Children and Anti-Natalism

An archive special

Encouraging a hostility towards having and raising children is the embodiment of an anti life mentality. Instead of affirming life and desiring to extend their very essence into the future; raising and teaching a part of themselves so it can become something better and reach towards the divine, rather than finding fulfillment in the productive cultivation of another mind which serves to reflect their own; many are opting for materialistic self-aggrandizement and/or selfish hedonism. To be against the idea of having children as a physically healthy individual indicates that something is amiss or went awry, and if encountered on a societal scale where many have also developed this attitude, it is evidence of unhealthy decadence or sickness of some kind. Only a self-destructive and/or malign society would foster an antinatalist mentality in its members, as it is profoundly unnatural and aberrant thinking which contradicts the historical behavior and culture of any extant people intrinsically (else they wouldn't have continued to exist), and is likely the product of malicious actors. If someone possesses such a mentality it is important they seriously consider why they hold that view and try to uncover where it came from, what factors or people influenced its development. This is also true of anybody that does not wish for most, if not all, of their own traits to be passed on to their children, as this indicates self-loathing (however in certain circumstances a person may just be the recipient of poor traits themselves and aware of that fact). If observed on a mass scale that self-loathing becomes evidence of deliberate malicious action. There are certain exceptions which justify an apprehension towards reproduction of course, such as the existence of reproductive issues, genetic illnesses, and temporal considerations such as waiting for a period of famine or strife to pass, which is ultimately just a matter of timing and not a deeper pathology. This leads to the next point regarding the responsibility one has when bringing a new life into this reality, and the considerations which should be taken into account yet are often neglected. The most obvious of course is a person's situation regarding resources and stability, and there is no need to spend time on that subject as it is mostly common sense. Instead the focus will be on considerations which are overlooked and often dismissed as wholly irrelevant today, despite the true gravity of their importance. What a person values determines many things and these values are developed over time largely through socialization, a phenomena which occurs top down through the media, education system, religion, etc., as well as from parents and peers (whom are also influenced by the same top-down socialization). A mindful person is capable of overcoming it through introspection and investigation however, and can become the authors of their own principles and values if necessary. What a person sees as important in life determines many things, including who they select as a partner. People who choose partners for poor or frivolous reasons do so without any consideration for the propagation of negative traits to their children, including behavior and temperament which are influenced by genetics as well. Children are an afterthought in those scenarios and viewed as a burden when conceived unintentionally, so much so that one of the parents will sometimes flee from the situation due to a lack of mental or financial readiness, and in some cases simply out of greed and selfishness. The well being of any offspring which may arise from a pairing being considered as above or even equivalent in importance to the "personal satisfaction" of the individual(s) is a completely alien concept, especially given a culture that cultivates a need for immediate gratification of base desires and encourages low impulse control. To bring life into this world in such a mindless and haphazard manner; as intelligent beings ourselves who are conscious of our own actions, who are aware of the mechanisms of reproduction and the law of cause and effect; is beyond irresponsible and inconsiderate, it is abhorrent. A parent has a great deal of control over the vessel that will become their child and this is especially true today given the abundance of information and technology available. Nobody chooses to be brought into existence, that decision is made for them by their parents, as was the nature of their vessel and, to a large degree, their environment. The combination of traits between a person and the partner they choose determine the probability and distribution of the traits that will form the vessel for the new life they bring into this world, meaning they bear the responsibility for determining what state of existence the child will have. To make this point with clarity consider a child born with a severe genetic illness which the parents knew was a possibility due to both carrying the genes for it (or simply being part of a consanguineous (first cousin or closer i.e. incest) union), yet decided to have a child anyway. That child's existence will be a state of suffering from the time they are born until their final breath because of the decision their parents made, and they will likely have to live with the shame of being a burden to those around them and society. Another possibility is that they are merely deformed and not suffering, in which case they will exist in a state of alienation from others and face rejection their entire life. To use a less extreme example, choosing an exceedingly dull partner for foolish reasons will likely result in a dull state of existence for the child, who will then have to struggle just to achieve mediocrity. Having mostly broken away from the brutal gauntlet of natural selection through the use of our minds, the traits which make us unique from other animals and made us what we are should be cherished and improved, and it is upon us to accomplish that since the reigns of selection are mostly in our hands now. Valuing foolishness will result in regression and degeneration, continuing haphazardly will result in stagnation; only valuing what is truly important and selecting for it will allow us to move ever closer to divinity on this journey of becoming to achieve a higher state of being.

Where children are concerned I do believe that we have not done enough as a society to ensure the safety of children. Before you get married you need to jump through multiple loops, go through numerous consultations etc. to see whether you are in a position to get married, whether you and your partner are compatible. They need to do those kinds of interviews before considering having children and even with pregnant mothers and their partners. In most circumstances the mother does not have enough support. No one notices her baby blues and hatred towards the child or even towards herself. Our world is not made for children and the young ones getting pregnant even younger than before needs to be stopped.

Genetics and everything do play a role, however I am also aware of the fact that genetics are so unpredictable. Both parents can have a specific gene, however the % of that gene going to the child or affecting the child also differs a lot. Before my sister was born we were told that she will be mentally impaired due to her having more chromes than what you should have. Almost like downies. My mom refused to abort and she was born normal. Therefore I do understand the difficulty of determining genetic illnesses. The normal stuff like blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes and all those stuff don't really have a major effect on a child as everything is manageable and it is not seen on the outside. Most stuff that are seen does have an effect on children, however society has changed a lot and have started accepting these types of people. Personally I do not think that the suffering of a child is necessarily due to their conditions, however I do believe that their home situations do play a major role in how they feel and handle these types of illnesses. Parents need to be taught how to handle children, how to take care of them and how to take care of yourself while having children. The whole reason society has all these different stuff happening around children is due to the mental state of the parents and the fact that they don't have the life skills taking care of kids

Here in the US, the fathers generally usually get the worst of it. From divorce court, alimony payments, custody battles, and child support. Single mothers in this country raise some of the worst of society despite having many advantages given to help out, typically squandering that help. That's why it's important to promote choosing healthy partners, as you mentioned as well. The "no fault" divorce laws in this country have allowed marriages to be broken up for no reason, usually initiated by the wife, for things like what the feminists call "sexual liberation" i.e. sleeping around which they later come to regret. The children suffer most because of this mentality. The "culture" in the US is rotten to the core.Genetics determine our hard limitations and predispositions towards certain things, like the hardware in a PC. You can run a poorly optimized program on a great PC and make it run like crap, but you can't make a crappy PC run better with good software. That's why I use the word "vessel", it carries your experiences and knowledge but it remains fundamentally the same throughout your whole life (with the exception of damage such as physical or mental disabilities caused by traumatic events and injuries). I'm glad to hear your sister was fine, however that sounds like they were referring to a congenital defect and not a heritable one. That said, it's still a matter of probability. Consider you have three bets: - 1:2 odds, 1:5 odds, and 1:10 odds. The catch is the payout is the same. Obviously you would choose the 1:2 odds. Very little in life is absolutely certain, most things function based on probability. Here in the US we operate on a detached emotion based morality, where outliers become the rule in a fatalistic denial of probability. By that I mean, if something isn't 100% certain than most resort to relativism on the subject. The "normal stuff" you refer to is manageable, but it certainly does have an effect and even beyond that there is the reliance on pharmaceuticals which have side effects. Hypertension (high blood pressure) for instance, causes heart damage over time because pressure spikes still occur. You also must manage your diet even when on medication. The medications for it cause kidney failure over time and cancer as well. Medications can prolong your life, but they cannot give you the same quality of life as a healthy person. I have manic depression (bipolar disorder type 1), medication doesn't work for me, or at least it isn't worth the side effects. It is an inherited condition however it doesn't activate unless certain epigenetic traits are activated via environmental factors (prolonged periods of high stress).

"however society has changed a lot and have started accepting these types of ppl""Personally I do not think that the suffering of a child is necessarily due to their conditions"

You can train people to have an outward affectation but it is for social approval, not sincere care or understanding. Even so, it is not societies' job to pander to the sick. I don't expect people to go out of their way to accommodate me, instead I do what I can to close the gap on my end. I'm sure you've seen it, when I hit a manic mood I try not to barrage others as best I can even though my brain is going 1000 meters per second and I'm awake for 36 hours or more. However there were times I sent you over 100 messages hahaha, but you didn't freak out about it because you are an understanding person. It works both ways see. People with issues shouldn't demand acceptance or for the disruption of society, and those without issues should try to be understanding. Both sides may fall short but that's fine as long as people try. I went off on a bit of a tangent, let me address the second part.Suffering can be caused by many sources, but nothing can truly change the nature of being born into a defective vessel. You must live with it your whole life, some take that burden upon themselves and others try to push it off on others, but the suffering exists no matter how it is distributed.