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mrfritz

- 6 months ago

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How Can We Regulate Population?

It should come as little to no surprise that the Duggar family, stars of TLC’s latest television hit “19 Kids and Counting" recently announced that they would be welcoming their 20th bundle of joy into this world. Geez, just typing that out made me lightheaded. Don't believe me? Check out the coverage this week over at Tonic.com.

I mean, I envy you Mr. Duggar. How you got Michael Phelps to train your millions of little sperm we will never know. And Mrs. Duggar? Well that woman has a tolerance for pain unlike any other. I can hardly tolerate a hangnail. I can’t even imagine what it must feel like having to push an object the size of a watermelon out of, well, you get the point.

The miracle of life, of giving birth: it’s a beautiful and remarkable thing. Just last week a co-worker of mine told me she was pregnant and all I could do was smile and give her a hug. It was genuine and it was real as I could see in her eyes just how happy she was to be giving birth to her first child. It was the best news I had heard all day. I have yet to experience it for myself but I can only imagine how alive a person must feel when they hold the human life they helped create in their own hands.

But the times they are a-changin’ and the world is getting more and more densely populated by the hour, by the second even. It was reported just last week that the 7th billionth person was born. Seven billion! Take a second and try to grasp how many people that is. I can hardly comprehend the 84,000 or so people that sit with me at Jets games every Sunday afternoon. 7 billion? Are you freakin’ kidding me? But I digress. I’m a left-wing liberal at heart and who the hell am I to tell someone whether they should or shouldn’t be bringing a child into this world? Then again, I’m also a realist and I know things will only get worse the more overpopulated our planet becomes. Should we do something about it, or just procreate ourselves into extinction?

How do we regulate the population?

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Better sex education in elementary and high school and affordable access to contraception. I give a lot of credit to my fifth-grade sex ed class for starting me on the path to determining my sexual future. I also give some credit to the sex education I received in boot camp. Once you've seen slides of STDs, you'll never think of sex with strangers the same way. Because of those two things, I think that I came to a decision in my adolescence that I didn't actually want to have children EVER. Now that I'm 38 and have lived through a lot more experiences, I know that I've made the right decision. It's good for our species to continue, but we definitely need to slow down on the baby-making. Just use a condom, or other forms of birth control, and have sex for fun.

answer: suicide clinics

Overpopulation is a problem I will admit. However, I think in the end nature will regulate itself. Some people (like the couple on 18, or is it 19?, and Counting show) will have many and some people will have none. And to be honest, each country has to be looked at individually to see how the population growth is taking place in that particular country, look at cultural norms, individual country laws, etc. It's not only babies that are increasing the population, but also the fact that people are just living longer due to modern medicine.So really, it's too complicated to give one certain general overall answer.

However, I do agree that sexual education to BOTH men and women is a necessity. I'm pretty sure in most cultures it's common knowledge how babies are made if only through peers or because you live in a two room hut in village and thus you get to see (or hear) it firsthand. However, knowing how to prevent it is often a different story and regardless that it is the woman who carries the baby, it IS both people who make it.

Also I want to point out that not every unplanned for baby is an unwanted baby. Many are a miracle and much loved ones at that.

I don't think it's fair to regulate population. It, of course, depends on the means of regulation. Were we to attempt population regulation by the means that China formerly used, we'd have quite the problem. My problem with any form of regulation is that I believe that life is free for everyone, even though that person isn't in existence yet. "procreate ourselves into extinction" to me, is a little bit of a rash statement of over-exaggeration. Sure, the world would become more crowded and yes, it would difficult things. However, isn't one thing that makes the human race so strong and so perfect at survival the fact that we can so smoothly and briskly adapt to the situations and circumstances that face us?

”I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled ...”
-Jonathan Swift

Stigma maybe. It's an effective, but unethical mechanism. Or we could opt for endless wars. It worked in the past, eh?

Condoms win in the end.

ETHNIC CLEANSING! YAYYYYY BLOOODSHED!!!

now that I got that compulsion for a ridiculously horrible and sarcastic joke out of the way,
CONDOMS! We tell the Pope to get his hands off our children's genitals and teach them to stop spreading AIDS. And who knows, procreating into extinction may not be so bad--we shall see. I like to say that I'm pro-abortion. I like the shocked looks I get out of people when I say that, but it's more just that I see so many kids grow up to be miserable people because their parents don't have any clue how to raise them, let alone feed them and keep them away from drugs and guns. The guns part much less so where I'm living, but it's still a problem. I think we should make having abortions a norm rather than a stigmatized process. You should have to think about how the hell you're going to keep that kid from suffering, as well as from making other people suffer before you bring into the world. I know I sound like a jerk, but I really do love life and think childhood is a beautiful thing--which shouldn't be fucked up by poor parenting and health choices.

It's really critical to get religious people to stop having babies, because they're pretty much the ones fueling the growth. Hispanics have the highest growth rate of all ethnic groups in america, and the mormons have quite a few kids here too. India has a pretty high rate of population growth, and its peoples' religious views tend to frown on condoms, contraception, and abortion. Islam is also pretty big on the whole many kids thing, too, although the problems in the middle east would seem to get in the way of slowing population growth or speeding it up. As for Africa's growth, which is not insubstantial, it's partly a matter of getting the pope to tell people condoms are a good idea, and it's partly a matter of changing economic policy so people can afford to use them.

It's simple, and this will offend many people. Stop social programs. Those who are unwilling to work to better their situation will die off from starvation or medical problems they can't negotiate a solution for. Instead of handing out food stamps to single moms with 5 kids from 5 men, hand them a box of condoms. At the very least, people can survive off of plants and food that they hunt like they used to. It's survival of the fittest.

There should be a Test /Criteria on who's allowed to breed. Nothing exclusionary or unjust, but enough to stop or more realistically reduce the amount of children we bring into the world. criteria like a couples stability and means to take care of themselves.

As it stands many children come about accidentally and inconveniently timed, and a lot of Parents are little more than Kids themselves.

This is going to be a problem one day soon. the planet isn't getting any bigger

The population will self regulate when it out paces it's capacity to produce enough food to maintain the growth. War, disease, famine, apocalyptic natural disasters have and will continue to reduce human populations. All of those are grizzly unpleasant prospects. Is there a better way to bring the human population under control? ABSOLUTELY there is:

REDUCE INFANT MORTALITY
Reducing child and infant mortality rates will slow down reproduction. Ensuring a healthy mother delivers a healthy baby and can raise the baby into a healthy child will decrease the need to keep bearing children.

EDUCATE EVERYONE
It's been shown repeatedly in statistics that birth rates drop in direct association with the increasing level of education in a given society.

CHAMPION WOMEN'S RIGHTS INTERNATIONALLY
That's right gentlemen. You too. If you want to see the overpopulation tide turning in a positive direction, you'd better become feminists real fast. In many places around the world, women are not in control of their reproductive rights, are still second class citizens without a voice in government, are barred from more than the most basic education and often limited in or banned from the working world. Until that is remedied the population will continue to be problematic.

ALLOCATE GLOBAL RESOURCES FAIRLY
Again, statistics have proven that as the basic standard of living rises there is a correlated decrease in birth rate.

MOVE TOWARDS LOCAL SUSTAINABILITY/GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY
Having a global marketplace is a fine thing. We should trade and share in this way. But we haven't been doing it smartly. If we don't figure out the difference between want and need, and realize there is no difference between "us" and "them" - in other words, unless we all become aware of how all of us on the planet are bound to each others fate, we may face mass extinction as a species. I'm not that pessimistic. I don't think that will happen.

Here's the nut shell: We are all connected and what you do really does matter, both locally and globally.

Abortion legal in all countries

Birth control charities or whatever in africa

End world hunger by severely reducing animal farming, then women in africa wint have to become prostitutes to survive, which will also be the next best thing to a vaccine in africa for AIDS.

Obviously, education is your best bet. I completely agree that overpopulation is a problem a MAJOR problem. I agree with MomNosBest, women need to learn to take care of themselves and be aware of themselves and their bodies.

(For the USA) It starts with women realizing/accepting WE are responsible.
When we stop acting like uneducated, unprepared, emotionally juvenal feral cats allowing males to pounce on us anytime things will improve.
Men will never fully understand the gravity of reproduction. They just act on urge. Is it fair? No... but women have a monthly reminder that this game is not set up fair.
We must bring back sex and birth control education and educate girls early and often.
The Christian/Republican mantra that sex ed and birth control in schools is wrong because it's really teaching morality has FAILED! EPICALLY! The facts of biology must be taught!
Also we need to make it socially okay to be childless. Too many pressures fall on women to have babies (it's all about the children) and it is presented that to not have children = something is wrong. The plain truth is not every women makes a good mother... and that is okay.
Also there are too many handouts/benefits for mothers of unplanned children from the government. Too many ladies see the government handouts as a lifestyle. They never evolve emotionally or educationally, never marry the father (but still date him or some other guy) and get rent/food/healthcare provided by the tax payer. How is this deterring bad behavior?
Having children should be a precious gift that is protected and respected. It shouldn't be like tripping on a rug... oops! guess what happen to me last night.
As a result of our irresponsibility we are breeding angry, emotionally stunted humans and they are turning on society. Overwhelmed, unprepared, unbalanced Mothers are killing/injuring their young. So sad.
An unplanned for child is a cruel, selfish and uncaring act. Life is hard enough when you are wanted.

The idea of regulating population is almost impossible. On one hand, it needs to be done before mankind uses all available resources, but on the other hand, who has the right to say who can bare children and who can't? You can't take away that kind of freedom, but something still needs to be done about overpopulation. If you look at the countries with the highest population rates, it is the 3rd world countries, where little education is given on birth control. Obviously, education is a key in reducing population growth.

Is it moral to sit back and wait for global war and plague to solve the problem?

Every time I try to think about this I get lost. Over population is definitely a problem and should be dealt with but how would that be done? Its extremely rare that people look at childbirth from a negative standpoint. This is one question where I cannot grasp all of its angles and variables. We shall see what happens.

People need to adopt! There are thousands of orphans just waiting for loving parents to adopt them.

Keep your p****r in your pants!

I see the planet as our host. She allowed us to come to the party, but then we started inviting (i.e. making) our friends because it was a great time with free booze and awesome music. Her house is now filling up with people, many of whom don't know or even care, about her house party rules. She can barely hear herself think over the din, and her place is getting trashed. Her grandmother's antique China is getting broken and her silverware is being stolen by thankless strangers. She's going to have to play the bad guy and put a stop to the party. Everybody will get kicked out. Then she will need time to clean-up the mess that we've left behind. After the long and difficult clean-up, she will need time to rest. It will be a long time before she forgets how awfully the first party ended. She may decide to host another party again somewhere down the line, but I wouldn't hold out for the invite.

I read the Vietmanese leader during the war said that we can reproduce faster than you can kill us. I call it the theory of population dominance and understand that it is taking place in Palestine, Israel (only a small group who wants to be more powerful), Mexico ( Catholic church) the U.S. (Catholic church). I don't like to profile but maby it's time that that we understand the motivation to have children, as many as you want. I believe the income tax deduction reduces the amount of deductable but do public funds go for child support? Our future professionals going through college can't afford to have children but they will be the ones best able to teach their children not to mention bear the tax burden. I know its hard to admit we were wrong but our world seems to be going backward as the population increases. Perhaps we should know who voted for a baby born in this country is a citizen and what is their religion.Maby its true that we are a confederacy of dunces. What is the religion of the lady with 19 kids and was it according to a scipt, even the very wealthy don't have nineteen kids.What does this cost in terms of food and college education; not to mention public or private school costs ? Like they say in poker "put your cards on the table".

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mrfritz