undefined | Better HN

0 pointsgcheong14y ago0 comments

It's true, it's kind of a strange word that I've mainly only seen used in the child-free communities, but is there a better word for the viewpoint that everyone should have kids? "Breeder mentality" just seems too harsh.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natalism

0 comments

5 comments · 1 top-level

mattdeboard14y ago· 4 in thread

> a better word for the viewpoint that everyone should have kids

I have a good one: "opinion".

I have another great one for when someone won't leave you alone and insists that you hold their opinion or there's something wrong with you: "fanatic". See also: "jerk", "creep", "weirdo", "person I avoid".

I really don't get these quasi-political categorizations. If someone's being a jerk about their opinion, they're a jerk. Words like "pronatalist" just strike me as unbelievably effete. Like "pronatalists" are this powerful lobby group from whom we all need protection.

If someone won't shut up about their opinion and keep trying to push it on you, they're just a jerk, and probably kind of stupid too.

gcheongOP14y ago

That's like saying we shouldn't call sexism sexism because its just the opinion of a few men that women are inferior and if they are being jerks about their opinion then they are just being jerks. No, having the word pronatalism calls out the fact that it is just a viewpoint. And it is one shared and promoted by many - often to the detriment of those who think otherwise. Having names for things helps in clarifying what it is we are talking about.

mattdeboard14y ago

I guess what I really want to say is that the world is so divided and polarized, can't we just this one time drop the anti- and pro-whatever and just say that someone disagrees with us and move on?

2 more replies

vacri14y ago

If you're complaining about namecalling, why would you resort to much coarser namecalling?

mattdeboard14y ago

I'm not complaining about namecalling, I'm complaining about quasi-political categorizations like "pronatalist" which sets up "pronatalists" in one camp and "antinatalists" in another. I object to the needless polarization.

Sometimes people are jerks, that's not polarization.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse