The "whatever's on your mind" thread

[Alcoremortis]

Originally Posted by Rather Dashing

I honestly think of people who have their own children to be irresponsible, in a way. We have a lot of children right now in need of families, and people go ahead and make more children instead for what seem like entirely selfish reasons. "Oh, I want to see myself in him/her", "Oh, I couldn't love a child who didn't at one point exist in some form in my ballsack". Adoption is always treated as though it's some last resort, a curse dropped on those poor, unfortunate infertile couples. It sucks, because it perpetuates a larger problem.

Having your own children is a bit like a mini!Eugenics project. I mean, adopted children are all well and good, but if you know you have better genes than everyone else then why WOULDN'T you want to pass them on? Also, according to my parents, having one's own children is a way of leaving your legacy behind when you die. I mean, if you think about it, every single one of your ancestors was both fertile AND had children that lived long enough to reproduce. That's pretty impressive and it would be a shame to put an end to such a line.

[Chyron8472]

Those of you who are saying it's irresponsible for people to want to have children obviously are not and have not been involved in a successful, serious long-term relationship. No one who has been married for more than a few years would say that considering having children is irresponsible.

[Zeek]

It bothers me slightly that I found myself agreeing with Ra's al Ghul's monologue in Batman Begins given our society's current state of things.

[Comrade Pants]

Originally Posted by Rather Dashing

I honestly think of people who have their own children to be irresponsible, in a way. We have a lot of children right now in need of families, and people go ahead and make more children instead for what seem like entirely selfish reasons. "Oh, I want to see myself in him/her", "Oh, I couldn't love a child who didn't at one point exist in some form in my ballsack". Adoption is always treated as though it's some last resort, a curse dropped on those poor, unfortunate infertile couples. It sucks, because it perpetuates a larger problem.

Agreeching with Dash. There's a surprise.

Also,

F A W F U L - R E T U R N S

[Rather Dashing]

Originally Posted by GaryCXJk

I see child birth as a way to ensure humans don't go extinct. But hey, that's just my thoughts.

We have something of a surplus of people, considering there isn't enough food for them all.

Originally Posted by Alcoremortis

Having your own children is a bit like a mini!Eugenics project. I mean, adopted children are all well and good, but if you know you have better genes than everyone else then why WOULDN'T you want to pass them on? Also, according to my parents, having one's own children is a way of leaving your legacy behind when you die. I mean, if you think about it, every single one of your ancestors was both fertile AND had children that lived long enough to reproduce. That's pretty impressive and it would be a shame to put an end to such a line.

I don't particularly care about my specific "genetic line". There's no problem with my family name, certainly. While I'll put an end to the branch that happens to contain my father specifically, his brothers and sisters, all five of them, have produced offspring and so the line will be left more or less intact anyway. The way I see it, if my specific differences of genetic material between my father and myself is the most important thing to leave behind in the world, it's not something that is particularly important. Others can marvel at their genetic lines, I don't see how it's something at all substantial.

Originally Posted by Chyron8472

Those of you who are saying it's irresponsible for people to want to have children obviously are not and have not been involved in a successful, serious long-term relationship. No one who has been married for more than a few years would say that considering having children is irresponsible.

We have:

1. More human beings in the world than we can feed.
2. Children who are without homes.

From a sheer numbers perspective, it's irresponsible and makes little sense. We have more children than we need and we have children who need homes. We have people who want to be parents. Why make *another* child, who will inevitably take up food and other resources that could go to an already existing child? Do you know how many children die of starvation every year? Do you know there are children who are unable to get basic education because their country forces a payment up-front for a year of schooling that amounts to $5 USD? Do you know that there are thousands of children in orphanages in the US alone?

I don't see how being in a relationship for a few years can possibly negate the basic math that shows the direct effect of continued childbirth on human suffering. Obviously SOME humans need to reproduce, but as of right now we're unsustainable and a drop in the numbers would help everybody. The best way to accomplish this, I think, is to eliminate growth rather than killing off currently living human beings. You either do this with war, genocide, or take YOUR approach, and simply allowing them to starve to death out of SHEER INDIFFERENCE because you want a kid that has your mother's eyes.

[Secret Fawful]

Originally Posted by Chyron8472

Those of you who are saying it's irresponsible for people to want to have children obviously are not and have not been involved in a successful, serious long-term relationship. No one who has been married for more than a few years would say that considering having children is irresponsible.

I seriously thought in a deranged mode of thought, for over thirty minutes, the most psychotic thoughts that have ever went through my head, about how much I wanted you to die, I was so pissed off by your flaunting your marriage around, telling everyone how to think and all that bullshit.

JUST ARGH! ARGH! SHUT UP! I WANT TO STUFF YOUR MOUTH WITH ROCKS! ARGH!

[tosses my furniture around the room like a madman, screaming at the top of my lungs at everything, before running out of energy, falling down on the floor, and laughing in a horrifically evil way]

Pant. Pant. Where's the tylenol.

[Comrade Pants]

Originally Posted by Secret Fawful

I seriously thought in a deranged mode of thought, for over thirty minutes, the most psychotic thoughts that have ever went through my head, about how much I wanted you to die, I was so pissed off by your flaunting your marriage around, telling everyone how to think and all that bullshit.

JUST ARGH! ARGH! SHUT UP! I WANT TO STUFF YOUR MOUTH WITH ROCKS! ARGH!

[tosses my furniture around the room like a madman, screaming at the top of my lungs at everything, before running out of energy, falling down on the floor, and laughing in a horrifically evil way]

Pant. Pant. Where's the tylenol.

This, pretty much. It's as bad as when parents are all smug about how everyone should have children and how it changed their lives and so forth. Post natal hormones and delusion are a hell of a drug.

[Secret Fawful]

Yes....yes to beat him up....and watch him beg for mercy tears flowing from his eyes....and then to laugh at his misery....AHAHAHAHAHAHA it must be so WONDERFUL....AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!



AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaa

huff huff pant huff pant Okay. Okay now I'm calm.

[coolsome]

Just finished Arkham City.

[Chyron8472]

Overpopulation problems are happening in developing (ie. "third world") countries.

The only reason why the United States' population is increasing is because of immigration, not birth rate. So, who is to blame? The citizens of developed countries for not alleviating the burden of poorer countries' overpopulation; the developing countries for creating the problem in the first place; or both?

The problem isn't so black and white. We can't just expect the entire populations of developed countries to pick up the slack by default, nor should we be callous enough to just say that developing countries made their beds and should therefore lie in it. You shouldn't also just assume that because a couple wants to have a baby that means they're automatically deemed irresponsible and uncaring about the problems of the world at large.

Originally Posted by Secret Fawful

I seriously thought in a deranged mode of thought, for over thirty minutes, the most psychotic thoughts that have ever went through my head, about how much I wanted you to die, I was so pissed off by your flaunting your marriage around, telling everyone how to think and all that bullshit.

Wow. No need to get all jealous. I'm not telling everyone how to think; I'm saying that no one in the circumstance of actually deciding whether or not to have children of their own would look down on those who choose that they want to, and it follows that those who are looking down on same are not and have not been in said circumstance.

[Rather Dashing]

Originally Posted by Chyron8472

You shouldn't also just assume that because a couple wants to have a baby that means they're automatically deemed irresponsible and uncaring about the problems of the world at large.

No, you get that when people look at a worldwide issue and say "It's largely in a different geographical space and legal jurisdiction(the 'third world'), so it's not my problem."

Wow. No need to get all jealous. I'm not telling everyone how to think; I'm saying that no one in the circumstance of actually deciding whether or not to have children of their own would look down at those who choose that they want to, and it follows that those who are looking down on same are not and have not been in said circumstance.

I haven't, but I've certainly known people who have been through said experience and do.

[Chyron8472]

It's easier to dismiss a problem when one is not directly affected by it. But that doesn't mean that those who don't get directly involved in solving it are heartless.

[coolsome]

Ladies and Gentlemen Mods and Modlesses I present to you THE GREATEST BATMAN FILM EVER!!!

[Johro]

Personally, I don't think any couple should have more than 2 kids.... but that's my opinion. That's even, and with others not planning to have kids at all, it's helping a little. I'm not preachy about it, but I don't see a reason to have more than 2. What does bother me, are the families that have 3 or 4 and their reasoning is "well, we always wanted a boy/girl and after getting two/three boys/girls, we thought we'd try one more time".... I'm sorry, but in that case, where that is your primary reason,....it IS selfish.

[Alcoremortis]

Honestly, I've not really considered having children because it just looks exceedingly painful and disgusting. And then if the sex works out, you have to go give birth if you're female.

But I still think that people who have children aren't irresponsible. This is unfair, but going back to the original eugenics argument of this whole thing, if you were a very intelligent, hardworking, conscientious individual wouldn't it be a benefit to the human race in the long run to reproduce? Because how I see it, the only people who would adopt out of worry for the state of the world, would be those same people, while the people who don't care and would teach their children not to care would have more children. It's a matter of numbers. The solution, is for the smart people to have tons of children and outnumber everyone else. The solution is: MORE BABIES! BRING 'EM ON!

[Rather Dashing]

Originally Posted by Alcoremortis

Honestly, I've not really considered having children because it just looks exceedingly painful and disgusting. And then if the sex works out, you have to go give birth if you're female.

But I still think that people who have children aren't irresponsible. This is unfair, but going back to the original eugenics argument of this whole thing, if you were a very intelligent, hardworking, conscientious individual wouldn't it be a benefit to the human race in the long run to reproduce? Because how I see it, the only people who would adopt out of worry for the state of the world, would be those same people, while the people who don't care and would teach their children not to care would have more children. It's a matter of numbers. The solution, is for the smart people to have tons of children and outnumber everyone else. The solution is: MORE BABIES! BRING 'EM ON!

Do you really honestly think that intelligence has that much to do with genetics? Things like body type, metabolism, genetic diseases, etc, sure, but intelligence? Doesn't that have more to do with nurture than nature?

[Alcoremortis]

Originally Posted by Rather Dashing

Do you really honestly think that intelligence has that much to do with genetics? Things like body type, metabolism, genetic diseases, etc, sure, but intelligence? Doesn't that have more to do with nurture than nature?

Actually, that's under debate. I just read a rather interesting article where they studied identical twins that had been raised apart in different environments. Same genetic material, different upbringings. They had IQ scores with a .75 correlation. Admittedly, that's not 1, so it's not a "nature only" thing, but there is definitely some relationship between the two.

But I guess I was trying to get at, is what we'll end up with is the people who know better, taking care of the kids of the people who don't. Which is rather unfair.

I have to say, if it really becomes an issue with overpopulation, which we haven't really reached yet in America, I like Comrade Mortis' idea best. Basically, everyone is reversibly sterilized and must go through a rigorous application process to have a child. This way, any child born is really and truly desired by the parents and there would be fewer unwanted children who end up in orphanages.

[coolsome]

It's Too bad Two Face is already around I like the idea of being a villain with half a rotting face. I wouldn't bother with the coin stuff though the face is enough.

[Johro]

Originally Posted by coolsome

It's Too bad Two Face is already around I like the idea of being a villain with half a rotting face. I wouldn't bother with the coin stuff though the face is enough.

Whatever floats your boat.

[coolsome]

Originally Posted by coolsome

That made me laugh.

Originally Posted by Johro

Whatever floats your boat.