Do you really care about your offspring's societal future?

This is a thread that will bring up many subjects and topics. All pertaining to the basis of this thread; overpopulation, its cause and the problems that result from it.

I am hopeful that this opinion will anger a lot of people because, I am curious to see if it will make people think about the future.

How can people who have three or more children (or even two) in this day and age say that they care about them? They, in my opinion, are not giving a ($#!t) thought about their offspring's future. Now I hear you parents out there saying, "What is this guy talking about? We invest in their future by saving money so that they can be financially secure. They will be emotionally secure because of their siblings that they will have to help them through-out the tough times and be a support for them for the rest of their lives."

That is all true. Can you honestly say that you have thought it through for their societal future? We have a worldwide society of over six thousand million at last count and growing. We have decreasing land space for natural wildlife which is caused by for the housing needs of that population. We have people starving because, the agricultural and other food supplies in that area are not enough a large population's demands ( which is an amusing irony considering the stories of farmers in other areas who sometimes have to throw produce away due to the lack of demand.) We have an increase in the individual competition for survival. We even have groups of people who still act like barbarians by arguing over whose god is stronger and which is the best way to worship it.

For each child past the first, you are increasing the competition that that person they grow into will have to face for a job, housing, food, a purpose in life and even the right to reproduce themselves.

So, after all that, the question I am asking is this, "When you have a large family, are you thinking about and planning for the future that your offspring will have to grow up in or are you following aeons of animal instinct by making sure that you are genetically immortal in a larger breeding group?"

For the parents who have 2 or more kids now, I must apologize. It was not meant that I think that you should be ashamed or feel guilty about them. This is more for the people who are thinking about having 2 or more kids in the future.

It will anger you (who wants more kids) and force you to think hard about winning arguments against what I have an opinion about. Hopefully it will anger you enough to think about what I am saying.

So my title question is going to be expanded into two:

Do you really care about your future offspring's societal future?

and

Will human beings notice all the problems that Nature's examples of overpopulation have and learn from them?

reply to post by Attari


I don't really think that the increase in population beginning in the early 19th century...

from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000 (note now we are at around 6.7 billion nearing 2008)

has as much to do with our rate of reproduction as much as it does with medicine and technology increasing the lifespan of the average person.

Keep in mind people didn't live as long hundreds of years ago.. and that at the same time the world tends to have a way, all be it a very morbid way, of evening itself out through war, famine and plague- the crusades, napolenoic wars... the black plague...... and to be more modern WWI and WWII.

out of curiosity, do you believe that limiting parents to having only one child will solve this problem?

in many areas of China this is actually a law, and if you want to have more than one child you need to pay a fine.

Originally posted by forklift
reply to post by Attari

 

I don't really think that the increase in population beginning in the early 19th century...

from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000 (note now we are at around 6.7 billion nearing 2008)

has as much to do with our rate of reproduction as much as it does with medicine and technology increasing the lifespan of the average person.

True. Would that person live that long if they hadn’t been born?

Keep in mind people didn't live as long hundreds of years ago.. and that at the same time the world tends to have a way, all be it a very morbid way, of evening itself out through war, famine and plague- the crusades, napolenoic wars... the black plague...... and to be more modern WWI and WWII.

What do we have today? Aids, as well as other possible diseases that will arise to become as pandemic. Wars that don’t just kill of hundreds at a time, but thousands at one strike of a weapon. Violence that arises due to overcrowding of personal space and lack of wish to solve problems in an intelligent fashion (without someone dying).

out of curiosity, do you believe that limiting parents to having only one child will solve this problem?

To answer you question: No, I don’t think that will work as a solution to the problem.

I believe in freedom of choice. I only can limit myself in what I do. Do I think that a law will do any good if the individuals choose to not follow that law? Nope and the proof of that is in China, which has that very style of law. How many individuals have female children that; end up in the care of the government, because the parents wanted a male offspring? That those same individuals keep trying to, illegally, have kids until they get a male.That the females are either ‘dropped off’ or killed.

brokendreams.wordpress.com...

My question is merely a simple one, in its most basic form, “How badly do you really care about your family?” The only way to get individuals to prove that they care is to ask them to self-honestly answer simple questions.

Tough questions, but simple ones: For how long will you care about your family? Only until your grandkids or until the 200th generation and beyond? Only as long as you are alive or do you want to show that your love will outlast your death? If you are caring about your family, shouldn’t you care about the friends/strangers (to you) around them as they will be the ones taking care of your family?

Ceasing overpopulation won’t solve the problems of the world. It is merely one of the variables involved. I am merely attempting to limit this discussion to this one cause.

[edit on 19-3-2008 by Attari]