By that logic, you’d have to be completely devoid of morals and empathy not to kill yourself tonight. Whatever strain on the planet or human suffering we can prevent by never having children, you could prevent equally by suicide. It’s poor logic. You shouldn’t kill yourself, and mammals are allowed to give into their impulse to continue their species.
Do you mean me? It couldn’t be further from the truth. I looked into my child’s eyes earlier today and literally had the thought, “this is the meaning of everything.” My chest swelled with love i couldn’t have known possible and I thought, " Right here in front of me is the entire purpose of the universe. "
I’m not being facetious, that literally happened this morning. I had the thought at a separate time this morning that marriage and children is the whole and only point of life. You fall so deeply in love and finally understand all love songs. They become literal to you instead of metaphorical. And then you have a child, and the meaning of every love song deepens ten fold. Suddenly, “I have loved you for a thousand years, and I’ll love you for a thousand more” seems somehow literal. Like everyone in my lineage fought and lived and reproduced to get to this little toddler in front of me, and I will live and die for them, happily, and with any luck, that will get passed down for a thousand years beyond me. My familial connections are strong among my parents, my siblings, my aunts and uncles, my cousins, my nieces and nephews.
People who aren’t lucky or privileged enough to experience this kind of deep, biological, animal love… I genuinely feel sorry for them. I don’t judge anyone’s choices, and if you think children aren’t for you, they probably aren’t. They’re a fuck ton of work. But I guess I believe that I’m just a mammal. And giving into my instinct to have a child is the most natural thing and my mammal brain rewards my giving into this instinct greatly.
That’s nice. Oxytocin is a powerful thing and all. But… no, that doesn’t mean procreating is a good or a bad thing. The answer lies beyond your lived experience and your anecdotes. It is an ethical question.
Anyway, I was commenting not because of that but because of the suicide comment you made. It’s not only a bit distasteful, it’s wrong because almost always you do not prevent suffering by committing suicide but cause it (e.g., survivors of suicidal relatives).
Also, the arguments for saying procreating is unethical are not always about reducing suffering (many are, but not all); some, for example, are about not gambling with others lives or with others wishes, respecting others future autonomy, etc.
So, in short, that suicide comment was not only a little bit distasteful, maybe even rude, it was wrong or at least incomplete or inaccurate.
You’d have to be completely devoid of morals and empathy to bring another human into this world.
By that logic, you’d have to be completely devoid of morals and empathy not to kill yourself tonight. Whatever strain on the planet or human suffering we can prevent by never having children, you could prevent equally by suicide. It’s poor logic. You shouldn’t kill yourself, and mammals are allowed to give into their impulse to continue their species.
Someone regrets their crotch goblins
Do you mean me? It couldn’t be further from the truth. I looked into my child’s eyes earlier today and literally had the thought, “this is the meaning of everything.” My chest swelled with love i couldn’t have known possible and I thought, " Right here in front of me is the entire purpose of the universe. "
I’m not being facetious, that literally happened this morning. I had the thought at a separate time this morning that marriage and children is the whole and only point of life. You fall so deeply in love and finally understand all love songs. They become literal to you instead of metaphorical. And then you have a child, and the meaning of every love song deepens ten fold. Suddenly, “I have loved you for a thousand years, and I’ll love you for a thousand more” seems somehow literal. Like everyone in my lineage fought and lived and reproduced to get to this little toddler in front of me, and I will live and die for them, happily, and with any luck, that will get passed down for a thousand years beyond me. My familial connections are strong among my parents, my siblings, my aunts and uncles, my cousins, my nieces and nephews.
People who aren’t lucky or privileged enough to experience this kind of deep, biological, animal love… I genuinely feel sorry for them. I don’t judge anyone’s choices, and if you think children aren’t for you, they probably aren’t. They’re a fuck ton of work. But I guess I believe that I’m just a mammal. And giving into my instinct to have a child is the most natural thing and my mammal brain rewards my giving into this instinct greatly.
That’s nice. Oxytocin is a powerful thing and all. But… no, that doesn’t mean procreating is a good or a bad thing. The answer lies beyond your lived experience and your anecdotes. It is an ethical question.
Anyway, I was commenting not because of that but because of the suicide comment you made. It’s not only a bit distasteful, it’s wrong because almost always you do not prevent suffering by committing suicide but cause it (e.g., survivors of suicidal relatives).
Also, the arguments for saying procreating is unethical are not always about reducing suffering (many are, but not all); some, for example, are about not gambling with others lives or with others wishes, respecting others future autonomy, etc.
So, in short, that suicide comment was not only a little bit distasteful, maybe even rude, it was wrong or at least incomplete or inaccurate.
This exactly. Nothing more needs to be said.