Shell Fish

The "selfish" parent debate has certainly taken off. Good to see Lindsay on here. I'm a bit concerned that typing "workplace democracy" into Google will bring up my little blog. Back in my activist days, at places like the Socialist Scholars' Conference in NYC, that term was thrown around a lot. We'll do a merry jig to that subject later. Right now, a note about selfish parenting.

Methinks we have a difference of opinion based on a semantic misunderstanding. When I used the word "selfish" I meant it as the great philosopher Hobbes might have meant it; to describe the motivation of most human activity. It's not a negative or positive judgement, it's just a description of movitation. And as I said before, the motive for having children is about personal desire.

There is a negative connotation to the word "selfish" and unfortunately that may have muddied the waters here. As Lindsay mentioned, there is an urge to procreate. Libido motivates sexual desire and probably activity, but sexual urges can be satisfied via, well, sex. With yourself or countless others. Libido is satisfied via fucking. But the urge to procreate transcends all that. That's part of the problem. People feel almost spiritually compelled to make children. The question is why?

And I maintain that the answer is selfish. People overcome natural "urges" all the time. As rational beings we have the ability to carefully consider our behavior and not be governed by instinct. So if you are making children, the answer "instinct" isn't an adequate answer. You're not a woodchuck. People have kids because of the reasons AC gave, and more. But it all comes down to something you want, and the wants of others are irrelevent. That makes it selfish.

As I mentioned, I sincerely don't mean to attach any negative currency to the meaning of the word "selfish." I simply meant that people have kids because they want to have children. There's nothing bad about it, but there is nothing noble, either. It just is. AC makes a valid point about the possible NEGATIVE selfish aspect of having a baby in a world with literally millions of orphans.

Just for the record, and just to make it clear that I'm really not a prick, I think parenthood is the most difficult undertaking a responsible human being can...undertake.