Keep it in your pants
Tonight I was shopping in the Manhattan Mall location of KB Toys with Rebecca Webber looking for a an Elmo or Cookie Monster doll to send off to a little one year-old girl named Evelyn Guachun.
Her single mom wrote a letter to Santa this year asking for some warm clothes and a toy for her daughter. We came across the letter through an organization called Operation Santa.
The store was a absolute pre-Christmas mad house. Crazed kids were everywhere ... screaming ... pushing ... knocking over toy displays.
Now ... I like kids ... and I know that this post will not be a very popular one with some of you you there, but I think people need to cool it when it comes to having multiple children.
I must start this post off with an admission.
I am an only child. I love that I am an only child but this has nothing to do with my beliefs on this subject. I have a half brother and sister, and I think they are great together.
HOWEVER ... WTF is up with people reproducing like frisky rabbits?
In September 2007, the world's population is believed to have reached over 6.6 billion. In line with population projections, this figure continues to grow at rates that were unprecedented before the 20th century. The world's population is expected to reach over 9 billion by the year 2050
My feeling is this:
I really think that a couple should aim to replace themselves ... and only themselves. That means two people ... have a maximum of two kids. That way we could do our part to keep the rate of overpopulation in check.
God forbid that some couples have JUST ONE child. The world's population might ... "egads" ... shrink.
The global warming effect is a fact that is now hard to dispute. This deadly global time bomb is, in part, caused by more people consuming the world's resources. Yes ... hair spray ... but mainly oil.
Oil powers machines ... our cars ... trucks to deliver goods ... and ships that import all the garbage we buy from China, because nothing can be produced cheaply enough in this country to make a profit anymore.
I don't mean to offend anyone, but I really question people who have these massive families.
Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar (Pictured below)--fundamentalists Christians who live in Arkansas started having babies when Michelle was 21. Just this year, they added child number 17 (Jennifer, whose name, like all the other Duggar children, starts with a "J" for "Jesus") to their family, and say they have no plans of stopping. Michelle has now been pregnant approximately 11 of her 40 years. As for why she wants to have still more babies --specifically, girl babies-- Michelle told the Associated Press: "we love the ruffles and lace."
Does the world really need an abundance of genetic material from a guy named Jim Bob? I mean ... what kind of ego do you have to posses to feel that there is real need for that many of your offspring?
Anyway ... enough of what I think.
What about you?
Any thoughts?
Anecdotes?
Death Threats?
Labels: Christmas, Cookie Monster, Elmo, Global Warming, Jim Bob Duggar, Michelle Duggar, Operation Santa, Overpopulation, Rebecca Webber
posted by Peter Matthes @ 9:46 PM
6 Comments:
I agree. I don't want to have children, partially for social reasons (global crowding, overconsumption, blah blah) but also because I don't really like kids. But when people do have them, why do they need so damn many? Kids are expensive.
There's a (terrible) movie called *Idiocracy* about the devolution of the human race. The premise is that professionals, academics, etc. have no kids, or have very few. Rednecks and Christian freaks, however, have litters of them. Therefore, the smart people die out and the dumbies take over the world. It's mildly humourous.
Humor is almost always based in reality.
Somebody better keep that girl on the left out of the cookie jar.
> hilarious picture of beaker, he's my hero
> as an only child, i concur. this is 2007. you don't need 8 kids and you don't need that SUV. have two and get a camry.
> that family is just sick
I like kids, i feel a social, protective, nurturing instinct and responsibility but i doubt i'd be a good father 24/7. it just isn't in my programming. I agree that humanity needs to put a brake on the multiplication. i dont find your post offensive in the least. the chinese have the right idea though the sex bias against female children seriously mucks it up.
personally i think it is time humanity humbly bows out of the picture altogether. intentionally rather than apocalyptically.
Hello. I found this link at Terrorism News.
Well, your suggestion is nice, but one at a time is not always a good thing. I had my two children. The youngest was around ten. One night I felt romantic or something. Anyway...soon I was crying in the doctor's office saying, "Are you sure?"
Then, I went for ultrasound early because of my very advanced age. I found out, that I was carrying twins. Yes, twins. From two to four in one ej.....
I believe a woman has a choice. My choice was to carry both fetuses, if possible, (I was on full bed rest for almost a year).
I have no idea how and why a woman would ever desire so many pregnancies. Some do.
But, you might also know, that the world's population is actually getting smaller. There are some very good authors on this subject, although I don't keep track of other writers' names. This is going to be a problem in the future. Less people means less goods consumed. Less goods consumed means fewer assets being exchanged. There is, in theory, a dwindling down at this very moment.
Altogether, it means less money for a lot of people. There are scientists studying these factors. Some believe we need to have a massive downsize. They have very exhaustive plans for just how such a thing needs to occur.
Some theorists believe a new plague would be the trick. There is one where incubation is short. The death process takes only a matter of days. It's a virus, so difficult to find innoculation in time to save a few billion people.
But, I remember the twins knocking over displays at the toy store. Gosh! Usually it was over a fight about some important thing, like...like...well they never would tell me.
Hope you make it through the next few days.
I have two sisters, one has two kids, the other sister has 10 kids. So i figure, there's 12 children between the three of us, averaging for us four apiece.
Religious (read: observant) Jews, like many other denominations (Mormons aka Latter-Day Saints, Catholics, most hard-core to medium-core Christians and some of the more militant Muslim factions come to mind) are told to multiply... "for the Bible tells me so" i think the ditty goes.
i don't buy the need to give to the world "more of my kind" for all the reasons you write of.
But honestly, i love all my nephews and nieces, so it's hard for me to look at my one sister and go, "WTF were you thinking?!"
Thanks for being cool and giving us some good for thought...
Post a Comment
<< Home