11mo ago

America’s premier pronatalists on having ‘tons of kids’ to save the world: ‘There are going to be countries of old people starving to death’

www.theguardian.com

The highlight for me is coming up with some weird pseudoscience justification for why it’s okay to hit your kids.

13 comments

These people are full of shit popping off like they do after THREE kids. Big fucking deal, my parents had three, and my brother and I were accidents. And they let us have heat in the winter and they didn’t hit us. Three is still normal!
There are some more lovely sneers in r/longreads
https://www.reddit.com/r/Longreads/comments/1d061p3/at_home_with_americas_premier_pronatalists/l5loa62/

I don’t know where to start.

I'm calling it now: these kids will have terrible childhoods, and seeing the moral bankruptcy of right wing ideologies up close will radicalize them into being militant leftists.

"Dad, why is my sister's name Octavia George?"
"Because your mother loves the Roman Empire."
"Thanks Dad."
"No problem Industry Americus."

Does anyone else feel like we are setting up to a near future where people who choose not to have kids are seriously discriminated against?

Malcolm and Simone Collins with their children – Octavian George, four, Torsten Savage, two, and Titan Invictus, one – at home in Pennsylvania.
bye

Every article on pronatalism in the past few years has been these two Thiel-sponsored white nationalist dweebs and nobody else. Why the fuck does the Guardian fall for this shit too.
- @dgerard
  I contacted the reporter via her website, to ask what motivated the story when the Guardian just wrote about them last year, and if the couple's PR rep (who I assume exists) had instigated it.
  I don't really expect to hear back but it sure would be interesting to know.
  
  i pinged her on twitter too

They bought this house and the one next door for $575,000; they allow their neighbours to live in the second house rent free, in exchange for childcare.
Seems normal !
- This is part of a whole thing where the journalist keeps presenting their framing without question. Is it “allow their neighbours to live in the second house rent free, in exchange for childcare” or is it “they have unpaid live-in nannies in a staff apartment”? Do they “give everything they can spare to charity” or are they landlords who own property they don’t live in? Is she wearing a corset and chemise from etsy because it’s practical, or because these weirdos have put on staged cosplay performances for every journalist who’s ever interviewed them, and you’re no exception?
  
  This is part of a whole thing where the journalist keeps presenting their framing without question.
  Yuuup, and at no point is it explicitly mentioned that what they're doing is entirely unfeasible on a societal level. How on Earth will a couple dozen rationalist having 4, 7, or even 11 kids make up for the hundreds of millions of women in America having 1.5? Or the billions of women having under 2.1 kids in the rest of the world.
  On top of that, they only have 3 kids and they've already put a shit ton of time and sunk themselves over half a million in debt just for housing and childcare. I absolutely believe these two can afford it, but this isn't something most Americans can achieve, much less most global families. One couple trying to outfuck global population decline would be like if I tried to end global poverty by becoming really, really rich.

13 comments