The Nehor Posted May 4, 2023 Posted May 4, 2023 4 hours ago, CA Steve said: Carlson isn't an idiot, he is well versed in telling his audience exactly what they want to hear. He has been described as a confusion elemental and I think that is a fair description. He does the whole “just asking questions” bit and stares and speaks with a confused look on his face as if he just doesn’t know. The problem of course is that his questions generally do have answers but he insinuates that the truth is being held back. It is a rhetorical trick he is pretty good at it. 1
CV75 Posted May 4, 2023 Posted May 4, 2023 (edited) 9 hours ago, Analytics said: I just googled "does having kids really make you happier," and the top result was a CNBC article that says: Research shows that there is a “happiness bump” that parents experience right after a baby is born. But that tends to dissipate over the course of a year, Glass says. After that point in time, the levels of happiness of parents and non-parents gradually diverge, with non-parents generally growing happier over time. Speaking personally, I only have one child, and she loved being an only child. She had more space in the house, received a ton of attention from her parents, and we could afford to see a lot of the world with her. She loved road trips where she could stretch out in the back seat. Because I only had one kid, I could afford to pay for her college at a private school. This led to a degree in four years and her dream job. She now loves her life, and at the moment is indifferent about whether or not she'll have kids--she knows there are tradeoffs, and is confident she'll be happy either way. Personally I'd love grandkids, but it really isn't about me. When I look at myself and my family and friends, I can find examples that illustrate just about anything I could want on this point. I know one family that is pretty big, but they are going through intense stress day in and day out, because in terms of both time and money, affording their big family is a stretch. I know another family that has more resources and is extremely happy. Some people are cut out to have big families. Others are not. In American society, our tax system and economic system is designed so that there will be economic winners and economic losers. We all can't make $180,000 a year and be able to afford a home in the suburbs where a big family can thrive. Some of us will struggle to make $50,000 and might not be able to afford a 2-bedroom condo. Globally, the world is already overpopulated. While a shrinking population will put a ton of stress on economies, that is the price we should gladly pay to right-size the global population. Our goal ought to be to arrive at a stable global population that is in equilibrium with the environment. If somebody has the emotional, social, and financial resources to have a large family that's great! Knock yourself out. But that is something that most of us shouldn't do. "Research shows"... confirmation bias, and the rationale flows from there. Yes, I am biased too, given the plan of happiness, the attainment of which comes by a much broader integration of knowledge types than secular measures alone, and by invitation than by imposed "oughts" and "shoulds." Edited May 4, 2023 by CV75
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