Just saw THIS gem:
Attachment 138428
He wants his gay ‘friends’ - who he supports the erasure of, and calls a threat to the future of childhood innocence, and who he provides a platform for (and retweets of) the very worst of humanity to demonize and threaten and call for violence against - to ‘have children for the continuance of civilization’. I’m quite certain we all know exactly what color of civilization he wants.
But I wonder how much the population drop has to do with the things we’re all constantly talking about? Things that (white) right wingers who whine about (white) population decline ignore or deny or mock?
Things like:
- Every reputable, scientific reckoning shows that the planet is on fire, and it’s only getting worse, because no one with money or power takes it seriously. Why would I bring kids into a world on the brink of catastrophe? Why would I want to raise children in a world devastated by ecological disaster, all so that a few greedy men can squeeze every last drop of money out of the earth at any cost?
- Most people are struggling to afford the cost of living alone. In what universe can we seriously expect people to face that struggle AND expect them to take on the costs that come with raising a child? ESPECIALLY in a nation that has proven again and again that it only cares about ‘children’ until they’re born?
- Since fewer women are forced to settle for, or stay with, shitty men? Since abortion (used to be) safe and legal in every state? We have fewer unwanted babies driving up the population density. But more importantly, wealthy (white) men like Elon Musk care about ‘population’ density because a lower number of unwanted babies means less desperate parents. Means there has been a drop in cheap, renewable labor. Means the military has less unwanted young men to throw into the meat grinder of the military industrial ‘profit through human sacrifice’ business model. And that simply won’t do!
As for the so-called ‘male loneliness epidemic’ that Musk and the manosphere are also obsessed with, and it’s role in population decline? That is a DIRECT result of technology and progress providing women with information and options. Women are choosing to disengage from shitty men. Non-toxic men are disengaging from toxic men. And toxic men are lonely. And toxic masculinity has had a splash effect on non-toxic men.
How do I know this? Look at the personalities of the men who whine about their ‘loneliness’ rather than going out and DOING something about it? I was lonely. I had a long battle with depression that nearly wrecked me, years ago, and it made me lash out at people who tried to help, and it drove people away from me. But eventually, I got TIRED of being so bitter and alone, so after getting a diagnosis and therapy and medication, and with the encouragement of the few friends and family I had left, I decided to stop wallowing and TRY to put myself out there. I don’t drink much, but I went with a friend to her favorite dive bar ‘just to see how good people can be’. I was almost immediately adopted into a new circle of friends. And now, nearly ten years later, I still don’t drink. And I am not lonely. I have a partner. I have support network. I have family and friends. Because I chose to face my problems and deal with them.
I GET what it’s like to battle with depression and feel isolated. I understand what it’s like to have a close, personal relationship with the Everything Bagel. But I also understand that to get OUT of those mindsets and situations, you have to make a CHOICE to do so. And it’s not easy, and it’ll hurt, and you’ll have to swallow some bitter pills. But if you do the work, there IS light at the end of the tunnel. Despair is an old friend that still visits me from time to time, but I don’t have to face it alone, and it doesn’t have to win.
Wallowing in the manosphere and diving deeper into Alpha/Beta/Sigma male nonsense drives people away. Being a racist drives people away. Being a misogynist drives people away. Poor personal hygiene drives people away. These choices make it less and less likely as time goes on that a man like that will ever find love or have kids.
Nor should they.
They are abhorrent, toxic people no one in their right minds would WANT to be friends with/have sex with/raise children with. We USED to have to make room for abusive, toxic men. We learned we don’t have to. And those men (like Musk and…MOST of the GOP, it seems…) are FREAKING OUT about it.
Want populations to rise? Making abortion illegal and erasing queer folx and stifling creativity and regulating joy and restricting access to information won’t do it.
Not being awful to the people around you?
Addressing the ecological destruction of the planet - and the onrushing and growing disasters that come with it - and our role in it?
Working together to make the act of ‘being alive’ less of an exhausting, exorbitantly over-costed venture with a rapidly approaching expiration date?
That might help people see a point in having kids again.