• GingaNinga@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Thats one of the reasons i’m not having kids. I have a decent life by any metric but I had to work my ass off and face a tonne of resistance in my career. It always feels like I’m playing catch up with the cost of everything going up and up to the point where I’m just exhausted and depressed. Like, what is the point of living?! it honestly feels like theres just nothing left to enjoy anymore, everything has been monetized to hell and back. They told us as kids that you can be anything you want when you grow up, the future is bright and if you work hard you will be rewarded and its just not true. I can’t do that to another person, these problems are only getting worse with no end in sight.

    • Madison420@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      That’s the point? The left get demoralized and the right can’t be because they have no morals. Its part of the reason right wingers tend to have a dozen children, it’s quite literally biblical drown them in numbers bullshit.

        • Bahnd Rollard@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          It absolutely isnt

          President Comacho has a problem, finds the most qualified person to fix it, does so (reluctantly) and then dosen’t take credit. This so divorced from reality that it should be concidred high fantasy.

          • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            Yeah, Idiocracy has this basic assumption that people are generally acting in good faith, even the ones with more selfish tendencies. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but didn’t someone else get frozen along with the MC and started out with a “fuck you, I’ll take care of myself however I need to” before later pivoting to a “we need to work together to save the world!”

            Just like that Batman scene where the boat full of civilians and the boat full of criminals have the trigger for each others’ bombs. In the real world, I’d bet the guard that was handed the trigger on the prisoner boat would have pressed it almost immediately. And if he didn’t, there would have been a riot on the civilian boat to push it rather than a calm vote that decides against it, followed closely by the same thing on the prisoner boat. And many from both boats would have just bailed into the water rather than trust the other boat to not kill them. Joker would have been completely right in his prediction of how things would go. Especially in a city like Gotham. The catch should have been that the boats had their own trigger instead of each others’.

              • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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                3 months ago

                Well I’d assume Joker was lying and that each boat actually controlled their own bomb to fuck with the ones who didn’t press the button, because who would believe they didn’t press it? It would cause so much more chaos that way (actually max chaos might be to rig both buttons to blow up the prisoners, though I could also see reasons for him to rig up both to blow up the civilians).

                I’m not even sure I’d be on the boat in the first place, though it’s easy to say that in hindsight, knowing how things turn out. I’d probably have made every effort to gtfo of Gotham earlier than that if I could.

                But for an answer that doesn’t completely sidestep the question, I don’t know. It’s a prisoner’s dilemma and I know the optimal solution is if both sides trust each other, but I’d also have a hard time trusting both the other prisoner as well as the “guards” (in this case Joker) setting up the whole situation, knowing there’s no reason they need to be honest about the outcomes of each choice. Like even in the movie, Joker was going to just blow up at least one of the boats anyways when neither of them pressed the button.

                Best bet would probably be to go for a swim.

                What about you?

                • gbuttersnaps@programming.dev
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                  3 months ago

                  I’d like to think that I wouldn’t, but I guess you never really know until you’re in the situation. Family would make the equation harder as well, I think I’d be much more willing to trust a stranger with my life rather than the lives of my nieces and nephews.

          • PwnTra1n@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            I thought about it and it’s just unfortunate kimbo slice died before he could eventually be president. He could have been the one.

      • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        it’s quite literally biblical drown them in numbers bullshit.

        Yes, it’s called (disgustingly) the “Quiverfull Movement”

      • Bob@feddit.nl
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        3 months ago

        The comic is very America-centric if you look at the problems mentioned in totality.

        • silasmariner@programming.dev
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          3 months ago

          Not the same level of problems with mass shootings in the UK. And whilst I take the point about healthcare it’s a very different kind of issue, and if you get triaged conveniently it can work out for you… Really just depends what you need and how old you are, but at least having a baby and keeping it alive is fairly well covered

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        the UK has 2 out of 3 of those

        Change “shooting” to “knifing” and its 3 for 3. The UK has a huge hooliganism problem. The country is rife with domestic violence. But no (non-police) guns!

      • Siegfried@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Most countries have racism, some have violent racism… and there are some in which terrorist organizations like KKK are freely roaming the streets and are ok for some reason.

        Anyway, it feels wierd to speak shit of the USA when there currently are countries actively working on ethnic cleansing.

        • steel_nomad@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Yep. You dumbfucks want to talk about “muh racism”? Be Uyghur or Palestinian or STFU. That’s REAL shit.

          • balderdash@lemmy.zip
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            3 months ago

            Just because a problem is worse somewhere else, doesn’t make the problem trivial here.

      • Cypher@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Most countries have less violent racism now than at any other point in history.

        • Ech@lemm.ee
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          3 months ago

          That bar you’re bragging about stepping over is subterranean.

    • Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      The US is far from the only country with violent racism. In terms of healthcare, the privatization. The Canadian healthcare system is being increasingly enshittified by conservatives up here, too.

      • steel_nomad@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        The Canadian healthcare system is being increasingly enshittified by conservatives up here, too

        FTFY

        • Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee
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          3 months ago

          The conservatives are the main ones behind it, and as usual everyone believes it is failing on its own due to ‘free means shit’ and not realizing just how deep conservative shit is being encrusted into it.

  • FilthyShrooms@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    If I ever decide to have kids then I’m adopting because I can’t in good conscience bring a life into this shitty world

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Given the glut of unwanted children from our abortion prohibition, we’ll be needing a lot of new adoptive parents in the near future.

    • dafo@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Yeah I don’t really get comics like these, or any other form of “[my generation] has it the worst, the world had been destroyed, why should I have kids” that more or less ignores all of history.

      For context, I’m gen Z/millennial with a child and planning another with my wife. We’re not rich or living in nice city of whatever, just living in a smaller city in Europe.

      • volvoxvsmarla @lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        Oh thank god one person on this threat who is not opposed to children or straight out antinatalist

  • vaper@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    The catch-22 is that if the people with environmental values don’t have kids, those values aren’t passed on to the next generation (unless they become teachers or media personalities).

    • Slotos@feddit.nl
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      3 months ago

      You don’t need to have kids to pass on values. The basic premise of your statement doesn’t hold up.

      • vaper@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Well, like I mentioned you still need some sort of interaction with kids. Or maybe influence their parents enough to have them indirectly pass on those values you imparted on them. But I still think that if the smartest, kindest, most compassionate people among us stop having kids… well then that’s not great for that next generation. I’ve just always felt that giving up one of the primary factors of life, reproduction, seems very defeatist. But on the other hand, if someone genuinely doesn’t want children then by all means don’t.

        • Otter@lemmy.ca
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          3 months ago

          I know at least one friend that wants to adopt/foster once they’re ready, instead of having biological children.

          The justification was similar to what you said, where they want to pass on their values / legacy, but don’t care about the genetic side

          • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            This is the answer. The problem is the huge expense to adopt at least in the US. Money that could make a better life for the child being adopted is taken by the state.

            We need to streamline adoption while still vetting the potential parents as unlikely to be abusive.

        • errer@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Yeah this has always pissed me off with my non-parent friends. You really think you have that much influence on random kids you have fleeting interactions with? Unless you’re a teacher or in some other position where it’s your job to interact with kids, your opinions aren’t getting passed down to anyone.

          • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            They could always get more involved with their community. They don’t have to be a parent or have some specialized education to be a coach or volunteer at a youth center.

            My scoutmaster did more to instill honesty, leadership ability, and respect for community in me than my mom or absent father ever did.

            Now in my career I take mentoring new hires more seriously than anything other than general safety. My company hires a lot of young men with no direction and shitty childhoods. It’s not as good as getting to them when they’re young, but when I’m their only friend 200 or 800 miles from home I get the privilege to impart some important ideas and philosophies.

            • errer@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              Scoutmaster is a job that works with kids, so I agree with you there. And mentoring is important too. But these things are less important than the impact you make as a parent. For most people the family is the anchor.

          • zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
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            3 months ago

            Your opinions get passed on whenever you open your mouth, like the dumbass opinion you gave just now. What’s the big fucking deal with influencing kids, anyway? If you aren’t hanging out with any kids, you can influence other adults.

            Or is it appealing because you believe that kids are so easy to influence that they’ll just believe any dumb shit that plops out of your mouth? If you give your opinions to adults, then they might disagree and even push back on you. Oh, shit! That isn’t as much fun as brainwash—er, I mean, passing on your enlightened opinions to easily-molded young people!

    • GHiLA@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      Any society that doesn’t impart those values across the board to its citizens will devolve into shit regardless.

      It’s basically just math.

      People with zero values are going to fuck like rabbits and people with values aren’t.

      If trash family has 5 kids they can’t take care of and a dad that leaves, that’s at least 4 really mad poor kids that are going to blame a lot on somesuch minority for their problems in 18 years.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      For all those values, even in yourself. There’s no better motivator to make an effort for the future, than having a kid you want the best for. If you don’t have a kid, you’re not passing your environmental values, or you educational values, or all the other values you may have for what makes a better society. Nor do you have any reason to hold to them yourself.

      I don’t mean to try to push anyone toward having kids, but if you do want to have kids but give up thinking the world is getting worse, that decision is part of the world getting worse. If you do want kids, there’s all sorts of opportunity to make this a better world for both yourself and them, and longer, and plenty of opportunity to make an actual difference

      Just passing along the value of the bidet may be worth it, according to the comic

      • Lustrate@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        By that rote though everyone that has had children in the past has cared for their future and the future of the social and actual environment they will inherit. We wouldn’t be having this discussion if any semblance of that was true.

        • AA5B@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          There are plenty of reasons to think this true, and plenty of reasons the world is getting better over time. Maybe not the next four years, and maybe not for everyone, but there are so many stays at global and national levels that have trended up for decades and continue to do so.

          And before someone single-minded chimes in about Gaza. War and atrocity has always been an ugly part of our history and also has trended downward over the last several decades. Just the fact that we can get so worked up about ending atrocities somewhere else in the world that doesn’t affect us, is a great sign for the future

    • kreskin@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      It seems like vanishingly few people in the US care about the good of broader humanity anymore. Destroying the environment is fine as long as it creates jobs. Poisoning the water tables forever with fracking is fine as long as it makes cheap gas. Genocide was supported by both parties in the last election. Both parties are waving guns around even as school kids die in ever more frequent mass shootings. Its a race to the bottom and no one cares to change course.

  • RootAccess@lemmynsfw.com
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    3 months ago

    100% of scientists agree that not-having-kids will solve our climate change crisis in one generation.

        • Ajen@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          Think about it… If Gen alpha agrees not to have kids, there will still be a generation after them, raised by Gen Z. A lot of families have a generation gap between parents and their children.

          • RootAccess@lemmynsfw.com
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            3 months ago

            generation (noun): “the living things which share a common ancestry and are alive at (or about) the same time.”

            The word does not refer solely to humans. It existed before the habit of neatly labeling people born within an arbitrary range of years. For example, medical researchers will record changes in microbes from generation to generation (without making up names for each generation).

            So, if our generation (the people alive today, or any time in the next ~9 months) agreed to not have children then humanity’s climate crisis would be solved. In fact, every human problem would be solved. Think about it.

            • Ajen@sh.itjust.works
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              3 months ago

              Are you saying every human alive today belongs to the same generation? That’s not how it works.

              • RootAccess@lemmynsfw.com
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                3 months ago

                I’m not defining terms; I’m repeating how the terms are defined. You can look it up in any dictionary. After that, if you still feel like arguing about it I’m not your opponent. You can contact Mrs. Mirriam-Webster, or Mr. Oxford, etc. Please post the exchange! Maybe the argument, “That’s not how it works,” will convince them.

  • Squorlple@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    What is the acceptable level of tragedy to impart upon a non-consenting progeny? I vote for zero