Taking sides: Children vs. (non-human) animals

idk what's meant by "doubling down" on disliking children

i meant more analysing an impulse to see if it's fair or valid. but dunno if everyone is capable of this.

not sure where fairness or validity come into a preference regarding one's environment or how one wants to spend time. the moral implications imputed on this thread are very weird. like, can you imagine anyone being called a bad person for not enjoying the company of dogs or cats??? or for saying they'd rather not spend their time in places or around people that make them feel uncomfortable?

So you don't care for unions either, lex?

― how's life, Tuesday, December 13, 2016 12:58 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

to be clear i am pro-unions and anti-selfish parents who even in that situation think the world revolves around their bloody toddler's bloody bedtime story

don't really see it as a moral thing, just can't adopt a worldview that involves me hating strangers, or justifying hatred. children are not a marginal interest like "dogs" or "cats", we were all children - we would not exist if people did not reproduce. the behaviour of children does bother me, i don't consider myself amazingly good with them, but i know that i was probably like that as a child, to one extent or another, or most children are, because they are young and are learning how to behave. equally i guess lack of self-awareness or rude behaviour is not exclusive to children. it might be just catholic of me to talk about resisting base impulses but that also feels like one of the things that separates adults from children, or dogs.

not sure where fairness or validity come into a preference regarding one's environment or how one wants to spend time. the moral implications imputed on this thread are very weird. like, can you imagine anyone being called a bad person for not enjoying the company of dogs or cats??? or for saying they'd rather not spend their time in places or around people that make them feel uncomfortable?

― lex pretend, Tuesday, December 13, 2016 9:22 AM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

imo hating kids is fundamentally as weird as hating women or hating old people

to be clear i am pro-unions and anti-selfish parents who even in that situation think the world revolves around their bloody toddler's bloody bedtime story

― lex pretend, Tuesday, December 13, 2016 9:23 AM (seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and you're aware that you cherry-picked some dumb asshole and that there are also millions of parents who support unions and worker's rights? christ

im just getting personally annoyed bc i have young son w/ autism and we've been in some intense fucking meltdown episodes in public and have had whole rooms stare at us thinking "what the fuck is wrong with that kid and that family" and i can only imagine someone like lex in that room

you guys are the ones bringing the word "hate" into it

thorough disinterest in children, and active discomfort and dislike of being around them, is not "hatred"

The post had nothing to do with unions.

... the one about poor little Zac, that is.

it could be that some ppl hate children bc they realize that w/out them they themselves would not be forced to suffer the indignities of a world that consistently fails to appreciate them as the glorious height of human evolution such that their childhood state shares as much similarity to their current godhead status as an egg does to a chicken.

alas who will shed a tear for interlocutors great and mighty, minds engaged in critical questions of our philosophical era, only to be disturbed by a baby w/ a load in its pants. only the whiffs of thine own farts provide succor in these unenlightened times amirite bro

i should step back im sorry lex. there are many moments when i very much prefer not to have kids around, even my own kids. like i said im not particularly comfortable around or confident hanging out w/ kids other than my own unless those kids are maybe playing w/ mine. im not someone w/ the capacity to work w/ little kids all the time and i could never be a teacher or children's social worker.

but ultimately local garda is very much otm, children are not really a marginal interest like a pet, they are young humans, even "thorough disinterest in and active discomfort and dislike of being around them" is ...... suspect .... could you imagine saying that about any other group of humans? women, old people, teenagers...

lol xp

I don't hate [x], I just dislike being around them because they make me uncomfortable

constructing strawmen so you can psychoanalyse them, always a worthwhile contribution

xps

no worries man i know you're not engaged in anything valuable w/ your time. after all you've already demonstrated quite clearly that you're not raising children.

could you imagine saying that about any other group of humans?

people, including all of you, say that every day about all sorts of groups of humans. tories, bankers and comic fans are among the groups of humans i generally don't enjoy spending time with, i'm sure you have your list.

after all you've already demonstrated quite clearly that you're not raising children.

― Mordy, Tuesday, December 13, 2016 2:49 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

too obvious a troll to rise to but i had forgotten the type of parent who are self-congratulatory as well as self-centred

too obvious a troll to rise to but let me rise to it anyway. you're too much of a joke to take seriously in this or any other thread and you have an extreme sense of self-centered haughtiness belied by practically everything i've ever seen you express so this whole thing is pretty much taking a piss bc who gives a fuck if the lex likes or doesn't like anything.

i'm sure the kids will survive whatever withering glares you debase yourself to cast in their direction

Lex, comics fans are a group distinguished by a voluntary interest. Children, like old people, people with disabilities, etc. are a group distinguished by factors outside their control. Like those two groups in particular they are often taken advantage of. Xp

lex pretend is being very reasonable and its ok that he is not raising children, there are already a lot of them and the physical environment they are going to live in in 50 years time is going to be challenging for many, that is the future we have made for them

who gives a fuck if the lex likes or doesn't like anything.

― Mordy, Tuesday, December 13, 2016 2:53 PM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

idk you're the one who keeps responding to an offhand grouse on the internet

#nodads forever, christ

dunno when saer became a curmudgeon.

This is not about having children or not. This is about whether it is cool to say you "don't like" some group of people, saer. I don't want to have children either fwiw xp

Children, like old people, people with disabilities, etc. are a group distinguished by factors outside their control. Like those two groups in particular they are often taken advantage of. Xp

― Treeship, Tuesday, December 13, 2016 2:56 PM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

as are dogs

but if you don't like dogs that's fine, it has no moral implications about your character whatsoever

Dogs aren't people though.

it's been a while since the lex has been given the opportunity to revel in the spotlight like this, good work everyone

i get it now. you were born a dog and you begrudge those of us who were born human babies.

what do you think you'd think of the child you were?

xpost

no worries man i know you're not engaged in anything valuable w/ your time. after all you've already demonstrated quite clearly that you're not raising children.

leaving aside what an execrable sentiment this is, you're doing a good job of substantiating lex's gripes about parents

my dislike of lex has nothing to do w/ any progeny i have produced and in fact my enmity i believe predates my parenthood

Mordy otm throughout lex is a deeply unserious person fit for nothing but mockery

dunno when saer became a curmudgeon

I have had some unfortunate experiences of late, serenity came under severe multi-pronged attack and anxiety rose to new levels. I am hoping it will fade again soon!

I think its ok to say you don't like groups of people, where there are groups of people there is likely to be some kind of piercing noise or anxiety inducing activity

Its ok to want to make it through the day with mental equilibrium in tact!

What if I said I didn't like people with facial disfigurements. They make me uncomfortable.

hating kids is fundamentally as weird as hating women or hating old people

It's reductive, not "weird." I agree with a lot of lex's sentiments on this thread!

As a parent, your kids are either cute and friendly and great OR they're a pain in my ass and if they turn out to be anything other than disasters as adults it will be a miracle because you are an indulgent weirdo and I disagree with your style.

Disliking children is really an indirect dislike of parents. Parents are now and have always been the real enemy.

More trenchantly, what if you said you didn't like LGBT people because they make you uncomfortable? Or Jewish people? Or African-Americans? Those would all be rightly condemned as being patently unacceptable and the mark of a cretinous piece of shit.

equating children with LGBT or african-american people is probably the most cretinous opinion expressed thus far (aside from mordy's troll one)

ould you imagine saying that about any other group of humans?

people, including all of you, say that every day about all sorts of groups of humans. tories, bankers and comic fans are among the groups of humans i generally don't enjoy spending time with, i'm sure you have your list.

― lex pretend, Tuesday, December 13, 2016 9:51 AM (twenty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lmao, you can't see the difference between children as one type of category of humans vs tories and comic fans as others? you realize everyday people say they "i don't hate LGBTQ people, i just actively dislike being around them and feel discomfort in their company"

Why? Children have as much control over who they are as the other groups do.

always useful to be reassured that privileged wyt dudes really have no fucking idea what constitutes societal oppression tho!

ah i see this has been addressed lol xp

always useful to be reassured that privileged wyt dudes really have no fucking idea what constitutes societal oppression tho!

― lex pretend, Tuesday, December 13, 2016 10:15 AM (four seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol

you don't know anything about me but thanks for assuming im a white dude

Its ok to want to make it through the day with mental equilibrium in tact!

fair enough. i feel like if we had started with "i choose not to spend time around children" nobody would be arguing now.

it's just an absurd affect. my kids are anxiety produced and cause me heartburn regularly. but also the entire history of human civilization - and in fact life of all kind - comes down to parents having children. parents should not feel any more smug than a mosquito laying larva maybe, but to write off progeny in general as being distasteful is the stuff of disney villainy and somehow within the same ballpark as malthusian nihilism.

lol yeah there are no organizations worldwide dedicated to the rights of children, who are never oppressed