of smarts and a little luck, you could land a great job and be set.
And then job security quietly went away as well.
___
By "we're broke" they mean not making $400k a year.
Crazy that virtually nobody is above the 2.3 replacement rate.
That is... until you have exactly one kid and realize how much work it takes. I wonder what happens to that chart if you look at "Hours employed by household".
Betcha the low end is underemployed and the upper end is full on leisure class.
If that's how much money you need to maintain a family, then yes, that's how much money you need to maintain a family.
The definition of "broke" changes depending of what you are expecting people to do.
An important fact is missing in this chart: working hours. That also explains why the curve goes up in the lowest segment: those people are probably not employed or not full time employed. After reaching a certain income level, you start having a lot more childcare options that you wouldn't have with a lower income.
The birth rate would be much closer to the 2.1 you need for a stable population if there were affordable or even free childcare options, because Stay-at-home-Mum/Dad is only possible if either the partners income is high enough or the income of the other party is so low that it doesn't matter.
Also. most civilized countries have laws protecting pregnant women from getting fired and have a lot more paid leave for them. US companies would push women to give birth in their toilet break and write them up if they take too long if they were allowed to.
Where I live, it's a thousand dollars a month to rent A ROOM. The not particularly nice one bedroom apartments closest to where I live are 1700 a month. Food has never been more expensive. How people supposed to afford kids which are notoriously expensive to have?
This comic is wildly inaccurate as it depicts an old white man complaining about a young black man not having enough kids.
Uhhh... Having a baby is one of the most selfish things a person can do. They're choosing not to foster or adopt. They're doing the exact worst thing they can do for the environment.
And why are they doing it? Because they like kids, or because they want a family, or because they want someone to take care of them when they're old. All selfish reasons.
My favorite reason, they want someone that looks like them. Heard that when I said I'd consider adopting, the other person was like "but don't you want someone who looks like you?!"
Uh, no, my cat looks nothing like me but I still somehow mustered empathy for it. I don't understand why people feel like they would love an adopted kid less, and it makes them horrible people.
its not because I'm selfish, its because I hate people
Based on news articles i see about younger generations this would also apply to:
Why arent gen _ going out to clubs/pubs anymore ?
Why are gen _ drinking less alcohol ?
Why arent gen _ going to restaurants ?
Why arent gen _ going travelling ?
… it’s mostly because I know I’d be a shitty parent. I don’t want to damage them.
We're not broke or selfish. We don't want kids and also don't feel it's fair to bring a life into this world with the current state of things.
Housing crisis, affordability crisis, corporate exploitation, job precarity, climate crisis, biodiversity crisis, water crisis, PFAS laden rain and microplastics in our bodies. AI drones and nuclear annihilation in an era of ecological overshoot and collapse.
So many great reasons not to have kids.
100% selfish
And that's okay
I've only got one life to live and I'm not going to spend it dealing with some entitled, petulant little gremlin that I'm legally required to raise for two decades.
Same. I'm not broke, but I see no reason to put more people on this planet.
What do you mean you don't want to raise the next generation of wage slaves? How will my children buy their second yachts?