I’ve got leftist acquaintances who chuckle derisively every year about the “War On Christmas”.
I meet them halfway. The war isn’t just on Christmas, of course; it’s on everything that builds a stable, functional society
Especially families.
The “hild-free”/movement is one of modernity’s more galling little affectations. Not so much the people who just decide they don’t want to have kids – although I have questions – much less the ones that can’t.
No, I’m talking about the ones that take affirmative pride at disdaining all thing child: having them, putting up with them in public, making any allowances for them or their parents in any way.
It’s not just their dubious social skills; to be intentionally “child-free” is to say “when I’m too old to take care of myself – financially, socially and literally – I’m going to give the job to your kids and grandkids”. The burden in insurance premiums, social overhead and literal time (CNAs don’t grow on trees) will come from the children and grandchildren of the people they’re condescending to today.
Of course, like every other harebrained notion, they’ve got their carefully-curated “Facts” – which in this case Jordan Peterson was good enough to flense for us:
Answer #5 in particular grabbed me:
Much of modern culture seems to mistake a dopamine for purpose and meaning – and among millennials and Zoomers, it shows.
All true, but the consequences also extend to those 40-somethings and older who have no family with whom to spend time on the holidays. D’oh!
Of course, these people are also genetic aberrations who will take those genes with them when they die.
Of course, these people are also genetic aberrations who will take those genes with them when they die.
This is one of the few nice things about pro-infanticide people. Many will not leave any offspring that they can shape and mold in their essence. While many of those in the pro-life category will have offspring (sometimes MANY offspring), that they can hopefully shape and mold in their essence. The problem is, the pro-infanticide movement (and progressivism in general) manages to snag so many teens and young adults who were brought up on the right side of the divide. It has to be the 13+ years of brainwashing they receive from the education establishment.
My other favorite is the people that proudly proclaim their singleness so they sleep around, but studies routinely show that married people have more sex (quantity) and more fulfilling sex lives (quality). IIRC, those studies do control for age when comparing single to married people.
Allow me to add another question to Jordan Peterson’s list.
11. For how long?
I mean, I am often really, really happy when I drink too much. The next morning, not so much.
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My thought is simply “if you choose not to have children, enjoy spending your last years in a very lonely way in the nursing home.”
Not necessarily related to refusing to have kids (which I firmly believe they will regret when they reach my age) I have to admit I’ve become much less tolerant of children and their parents in public as I’ve gotten older.
I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve become more of a curmudgeon (“Get Off My Lawn!”) or because parents have allowed their children to become less disciplined (in all senses of the word).
About the third time your feral kid bashes into me in a public place, or kicks the back of the seat I’m sitting in, or screams at the top of their lungs, I’m going to lose any sympathy or patience I had with you as a parent and am going to start passing judgment on your parenting skills and techniques. If you can’t control them, keep them on a leash. A short one.
And yes, I raised two kids who are now fully functioning, productive adults with kids of their own, My lack of sympathy for most of the parents of today doesn’t stem from ignorance about what they’re going through.
Dr, Spock and his ideals of kindler, gentler parenting has broken several generations of kids in my humble opinion.
Excellent observations, Sailorcurt.
Without having kids there’s no way I’d have made as many trips to Europe as I have in the last nine years – chasing after daughter #2!