BF2S Forums Abortion

uziq wrote:

imo your typical dyed-in-the-wool conservative, anti-abortion activist, to say nothing of the evangelicals or hardcore christians with their own sexual politics (i.e. no sex before marriage), are individuals whose entire conception of sex lives are pre-modern and pre-urban. your smalltown conservative probably only ever has sexual relations with fewer than 5 women in their entire lives, and they are all from their extended kinship network, high-school graduating class, township, etc. modern, urban, dating rituals are alien and intimidating to them. it's for socially and geographically mobile people.

The city-dwelling youth whose lifestyles have depended on the cheap availability of services and products through these companies must now contend with “higher prices, higher margins, fewer discounts, and longer wait times.” And I say good riddance — and not just as someone who had long tailored his life mostly to avoid excessive reliance on such things. Whatever their utility in certain situations — a utility that will not expire entirely, even for a stick-in-the-mud like me — inexpensive access to such products by such means enabled a lifestyle for many that prioritized instant gratification, superficiality, and dependence over planning, sustained engagement, and self-reliance. Not to mention the dubious economics behind the whole affair, now being exposed.

If those who once built their lives around these things must now retreat from them somewhat, and others never get the chance to build a life around them in the first place, then I consider that a good thing. The Millennial Consumer Subsidy deserves to be slashed.

uziq wrote:

i've read the same thing re: uber, airbnb, deliveroo/doordash, etc, coming to a (justifiable) end. however, it seems a bit unfair to lay the blame for that at millennials' feet, just because they were active consumers of ride sharing apps and bought takeaway on their phone. they didn't found or preside over these companies; they didn't invent the rapacious model, nor are they the stalwarts of 'platform capitalism' like jeff bezos et al, who for years operated at massive losses to undermine and 'disrupt' industries.

i did read that the heavily subsidised apps helped to paper over the cracks of stagnating wages and a measurable decade of lost progress, though. letting people order restaurant food to their door or take cheap cab-rides around everywhere gave them a feeling of 'cheap affluence' at a time when their real-world earnings were dying a death. again, not millennials' fault, though. they didn't create the macroeconomic situation nor the apps that capitalized on that juncture in history.

of course, conservatives blame it on 'hedonism' and 'self-indulgence of youth'. as if it's not perfectly rational consumer behaviour to opt for cheap and nice things when you are poor and paying 70% of your take-home pay on landlordism and bills.

uziq wrote:

yes, it's totally millennials' fault that giant, venture-capital-backed firms with the ear of politicians and immense lobbying power connived to end well-paying, often union-backed jobs and introduced a new gig economy with zero worker protections and undercut wages .

seriously, DO BETTER.

'yes, but those proles used the coal in their homes, though, they had the choice not to ... it's really their fault for the 20-hour work days down the mines, the minimum working age of 8, and the silicosis in their lungs'.

let me guess, you think your average 25-year-old could be on the housing ladder and doing well in life if only they quit 'buying avocados on toast and fancy lattes and actually saved up, like i did, back in my day ...'.

In 1970, 70 per cent of Baptist pastors ‘supported abortion to protect the mental or physical health of the mother’; 90 per cent of Texas Baptists thought their state’s abortion laws were too restrictive. The president of the Southern Evangelical Seminary once explained in the Baptist Press that before Roe v. Wade, as far as his fellow seminarians had been concerned, abortion was a ‘Catholic issue’. Nor had abortion been a partisan cause. Many Democrats, particularly Catholic voters in the north-east, were pro-life. Prominent Republicans, including (for much of their careers) Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, were often pro-choice on principle – they were, after all, meant to be the defenders of individual liberty. Many states would probably have eventually liberalised abortion laws on their own. In 1970, abortion was legal in two, Oregon and California. By the end of that year, Alaska, Hawaii, New York and Washington would all repeal criminal penalties for abortionists (with varying restrictions). Other states seemed to be loosening up – if not making abortion legal outright, then at least allowing exceptions for pregnancies that were the result of rape or incest. Georgia began to allow abortions when a foetus had a ‘defect’ that was ‘grave, permanent and irredeemable’.

But not Texas ...

Last edited by uziq (2022-07-13 17:39:32)