Submitted 4 months ago by silence7@slrpnk.net to nyt_gift_articles@sopuli.xyz
As a European, even if I'm relatively well-versed in American absurdities, I fail to understand how the hell anyone could make a connection between childlessness and selfishness.
All my friends who want kids have the opposite dilemma, they want it on a personal level but they feel like having children is a selfish thing to do on a planet that already struggles to sustain the people on it, and where these children would face a very uncertain future.
I think they see it as being tied to the economy. It’s most likely just an extension of their terrible hustle culture
I feel guilty for having kids. The future is going to suck.
This is something I worry a great deal about for my kid.
One of the many, many reasons I haven’t had children. I’m not that pointlessly cruel to invent a new person from wholecloth for the express purpose of making them die in the fires.
even if there were no obstacles, why is not having children deemed selfishness? there’s a degree of unnecessary judgement in that position.
a person can take an informed decision to not add to the population of the most invasive form of life that this planet has ever seen. if anything, there is no more selfless choice.
I usually hear it from one of two camps (or both at the same time).
Because they think that wageslaves are inherently uneducated, impulsive, and driven by their emotions.(“facts don’t care about your feelings”)
This lead to the conclusion that in order to make more wage slaves, you should instill a guilt into those perceived uneducated, impulsive, emotional individuals to compel them to breed.
That is why they attack the antinatalist train of thought with emotionally charged, often factless, ideas. Because they, once again, think that we arrived at antinatalist not by a combination of observations of the world and foresight, but merely via emotion. So they manipulate that emotion. Also, there’s no real arguing against the antinatalist position. It’s observably verifiably the objectively better decision for us a society, at least for now.
What’s selfish is to cram your idea of what purpose should be down other people’s throats. Not having kids is a valid choice and it doesn’t need defending.
Why Are So Many Americans Choosing to Not Have Children?
It’s probably not selfishness, experts say.
And it doesn’t fucking matter if it is. Better to realize that beforehand and not bring another human into the world that you’re not prepared to properly care for.
increasing level of obstacles eh? that’s a funny way to say “people struggle to afford basic necessities to survive”
There is no such thing as selfishness regarding this. Its anyone’s personal choice. Also, the main reason is money and time, most people don’t have enough of either to invest in a child.
The main reason is people are choosing instead of breeding like bacteria because they didn’t think there is an alternative.
In addition to economics and the environment, there’s the generational trauma that a lot of folks have.
Some people, myself included, realized they realized they weren’t sure they could be responsible stewards of another human, and opted out.
Ghyste@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
They can’t afford it you dipshit. It’s stupid that this is constantly presented as some great mystery to be solved.
jonne@infosec.pub 4 months ago
Yeah, they keep writing this same article about falling birth rates while it’s fucking obvious to anyone who lives a real life why. Most of us are stuck renting, all the social benefits boomers got have been rolled back, and there’s the uncertainty of global warming and the American Empire declining while their leaders are in total denial about it instead of trying to manage it.
You don’t want to start thinking about kids if you know that you could end up living in your car next week even if you’re doing relatively well right now.
SoylentBlake@lemm.ee 4 months ago
We all need to remove that these articles aren’t written for the working class. WE KNOW WHY and have been more than happy to tell anyone that would ask, but the upper class refuses to listen to anything we say, on principle - ala social darwinism bullshit.
The major rags and media pundits, everyone of them, are all geared to the person who reads Forbes to see if they were mentioned in it this time.
The news makes sooooo much more sense once this is realized. The scabs we call the 1% are a solid 10 years behind what everyone on the factory floor has known about for fucking ever.
GaryTheSnail@feddit.org 4 months ago
No need to insult OP its just a gifted article (a bad one but still fitting the community)
Ghyste@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
That was in no way directed at the poster.