Jesus and free will

Jesus and free will Sept 7, 2017 5:10:33 GMT

Quote

Post by rachelcarson1953 on Sept 7, 2017 5:10:33 GMT

Sept 6, 2017 20:04:53 GMT @miccee said:

Sept 6, 2017 19:47:09 GMT rachelcarson1953 said:

I had to go to Wikipedia for the definition:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antinatalism

I was unfamiliar with it - interesting read.

I did not procreate - I have often "joked" that that was my gift to the universe, not reproducing - because I didn't want to pass on the dysfunctional aspects of my family. My husband's family was even more dysfunctional - actually brutal - than mine. So I see your point.

Glad you read that. Yes, I just don't think that it is ethically warranted to impose a lifetime of risk and potential harm on someone who cannot consent to that because they (the procreators) think that the potential benefit is worth the risk (without knowing whether the progeny are going to share that mindset. Moreover, the non-existent will never feel deprived of the existence that they could have had. The result is basically kind of akin to the inverse of the progressive taxation system whereby you end up with some wretched people at one end who end up with all the suffering (say, for example, a sweatshop worker in Bangladesh or an Indonesian patient in a psychiatric hospital), whilst the privileged enjoy all of the benefits (wealthy Americans and Europeans, but even amongst those populations there is considerable risk of non-trivial harm). A lot of atheists are quick to condemn the Christian God for leaving us on this dangerous planet, but are themselves very willing to play god by producing more people whom they will never be able to fully protect from risk and harm.

Cupcakes thinks that this is some kind of a 'Dr Evil' philosophy; but it's actually about not imposing hazards upon people who cannot consent, just because the parents feel that their own lives will be enriched by the addition of children. That's a brief summary, anyway.

Your nemesis posted this in response to what you said here:

Or because they have empathy and experience and basic sense enough to know that kids can and with good parental support generally do have blasts, and can be guided to have lives that they thoroughly enjoy.

There are too few people that can provide good parental support. Too many people just have kids without giving it a thought - it's what their friends are doing, or their parents expect to have grandkids or, oops, the birth control failed. The 'pro-lifers' only care about the fetus before it's born; once it's out of the uterus, they couldn't care less about how the child is raised, can the mother be a good mother at age 15, will the child be abused or neglected. And they certainly don't want their tax dollars going to more social aid programs.

And no one seems to think about whether the earth can continue to support as much life as there is now. I look at pregnant women in the grocery store with another two kids in tow and wonder, what are they thinking, bringing more kids into a world that is going to be stressed to the max.

I know I made the right choice. My non-existent children were spared a dysfunctional childhood and troubled life. I feel my life has been enriched by not having children; I've pursued other interests. The animal rescue groups I have volunteered with have a policy; any animal that comes in to the rescue is spayed or neutered before being put up for adoption. No unwanted litters to be abandoned, drowned or thrown into a dumpster in the heat of summer. And if an animal comes in that is too sick to survive and is suffering, it is humanely euthanized. Reduce the suffering.