Is it safe to have a child? Americans rethink family planning ahead of Trump’s return : collapse

[–] HootinNHollerin@lemmy.world 55 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Why should I bring a kid into this fucked up world that’s getting more idiocracy by the day

[–] Kyle_The_G@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I'd sue for wrongful life /s

[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 months ago

As long as you aren’t one of the 17-40% of miscarriages (depending on your mom’s age).

If you’re a bit more unlucky, and in an adoration ban state, you might take your erstwhile mom out too!

[–] No1@aussie.zone 3 points 10 months ago

What makes me quite anxious is this:

Many people,.using logic and rational thought decide not to have children
Many people don't think and just breed by 'accident'

Where does this end? The smarter,.more responsible people voluntarily genocide themselves,. leaving the world to idiots?

If you're a good person, maybe you have a responsibility to have more children, to make the world a better place in the future.

[–] Psythik@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The most annoying thing is all the awful spelling and lack of punctuation I've seen on all the major platforms in recent years. None of today's kids can spell for shit. This is what happens when you're raised by a tablet.

[–] HootinNHollerin@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Einstein predicted this too

[–] friend_of_satan@lemmy.world 25 points 10 months ago

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines

Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.

[–] arin@lemmy.world 22 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Not a daughter for sure

[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 32 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Undergoing pregnancy and childbirth, regardless of the baby's gender, just got much more dangerous. In the country that already has the highest maternal mortality rate of all "developed" nations.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 15 points 10 months ago

Developed nations have healthcare systems. The US does not.

[+] 4grams@lemmy.world 21 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

[deleted]

[–] TexMexBazooka@lemm.ee 12 points 10 months ago

“No”

[–] abbiistabbii@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 10 months ago

The answer is no it's not safe, but I fear they might not even have a choice.

[–] VerticaGG@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 10 months ago

Go beyond, and beware the common regurgitated talking points, if you care for human rights, a better tomorrow and world liberated from authoritarianism, heirarchal domination, state class and money:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeADcAaeDAg

It is a great injustice that the poor are denied the resources and means to start families. I extend that to non-traditional families, even beyond those that involve birth. Adoption I am told is incredibly difficult. As a trans woman with many chosen family who need to escape hostile situations, we are, as a big queer diaspora, in our own way denied generational wealth and greatly inhibited in the means of persisting our culture.

This is a topic that leftists should not cede ground on, certainly not so easily as is common

[–] protist@mander.xyz 8 points 10 months ago (3 children)

I really do get the sentiment, but I also think about my grandparents who grew up during the great depression and then fought WWII, or really all the incredibly shitty times to be alive throughout history

[–] Zron@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

And there were birth rate dips during those times. WWII only caused a baby boom because it ended and all those soldiers came back horny as hell.

The Great Depression caused a massive drop in Birth rates that took years to recover from, and WWII saw big fluctuations in birth rates until it was over.

This hesitation is normal, people don’t want to have kids when the future is uncertain.

Source

[–] frunch@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

Where has all that gotten us though? In the interim we've made the world less habitable yet more expensive to live in. I don't want to raise kids just to watch them struggle to make ends meet (as I also struggle to make ends meet)

[–] Anivia@feddit.org 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

What's with the whataboutism? Just because our ancestors acted imorrally doesn't make it OK to do the same

[–] protist@mander.xyz 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Putting current events in historical context is not even remotely "whataboutism." And it sounds like you're saying your ancestors acted immorally for having children, which may be arguable...

[–] Anivia@feddit.org 2 points 10 months ago

And it sounds like you're saying your ancestors acted immorally for having children

I'm saying they acted immorally if they willingly conceived a child during a World War or the great depression

[+] No1@aussie.zone 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

[deleted]

[+] shalafi@lemmy.world -45 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (7 children)

If you're seriously asking yourself this, let me refer you to Mr. Darwin.

I get that people have myriad reasons for not having kids, and I truly respect those reasons, whatever they may be.

But if you throw your hands in the air and say, "Gosh! This is horrible! How irresponsible to bring children into this world!", fine. I'm OK with that. I really am. You're kind of a pussy, but I'm fine with that.

OTOH, my genes will outlive yours, because they're tougher, selfish. This is Biology 101. Maybe check out Dawkin's The Selfish Gene, because that's how the world works. It's simple science, evolution.

tl;dr: I've never given two fucks if my line continues, none, never a thought. But give up a billion years of perfect heritage if you wish. I will not. My children will inherit the Earth, while your line dies. I'm ambivalent on the question, done my part. Roll the dice!

[–] Fashim@lemmy.world 19 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Lol buddy you're kids aren't going to inherit the Earth. We're in a mass extinction event and humans aren't coming out the other side.

[–] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 16 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

what if I don't care about your genes outliving mine?

My friend (not american) had 3 miscarriages and then a baby at 40. Even in a country with a year of mat leave and a month of pat leave they are fucking exhausted.

Add to that I am in America, in a Southern RTW/AWE state so get 0 pat leave, my wife gets 0 mat leave, and if she miscarriages she could be executed by doctor inaction or prosecuted for daring to not carry a baby to term.

Considering I could get as much longevity in my legacy by being part of several group Guiness world records, have had my work written about in the NYT, am mentioned in passing in a book with an ISBN and am mentioned (again, minorly in passing) on 3 Wikipedia pages - why risk my partners life, health, freedom and endure the hardships to actually raise a child well when there are other ways to ensure you are remembered for roughly 60-80 years?

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 15 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You claimed not to care if your line continues and then proceed to brag that it will. No one believes you respect reasons to not have kids. Since you told us you don't.

I don't consider it important or necessary to "continue my line". Even if I did, practically everyone in my family has had kids. And I honestly feel sorry for what those kids will endure. Making a living is harder than ever and the election of trump is a horrendous sign of things to come. So yeah, good luck to your kids and your whole weird lineage fascination which you totally "don't have".

[+] shalafi@lemmy.world -16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Not bragging, simply stating a fact. Didn't plan it that way. Anyway, y'all end your DNA. The better adapted will, as always, continue. Whether that's me, you or the other guy, don't care. I don't make the rules.

I honestly feel sorry for what those kids will endure

Coward. How about the people having kids in:

-900,000: Whatever happened to kill off almost all humans
-1177: Bronze Age collapse
535: Volcanic winter of 536
1347-1351: Black Death
1914-1918: WWI and Spanish Flu
1929-1939: Great Depression and Dust Bowl
1962: Great Leap Forward
1943-1945: Worst killings and bombings of WWII
2020: For our lifetimes. COVID and 100 other disasters. So bad most have forgotten it started with Australia burning to the ground, 1 billion animals killed.

Without whose toughness, you would likely not exist to make wimpy online comments.

"buT TrumMP!!!"

Grow a fucking pair. Or don't. Don't care.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Since the industrial age, being strong or smart has nothing to do with surviving. Your toxic masculinity is extremely validating. Especially after seeing you in two different threads defending adults having sex with underage girls.

[–] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 12 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

This is such a weird take. It sounds like looking for a reason to be happy with your decision to have kids.

Here's the thing about your genes "outliving" others': by definition, it cannot affect you at all.

[–] boatswain 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I really don't get the weird attachment to having your generic lineage continue. I guess it's just as arbitrary as hoping that anything in particular will outlive you, but it's not going to do you in particular any good, and it seems to me there's less reason to think it'll help people as a whole than doing something productive with your money rather than spending it all in diapers, clothes, college, and so on.

[–] MemeSink@reddthat.com 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I've read The Selfish Gene and also studied Biology, earning a BS in the process. One thing you fail to consider is your genes are diluted with each generation. Your children will have 50% of your genes, your grandchildren 25%, and their children will each have 12.5% of your precious genes. And lest you think your genes are somehow unique and valuable, most likely 100% of them already exist in other people.

You also fail to mention that Dawkins, rightfully concerned about those using his work to justify selfishness, explicitly discusses how, now that we know of these selfish-replicators, we can cultivate pure altruism - going against our biological programming and doing the right thing. That's what people who choose not to have children are doing - they are acting in the best interests of humanity.

[–] Asidonhopo@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

This is one nice thing about getting older, I've met younger people I didn't even share an ethnicity with that had traits that I thought were uniquely particular to me. They're rare but they're out there. Good to know whatever makes me special is perennial. As far as carrying on family traditions I'm okay with it being a lost cause (some cousins had kids so not a complete loss) but no doubt similar enough eyes will look out on this blasted world in a dozen and a thousand generations.

[–] jaggedrobotpubes@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This feels like the influence of some drug or other but I couldn't say which one.

[–] SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Copium. Nobody argues this hard, with such flimsy and poorly understood reasoning, to defend their decision.. if they actually think it was a good decision..

[–] Seleni@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

Could also be racism. White Supremacists have this fear that ‘their superior genes’ will disappear, and that they’ll be ‘replaced’ by ‘inferior peoples’.

So they put a lot of emphasis on having lots of kids with white women—and the younger the better, because they think younger women are ‘prime breeders’, despite that being very not true.

collapse of the old society