» Kids

boring unfunny post alert
Reading through a lot of the posts here of the "kids vs. no-kids" ilk, and the quite heated responses generated, I think a lot of the problem can be traced to what I like think of as one of the fundamental problems with humans:

Deep down, most people don't honestly believe that other people don't really agree with them.

Really. People say things like "each to their own" and "I respect your point of view" and "it'd be boring if we all thought the same" but when you investigate, it's a very uncommon person who doesn't, secretly, maybe not even consciously, but nevertheless really, *really*, think that everyone must think like them, because they are so obviously right, yeah?

Oh yeah, they may *say* they don't agree with me, but they: are just being awkward / They just don't know their own mind / are afraid to admit it to themselves / have been brainwashed by the media / are being politically correct.

This is true of all things, but most obvious when applied to topics that produce the most emotive responses - children, religion, art, politics.

Honestly - for all they say about respect and tolerance, most religious types still have deep inside them a little voice saying:

"...but if *everyone* was a Christian/Mulsim/FSMist like me, everyone would be happy and everything would be better!"

Equally, most racists you talk to often think that masses of people must agree with them, really, but are afraid to say so. S'obvious, innit? Stands to reason. Etc.

The problem with breeders vs. therest is pretty similar to god-bothers vs. heathens and all the others, except for some reason when it comes to conversation about kids those incapable of using contraception inexplicably have license to basically insult those they disagree with in a way that is unlike any other debate (I'm talking in real-life here, not online, obviously, where any insults are fair game.)

You know, things like "you say you don't want kids, but you do really"

or "you don't mean that, you're just saying it"

or "but look at how cute they are! How could you not want some?"

So, people who don't like kids are either a) mentally unstable, b) liars, or c) somehow less human?

I would imagine most worshippers would get irate if you walked up to them and told them they didn't believe in God, really, or that they would "change their mind when they get older".

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this, I just felt like saying it. Luckily, no-one is going to read it, so that's ok.

To sum up, I'm trying to say: You lot with kids - we're not stopping you in any way, so maybe you might like to tone it down a bit, eh? Maybe, just maybe, some of us actually don't, you know, like children very much, so you could, just for a bit, you know, cut back with the smug?

To bastardise TP, just because you now have a label that says "Parent" doesn't mean the rest of us have one that now says "child".

than q.
(Tue 22nd Apr 2008, 13:56, More)