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Tuesday, December 11, 2012

The left's anti-natalism

Commenter "Dan" wrote the following in a couple of places:
Here are 10 areas off the top of my head where ‘liberal’ theology is anti-natalist: 
1 – Pro-Life versus pro Choice (duh) 
2 – Worshiping the Cathedral (specifically higher education); the more time you are in higher ed, the less time you have to have children 
3 – Feminist careerism – can’t be in the kitchen cooking dinner for your kids if you are in the corporate boardroom, or most any demanding job 
4 – Antagonism toward religion – most religions are pro natalist to varying degrees 
5 – Feminist insistence in the sameness of men and women – makes women much less attractive to men 
6 – View of marriage as a patriarchal instrument of oppression – Children are much more likely to spring forth from married people 
7 – Upholding birth control as a fundamental human right (and forcing every institution to give it away for free) 
8 – The environmentalists view of humans basically as a scourge on the planet 
9 – Liberals’ attachment to urban living puts them in a setting not conducive to having children 
10 – Young liberals’ belief that they have a human right to pursue a field that is not economically viable means of course that they will not be able to, you know, support anybody.  
Oh, gosh and I forgot the most obvious ones of all! 
11 – Male homosexuality as the holiest and most righteous form of goodness that there is. 
12 – Lesbianism as the other holiest and most righteous form of goodness that there is.
Great list. How about a contrarian perspective? In what ways could it be argued that the contemporary left is pro-natalist (even if its adherents don't always put the putatively preferred behavior into practice)? Here's off the top of my head:
- More supportive of alternative fertility methods like IVF than many socially conservative organizations are 
- Minimal hostility for 'statutory' rape between consenting people (think the Roman Polanskis of the world) 
- Hostility towards Project Prevention and similar efforts 
- Supportive of the welfare state, which plays the provider role for absent fathers (and deadbeat parents in general) 
- Relatedly, exhibits lesser to non-existent condemnation of single motherhood and teenage pregnancy 
- In favor of more lenient sentencing for convicted criminals, meaning thugs are back out scouring the street sooner 
- Supportive of unrestricted immigration, with one consequence being lots of highly fertile settlers from south of the border making babies in the US
Additions/suggestions for both lists are solicited in the comments section, please.

Only the first item could be considered both pro-natalist and eugenic, or at least not blatantly dysgenic. That Dan's list of anti-natalism characteristics is primarily directed at the white middle and working classes, while the pro-natalist list is especially relevant to NAMs is not a coincidence. Don't misconstrue a little devil's advocate work on my part as indicative of support for the civilizational destructiveness cheered on by the left.

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