The "No Kids Club" (Page 16)

The question was asked why coworkers with kids are treated differently.  I simply said there is a cultural and societal bias towards those that have children for the given reasons.  No opinion was given about whether that is right or wrong but simply that it exists and reasons for it's existance.  Whether you like it or not or want to admit it or not there is a strong biological and subsequently societal imperative toward having offspring. It is one of the strongest imperatives we as animals have.  That imperative like many other things runs in a bell shaped curve in the population with some having many offspring and some having none.  Unless you replace the existing members of society with those offspring society, or group of peoples whatever you want to call it, will go extinct.  Those facts lead to a strong cultural bias towards valuing those that procreate over those that do not.  What does it matter if you cure cancer or create jobs if society is extinct, who will be there in the future to benefit from your efforts?  That is why we have been taught the societal shared value of deference to those who have children.

And anthropology is a soft science at best.

Because, this is TAN.  Unless you provide some guidelines/rules in the lead post, then it may start to go off in tangents.  That's just my guess.

I, for one, never, ever thought that you or other persons that have chosen to not to have children were valued less.  There was a statement that was made by a poster that invoked a response that, to me, felt like it was unwarranted and selfish and cold.  That was my opinion.

I still give hugs, though.  Who needs one?

I think you are presupposing that such a right exists. It does not, not as you have defined it.

He has the right to pursue habitation of his choosing and within his means. He does not have the right to limit the rights of others (such as families with children) to do likewise.

Unfortunately, there is no right to do that.  It's not a protected class like 55+.  BUT, I do find it funny that the same person who's kids scream and yell all day get upset at someone's dog that is barking.  Ummm...perhaps you didn't hear your kids screaming and being annoying.

that's not even close to what she said...

the society would kill itself off so it wouldn't matter what contributions you made as a member of the NKC...

...simple...

Having spent this last week around people with whom I share close genetic make-up ...

If I weren't before, I am now utterly convinced I really, really, really should NOT be passing these genes on.

one word: jesus

corrected that for you........

And of course because things are different over the last 40 or50 years that automatically negates centuries of conditioning.

I would actually argue that having less people in the next generation is a good thing for our society.  So we, as a species, should lose some ground.  We will not be extinct if a couple of generations do the (my word) smart thing and reproduce less.

Couldn't agree with you more Fred.  It is all about balance, finding out who you are as a person and trying to be the best person you can be.  Kids or not, society will be better if we all do those things.