Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
What's So Terrible About Kids?
sitnspin:
--- Quote from: idontunderstand on 09 Jan 2013, 02:46 ---I know what you're saying, I just feel it's a narrow perspective. "Very little justification", what, I need a justification to have children, but you don't need one to not have one? If we're not free to do what we want with our bodies, our society is not worth saving and we can just give it all up right now.
--- End quote ---
Does NOT performing an action require justification? Not unless it is a mandatory action or if not performing it would cause harm. I would say one needs justification to not call 911 in an emergency, but no justification would be required to not go to McDonald's for lunch.
Cambyses:
If the goal is the happiness of all humans, then we should bring our numbers down in the most humane way possible: have less kids or no kids, and adopt. While I understand that it's a very difficult process to adopt, it is much more humane than increasing the world's population and leaving those other kids to not find homes. One thing I agree on is that bringing population down by killing people who have already been born is not the answer, nor is trying to decrease the birth rate through laws, as in China, where the result is a high rate of female infanticide. It would have to be something that most of society would have to agree to do voluntarily. This would require a change in the culture, which is never an easy task, as cognitive bias makes the human mind extraordinarily difficult to change.
An adopted child will not love you less than a biological one, and hopefully you will not love them less. They may not have your DNA, but that has very little to do with how someone will turn out, compared to upbringing.
DSL:
--- Quote from: sitnspin on 09 Jan 2013, 08:02 ---
--- Quote from: idontunderstand on 09 Jan 2013, 02:46 ---Also on a less serious note... with your logic, the best thing we could do right now is probably to go out and try to kill as many people as possible and then end our own consuming, dirty existence.. :mrgreen:
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I do not disagree. One could make the case for it quite well. A sudden massive drop in the population of the species might be just what we need.
--- End quote ---
I take the proponents of such a measure seriously only if they volunteer to be on the receiving end. Most seem to want to be on the "giving" end -- and should be taken seriously only for as long as it takes to stop them.
Bastion:
I do not have the patience or maternal instinct to raise a child. Even when I was younger I couldn't stand kids, and it's only gotten worse the older i've gotten. I see no reason to give birth to a child when there are already so many in the world. I would happily go and get sterilized if it were an option I could afford right now. Along with the fact that I do not want or like children very much, there is a slew of mental and physical health issues that run in my family that I see no reason to pass along to ANYONE. I refuse to give birth to a child with the same brand of crippling Social Anxiety that I suffer from. Giving birth is not a wonderful option that should never be taken off the table for some people. For some, it's just not something we want to do.
On top of that, my nana was a foster parent for most of my formative years. I decided early on that if, by some strange power, I did decide I wanted a child, I would adopt an older child. My play mates when I visited my nana were the babies of broken homes and junkies. They need love and understanding just as much as any newborn and would appreciate the chance to make something of themselves. I vividly remember one boy telling me how jealous he was of me having a mother around who cared what I did. That stuck with me.
Thrudd:
"cognitive bias"? translated into real world terms in set theory - The selfish and The stupid - note there is some overlap.
Unfortunately the overlap is where a vast majority of humanities ills stem. :psyduck: People in general are stupid. people in larger numbers are insane morons with WMD.
The idea is applaudable where someone makes an informed decision not to procreate to help ease the stress of population growth on our planet instead of just selfish short term reasoning. Mind you everyone is selfish but it is overriding this selfishness that separates us from the reptiles that have a habit of consuming their own young, mates, each other.
Unfortunately the effective result is that their positive choice is negated in whole by those who do the opposite.
It is a classic example of "The tragedy of the commons". All it takes is one selfish gluteus maximus to spoil it for everyone else because there is no immediate, chop your tally-whacker off, consequences to not playing fair.
I suggest a general program of Sesame Street combined with aversion therapy [Guantanamo] for all, starting with those putting themselves up as leaders and working our way down to the common idiots.
:angel: [kidding - or am I?] :evil:
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