I wish I'd never been born: the rise of the anti-natalists

[Ultralight]

This is an interesting article. I have felt similarly since I was a teenager.

"Adherents view life not as a gift and a miracle, but a harm and an imposition. And their notion that having children may be a bad idea seems to be gaining mainstream popularity."

Here is the link:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...climate-change

[rosarugosa]

I am on board with this. I have a good life and will try to make the best of it while I am here, but life is definitely not a gift in my opinion and I am glad I have not inflicted it on anyone else. Interesting, I never knew there was a name or a movement for this.

[Ultralight]

I am on board with this. I have a good life and will try to make the best of it while I am here, but life is definitely not a gift in my opinion and I am glad I have not inflicted it on anyone else. Interesting, I never knew there was a name or a movement for this.

It is definitely interesting! I am child-free because I have been a little bit careful and a lotta bit lucky. haha

I think it is easier for me now, at age 40, to remain child-free than it was in my 20s.

[happystuff]

This is just initial reaction after reading the article, so I still have more thinking to do. But, my first thought was, "You are ALIVE and saying that being alive is bad; nothing/no one else should be bought to life." What about that life that comes and believes that life IS a gift? Wouldn't them NOT being born be denying them their beliefs? And, from another perspective, if life is so bad, why are you staying in it? While suicide always seems to be viewed negatively, what about personal/individual 'end of life/quality of life' decisions?

Again, these are my initial questions after one read of the article. It seems the viewpoint is somewhat narrow, to me. I look forward to other perspectives.

[iris lilies]

I think these people are depressed.

[Ultralight]

I think these people are depressed.

Don't you often caution me about diagnosing people?

[iris lilies]

Don't you often caution me about diagnosing people?

Haha, yep.

I am reading for the second time that classic book about a psychopath called “We need to talk about Kevin.” This is a novel of course, But I think the author is brilliant at giving insight into one of these nihilistic young men who commit mass murder at a high school. Anyway, she suggests that the core of Kevin is deep sadness for being alive.

He is just sad. He doesn’t want to be in the world. That feeling causes him to distrust The humans around him who do seem to enjoy life. He cannot understand any of his friends and family who develop passions for things in life.

[Ultralight]

I think a person can wish they were never born and, at the same time, not actively want to commit suicide.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Depressed in a psychologized culture implies there is a cure in the present. I think this is much more likely to indicate that childhood was hell, and so I rather doubt there is. I'm not sure there is any total escape from people who got that badly scarred in childhood.

What about that life that comes and believes that life IS a gift? Wouldn't them NOT being born be denying them their beliefs?

what if it is rather impossible to imagine them sharing one's DNA or possibly even having one as even an adoptive parent is the thing though.

I think it's much easier to go through life with the belief that life is a gift, otherwise it is pretty self-fulfilling, and since that's really all perspective, and life just is ... (of course if one is in chronic intense physical pain at that point, one's life can't be spun as some gift at that point likely, I'm not going to deny actual physical reality here, chronic intense pain and life may by all measures become not worth living).

[LDAHL]

This is an interesting article. I have felt similarly since I was a teenager.

"Adherents view life not as a gift and a miracle, but a harm and an imposition. And their notion that having children may be a bad idea seems to be gaining mainstream popularity."

Here is the link:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...climate-change

As far as our species is concerned, this seems to be an issue that pretty much solves itself over time. The future belongs to the optimists who aren’t so frightened of what’s coming that they see non-existence as a preferable alternative.

I’m firmly in the gift camp, even though it’s not exactly what I might have bought for myself. I wouldn’t have traded the last several decades for oblivion even though I have been bruised and battered from time to time.