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Tag: family

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    The Cost of Parenthood in an Age of Serfdom

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    1–2 minutes

    Many educated individuals forego parenthood not from disdain, but realism.

    Burdened by debt and stagnant wages, they confront an economic architecture that defers adulthood and denies autonomy. To raise children responsibly is to possess time, stability, and capital—resources increasingly elusive.

    This isn’t mere delay; it’s structural disenfranchisement.

    The path to family is blocked by serfdom disguised as opportunity: endless education, precarious employment, and unreachable housing. What emerges is not immaturity, but recognition of systemic design—one that privileges subjugation over stewardship, and obstructs the generative act of creating a hopeful future.

    On the other hand, having children while acknowledging this is to embrace hope or faith in progress, or to maintain at least that it is not so dire as hyperbolic blog posts announce.

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    Separation from inconsistent parents

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    1–2 minutes

    Inconsistent parents can seem cruel, creating a craving for acceptance and validation felt as an internal void only they can fill.

    We know that intermittent affection fosters dependency through doubt, that is, by navigating unpredictable moods, we superstitiously come to believe we are at fault for the temperamental weather. So, we produce a fantasy of creating the “perfect conditions,” which will earn a love sweeter for its rarity, reaffirming our worth.

    And yet, we know logically that this effort is wasted. Any parent who does not readily provide affection will continually disappoint; more accurately, their continued neglect strengthens the torturous bond as you apply more and more effort to get their affection, ensuring their lousy behavior.

    It is akin to mining for gold when the surface is littered with love, and we take pride in the labored anxiety to glean a crumby nugget.

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    the right to equal stupidity

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    1–2 minutes

    We tend to consider intelligence as the primary solution: the government and politicians have more information and, therefore, should make wiser decisions. Yet, we find our elected leaders obscuring evidence, colluding and manipulating messaging, repeatedly (obviously) fucking up, and blaming others.

    For the survival of our democracy, we are supposed to be intelligent enough, wise enough, and parental enough to see through it: we are required to vote better, be better, to alter the bureaucratic state.

    The fault is placed back onto the citizens to do better.

    But we have every right to be as stupid and misguided as those in charge. They are surrounded by an edifice of checks, balances, advisors, and responsibility oaths, while we work two jobs and consume politics over beers.

    We are praised as smart when we are manipulable, and told we are dumb (wrong-headed) when we don’t accept the lies.

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    We do not Overcome without Nurturing

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    1–2 minutes

    You must nurture your positive drives, allowing them to become strong enough to overcome the negative impulses and habits.

    It is not enough to decide; you must develop the inner fortitude to perform the outward action.

    (This supposes we live inward-to-outward instead of external-to-internal.)