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Rhymes With "Brass Seagull"'s avatar

Under late-stage capitalism, and especially neoliberalism with its extreme inequality, it seems that not only is "if you can, you must" true. but the reverse is also often true as well. When something that was once de facto mandatory becomes optional, it quickly becomes an expensive hobby for the rich, and unaffordable for the masses. (I call this phenomenon "choice gentrification.") That is true for anything from horseback riding (after cars became available) to having kids (after birth control and Women's Liberation). That is not to say that we should force people to have kids, or ban birth control or revoke women's reproductive rights or any other rights, far from it. It should always be a choice, and never forced or coerced. We must always treat human beings as ends in themselves, and never solely as a means to an end. But the problem is *systemic*, and the system itself needs to be changed. At the very least, we will need Universal Basic Income (UBI), not for the purpose of raising the birthrate, but simply because it is the right thing to do on principle. But anti-choice ideologies (of any and all flavors) have no place in a free and civilized society, period.

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Rhymes With "Brass Seagull"'s avatar

Pronatalism is, at best, a razor-sharp, double-edged sword. And the thing about neo-Nazis is really a self-fulfilling prophecy, as the original Nazis first took root in a Europe that was already beset with depopulation fears back then. Fear of a shrinking population is far worse than the actual thing, in other words. And besides, the world is still overpopulated.

People can of course argue overpopulation versus overconsumption till they are blue in the face. But either way, only a fool or an economist (same difference) would believe that infinite growth on a finite planet is somehow possible or even desirable. And simply having fewer kids is the lowest-hanging fruit on the path to sustainability.

The following article should be food for thought indeed:

https://thechaliceandtheflame.blogspot.com/2024/02/mother-nature-knows-exactly-what-she-is.html

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