Story A parent told me to look into Buddhism as a way to make me shut up about antinatalism

[Tobacco]

I was introducing the idea of antinatalism in a WhatsApp group after me getting discharged from the mental hospital. I guess this particular guy got offended as the only parent in the group. He told me that we can have kids, we can just teach them about Buddhism after to make them overcome their suffering. And that there's something heroic in facing suffering, something that according to him Nietzsche said.

Around 6 years later, I've come to embrace the tradition built around a secular interpretation of Buddhism, after a revealing personal experience with meditation.

A few days ago, I tried telling him in a humble way that maybe his advice was right and I wanted to hear about his personal path. It turns out he only mentioned Buddhism in the past as a way to somehow feed his ego, that he doesn't really follow the teachings but he's thinking about doing it.

After that and another experience in Reddit regarding people who already have kids and antinatalism, I'm starting to be of the opinion that someone has to be very careful and only transmit these ideas to people who aren't parents yet, because parents will fight tooth and nail in their psyche to not accept any wrong doings regarding reproduction.

 

[Pluto]

 

[Dejected 55]

I recently said something in another thread that I think I should drop here... basically... anyone can decide not to have kids for any reason and NO ONE should give them shit about it, period. By the same token, people who want to have kids shouldn't be asked to defend "why are you bringing kids into the shitshow world?"

People should be allowed to make their choices without being shamed by others in this regard because both choices are valid if it reflect what you believe.

Meanwhile... the other nugget I dropped in there is this... IF good people decide not to have children because of the shitshow... then the only people having kids will be the bad people who like the world as it is... which means self-fulfilling prophecy of horrible going forward. The ONLY chance the world has is for good people to have kids and teach them how to make the world better for everyone.

Again, have kids or not as you wish and nobody should hassle you either way. But I just say also don't let people push you into not having kids because of how horrible the world is, because if you think you are a good person and maybe want kids otherwise, maybe your kid would be one of the ones who grows up thanks to your mentoring and parenting and changes the world for the better.