Not at all. I’m responding to TashaKitty’s argument that people taking the subway to/from work somehow outrank people taking their children on the subway. Complain about giant strollers that take up half a car? Sure. Complain that the kids are there at all? Ridiculous.
If you don’t want to have kids, then don’t. Not a problem. But don’t turn around and claim that kids are some kind of luxury item, like a boat or something. If everyone on Earth stopped having kids tomorrow, we’d all be royally fucked starting 20-30 years from now. Like it or not, your well-being will depend on the children other people are having right now, so don’t be contemptuous of them.
I saw a birthday card that said something like, “Someone farted in the card aisle, and I grabbed this one and ran!”
We have trains that run on the road surface here, too, and it’s hardly the train’s fault that drivers, cyclists and pedestrians keep getting in the way of the trains when the bells are ringing, the guard arms are down, and the train is running very predictably on rails.
I’m not aligning with TashaKitty (if TK is indeed arguing the following) or anyone else who would devalue or marginalize children and/or their caregivers on public transportation.
With that said, it does seem to me that children are often/always, if not luxury goods, a bad idea. I’m tormented on a daily basis by the implications of people I know (and people I don’t) having children in the face of climate change. Even before environmental calamity loomed large, Arthur Schopenhauer made a good argument against human existence. Since life virtually guarantees suffering, and there is no guarantee that joy/pleasure/happiness will overpower the suffering, does it not make more sense not to bring more humans into the world? As the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement argues, if humanity went extinct peacefully and painlessly, how would that be bad? Note that this is not an argument for suicide.
Speaking of suicide, I have no plans to live long enough to become an undignified burden on others. In reference to economics, the idea that each generation needs larger subsequent generations to support them is a pyramid scheme.
Interesting that it is only the parents who seem to feel they have the right to muck up public transportation by bringing a huge, completely unnecessary stroller on it, during rush hour. And then bitching and exaggerating (where did anyone say that public transit is only for those without children?) when someone dares to point out how much space they are taking. I wonder if there will ever be a time when these sorts realize there are other people on this planet other than them and their kids?
I’ve told the story sometime before on this board, about when I used to commute by bus in Washington, and had mommies yell at me for wanting to use the disabled seats they had folded up to put their stroller in. Despite me standing there leaning on a cane, or for a short while, sitting in a wheelchair. The bus drivers always made them move of course, and one even told one mommie that if she didn’t shut up he was going to toss her off the bus, but the pure unmitigated self centered entitlement attitude happened almost every time there was a stroller in the handicapped area.
Is it any wonder I hate parents like that, who are growing in number every day? I haven’t lived in WA in over 20 years.
No child raised by your self important ass.
Oh please. Having children these days is a luxury - there are plenty of people here, you don’t have to be a hero and create more. And there is certainly no reason why you should be blocking traffic during rush hour with your lifestyle choices.
Gosh, you seem to run into the worst of humanity wherever you go - lazy, parasitic poor people, a string of cruel, thoughtless parents - I wonder why that is?
Word! If you ever see me on the L and want me to sit next to you, put your bag on the seat on a busy train. I *will *sit next to you. Guaran-fucking-teed.
Chicago is friendly and clean. Fucking Midwesterners don’t know what real dirt looks like.
With 8 billion people on the earth, and counting, kids are a luxury item in the developed world. This isn’t the Stone Age and it isn’t some third world country like Africa where disease and famine wipe out 2/3 of the tribe’s children. In 21st Century America people have babies for three reasons:
a) they’re interested in passing on THEIR genes and theirs only
b) they think babies are cute and want to raise one
c) they had unprotected sex and didn’t think of the consequences
My own mother admitted that, after years of struggling to conceive my sister, she and my father kept trying because they were selfish and wanted their own kid instead of adopting a needy one.
To be honest I would have no issues with the US following in China’s footsteps and implementing a one or two child only policy.
And I have no problem with that. What I have a problem with is when mom or dad are sitting in a seat and junior is sitting in his own seat, which is essentially getting two seats for the price of one and denying a paying customer that vacant seat. Either give junior the seat and you stand or you take the seat and have junior sit in your lap.
Many parts of China are rolling back on the one-child policy (which actually only applies to a fraction of the country) as they are beginning to suffer economic consequences from demographic collapse. Chances are the policy will not last another five years. It has always been more about political control than demographics (China’s current reproductive rate is quite low, even without the policy), and it’s starting to get in the way of the growing economy.
Senior citizens in some cities get free or reduced rates on some forms of transportation. Clearly you feel they should stand, so that the far more deserving full-fare paying citizens such as yourself, can sit down?
So your complaint is that the strollers take up too much room.
Clearly you feel that fat people shouldn’t be on the train when you’re on it as well. How dare they take up so much unnecessary room!
You’re the one who wanted to sexually assault your best friend because you want his baby. I’m pretty sure you don’t have the moral high ground anywhere.
