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How or why people feel so entitled to insist that other people have kids is beyond me (thelemmy.club)
submitted 2 weeks ago by [M] to c/childfree@lemmy.world
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[–] 63 points 2 weeks ago (40 children)

My fiancée and I just flatly say we can’t have kids and that shuts most people up.

Never mind the reason why we can’t have kids is because we don’t like them.

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  • [–] 14 points 2 weeks ago

    While we also choose a child-free existence, it wasn't until some close friends had kids that were awesome that I realized I don't dislike kids. I dislike shitty parents.

    That said, I can go meet up with people whenever I feel like it. I also have lots more disposable income. It's pretty great if it's what you want anyway.

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  • [+] -24 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (38 children)
    [deleted]
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  • [–] 22 points 2 weeks ago (35 children)

    Why not ? People don't like many thing, they are allowed to not like kid aren't they ?

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  • [+] -31 points 2 weeks ago (34 children)

    Well it's because of the notion that the very reason of being alive is to propagate more life. That's the fundamental nature of life because without that there would be no life. So if you think that life is worth while, it would be logical that you contribute. Otherwise it would be somewhat selfish. And such a mentality of not wanting to sacrifice one's freedom in order to be a parent and take on that responsibility comes across as immature.
    I don't think you should have kids if you don't want to. I'm just explaining why some people find it bad and upsetting that you don't.

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  • [–] 24 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (9 children)

    not having kids = selfish has got to be in the top 5 dumbest arguments i've ever heard, especially considering that kids today and their kids and so on are destined to grow up on a toxic hellscape wasteland planet.

    "oh the kids will fix it"

    LOL so not having kids = selfish, but having kids so they can fix the problems of the last couple hundred years = generous. got it

    and you're confusing "purpose of life" with biological instinct. yes, all living things from bacteria and viruses on up the evolutionary ladder are hardwired to engage in behavior that results in the passing on of their genes. "purpose" is a cognitive construct invented by philosophers who couldn't stand being just animals. there's no formula for it, or even quantifiable evidence that there is such a thing. so my "purpose" is to not have kids

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  • [+] -7 points 2 weeks ago (8 children)

    I think it's always seemed like the world was going to hell. It's all relative.
    I don't care if you have kids. I don't really care if humans go extinct. I'm happy to be alive so I'm glad my parents wanted to have kids,

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  • [–] 2 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

    It's always seemed like the world is going to hell, but now we have 200 years of scientific data to prove that we're making the entirety of the biosphere uninhabitable for the majority of species on the planet, including us.

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  • [–] -2 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

    I grew up in the 80's with threats of imminent nuclear war.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

    I'm living in a world that's rapidly decaying into poverty and fascism, with escalating catastrophic weather events getting closer and closer to my city.

    Also the immenent dropping of an atomic bomb by America or Israel somewhere on the planet, maybe in my country.

    I guess we should all just shut up about it, huh?

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  • [–] -2 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

    Nah, it sucks for sure and if you have the energy to fight the good fight that's great.
    But don't think we're unique now. Things have been real shitty plenty of times before. And people have fought back and made positive (if temporary) improvements. People have also suffered greatly, more than we can probably imagine. That doesn't invalidate our current predicament, nor mean we shouldn't do what we can to fix things.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    Sorry buddy, you need to do more homework. We are literally past the point of no return lol.

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  • [–] -2 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    What do you think people felt like with the nazi's taking over Europe? Or the smog in LA in the 1940's? The three mile island accident? Nuclear bombing of Hiroshima? The Cold War? Or acid rain destruction? Or if you were in China, the cultural revolution. Or any of the other hundreds of major wars throughout history. Maybe we're past the tipping point now, maybe we have been past a tipping point since the Industrial Revolution started. Or maybe we're just in another chapter of shit happening.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 weeks ago

    I think you're not understanding the role humans have had on the biosphere and the rapid pace we have pumped hundreds of millions of years worth of stored carbon into the atmosphere in ~200 years.

    Increased CO2 in the atmosphere is linked to many extinction events in the geological record. This is the fastest one to happen in earth's history.

    Almost nothing will be able to adapt in the timespan we have provided with what we've done in a nanosecond in geologic timescales.

    200+ species are driven to extinction a day due to humans. This is the lowest amount it will ever be from now on.

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  • [–] 11 points 2 weeks ago (7 children)

    there's billions of people in the world, there's zero impact on whether the humanity will continue or not. being upset at someone for not procreating is silly and having kids just for the sake of propagating life as if people were scarce is ridiculous.

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  • [+] -7 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

    It's just a logical argument such as if everyone decided not to have kids, humans would go extinct pretty quickly. Not that I really care. I'm happy to be alive so I'm glad my parents weren't against having kids.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    i get where "if everyone does that then it'd be bad" comes from but it doesn't apply here, if you look around do you realistically see it as a necessity for everyone to have kids to save the humanity from going extinct? if one or few people says that they don't want to procreate, will every single person in the world follow suit? in case that i live my life without having kids, what's the worst that will happen to humanity because of my choice?

    i'm also happy to be alive, but i also have reasons why i don't want to have kids and it's not like i'm taking life away from someone with that decision.

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  • [–] -4 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    All good in my book. Don't have kids if you don't want to. I'm just explaining where the notion comes from.
    Sure you not having kids won't cause the population to collapse. But it's a bit the same as you not throwing your garbage in the trash - one person doing that won't make a significant difference.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 weeks ago

    well, i was explaining how the notion is baseless. no realistic amount of people deciding not to have kids due to personal reasons are going to make the world go anywhere near extinct (or make any meaningful dent at all) and anyone being upset at other people for not having kids for any reason is a very silly individual who should focus on minding their own business instead.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    Humans going extinct would save every other living thing on this planet, lol. Who's selfish now?

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  • [–] 4 points 2 weeks ago* (4 children)

    I’m just explaining why some people find it bad and upsetting that you don’t.

    that's a whole fuckin paragraph to say "they're nosy and entitled" - and it's absolute garbage. " if you think that life is worth while, it would be logical that you contribute. Otherwise it would be somewhat selfish. " utter fucking garbage. only people adding to the population pressure of OVER 8 BILLION FUCKING HUMANS are worth it? everyone else is selfish?

    STOP FOR A MOMENT AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE SAYING.

    8 BILLION +, AND YOU INSIST THAT MORE ARE NEEDED OTHERWISE IT WOULD BE SOMEWHAT SELFISH?

    gotta be a fucking troll

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  • [–] -2 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

    Actually the world population is starting to decline. People have value. I'm not sure what the optimal world population is, but as it goes down it's going to be painful as demographics shift.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 weeks ago*

    Human population is not declining. The acceleration rate of population increase is decreasing. It's still going ever faster and faster, just a little less faster than we were. And it's still an absolutely staggering, incomprehensible population increase.

    And then there's the animal farming to consider. Hey, what happened to the Amazon?

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  • [–] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    Actually the world population is starting to decline.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_Eight_Billion

    You think it's starting to decline, the evidence is remaining to be seen.

    Talk to me when we hit 7.5bn and we can start to care.

    go away

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  • [–] 0 points 2 weeks ago

    Well I doubt I'll still be alive when we get back down to 7 billion and are in free fall.
    Yes I was wrong when I said population was in decline. The rate of population growth is slowing down, so we can predict a decline starting in like 50 years.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    Are asexual people selfish? Are monks who don’t fuck selfish? Are infertile people selfish? Are people who adopt instead of having bio kids selfish? Do none of these people count as “life”? I pronounce you fully ridiculous.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

    Buddy, I think you came to the wrong comment section.

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  • [–] -1 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

    What, we all need to have carbon copy opinions?

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  • [–] 2 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

    When you dress your stupid opinions up as universal truths, you're gonna get some negative responses.

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  • [–] -1 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

    I suppose that's true. But in this case I didn't really did I? I was explaining how some people think. I can relate to it, but since I don't care if humans go extinct, it's not my mantra.

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