0 comment Wednesday, May 28, 2014 | admin
At the Occidental Observer, there is a piece by Christopher Donovan which is about 'race-ending life paths of young Whites.' It's a discussion of several trends among young people which are an impediment to their following the traditional pattern of marrying young and having several children.
He notes that most White families show the same generational pattern, with the oldest generations having come from large families, and each generation having fewer and fewer children. I think this is true of most families now, at least most White families.
My father came from a very large family (12 children, or 13 if you count the relative who was brought up as one of the household.) All these siblings married and had children, with the exception of one. None of the brothers and sisters had more than 5 children, and though that sounds like a big family to most people today, it was not, in comparison with the previous generation. The next generation tended to have small families, in many cases, two children, with some having none at all. Some remained unmarried or formed unstable and short-lived relationships.
The children of that generation have had fewer children, with several refraining from marrying and reproducing. I know this pattern holds true in a lot of families, regardless of social status.
Donovan lists several factors, all of which seem to fit. He does not mention feminism, though I think most would name that as one contributor to the lower birth rate, but I suppose feminism might be subsumed under his 'careerism' category. However I think careerism among women would be the greater factor in explaining the 'birth dearth' among Whites, as many men in the past were career-obsessed, but yet fathered large families and managed to be adequate fathers. Career-minded women are more likely to have few or no children, obviously.
Interestingly, he mentions 'mental illness' as a factor in discouraging marriage and family life.
Every other young White, it seems, complains of a mental illness or problem: obsessive compulsive disorder, depression, anxiety, autism or Asperger's, you name it. They have it, and it requires rafts of medication. Usually, it prevents relationships. My own circle may skew my view of the true frequency of this problem, but I have a lot of anecdotal evidence. What I believe to be the increased incidence of mental illness of Whites needs heavy study, but I am convinced that our racial dispossession plays an unspoken role.''
That makes sense; we touched on that in a recent discussion here about the heavy use of antidepressants among Americans. And one wonders, sometimes, if the recent 'epidemic' of mental illness represents a kind of hypochondria, based on excessive self-concern. Around this time, someone may take offense, as they have a relative who suffers from some disorder, or perhaps they themselves have been diagnosed. So if I've trodden on somebody's toes, no offense is intended, but I do know of people who excessively focus on themselves and their feelings, and who consequently make themselves to be invalids of a sort. I've also known people who obsessed over physical symptoms, and who imagined themselves to have every ailment they read about. For some people, 'mental illness' is the focus of their fear, and they hear and read these warnings from experts about how 'one in three Americans is mentally ill' or words to that effect.
Lo and behold, they begin to be sure they have a disorder. If they are meticulous and tidy, someone tells them they must have ''OCD.'' If they have moods that vary, someone says 'you must be bipolar.' A shy person must be afflicted with 'social anxiety disorder' and so on.
One external factor I can think of which discourages young White people from marriage and family formation is that most attend college (for more than four years, usually, unlike in the past) and graduate with huge student loan debts. Some that I know of graduated with $25-30,000 in student loans to repay, and I don't think that's unusual. Given the cost of living, few young people with that kind of debt are good candidates to marry and start a family soon. They just about have to pursue a lucrative career to start repaying their debts, before marriage is a possibility.
Donovan is right that most people are influenced by what their peers are doing, and that if larger families become the trendy thing to do, perhaps things will turn around. I would like to see, though, not just larger families, but stay-at-home mothers. Why have several children if the plan is to immediately return to the workplace and 'career' while the children are dropped into the laps of Third-World nannies (as is the case among many affluent couples)? I suppose a better situation would be if grandparents care for the child or children, but the optimum is for the mother to care for her own children.
In my community three (sometimes more) children are very much the norm, but I don't think this portends a new trend, necessarily; this town is populated by mostly conservative and Christian people with traditional ideas about family. But perhaps the trends will change in that direction, given the right circumstances.
Read all of Donovan's piece at the link, if you have not already done so.
He notes that most White families show the same generational pattern, with the oldest generations having come from large families, and each generation having fewer and fewer children. I think this is true of most families now, at least most White families.
My father came from a very large family (12 children, or 13 if you count the relative who was brought up as one of the household.) All these siblings married and had children, with the exception of one. None of the brothers and sisters had more than 5 children, and though that sounds like a big family to most people today, it was not, in comparison with the previous generation. The next generation tended to have small families, in many cases, two children, with some having none at all. Some remained unmarried or formed unstable and short-lived relationships.
The children of that generation have had fewer children, with several refraining from marrying and reproducing. I know this pattern holds true in a lot of families, regardless of social status.
Donovan lists several factors, all of which seem to fit. He does not mention feminism, though I think most would name that as one contributor to the lower birth rate, but I suppose feminism might be subsumed under his 'careerism' category. However I think careerism among women would be the greater factor in explaining the 'birth dearth' among Whites, as many men in the past were career-obsessed, but yet fathered large families and managed to be adequate fathers. Career-minded women are more likely to have few or no children, obviously.
Interestingly, he mentions 'mental illness' as a factor in discouraging marriage and family life.
Every other young White, it seems, complains of a mental illness or problem: obsessive compulsive disorder, depression, anxiety, autism or Asperger's, you name it. They have it, and it requires rafts of medication. Usually, it prevents relationships. My own circle may skew my view of the true frequency of this problem, but I have a lot of anecdotal evidence. What I believe to be the increased incidence of mental illness of Whites needs heavy study, but I am convinced that our racial dispossession plays an unspoken role.''
That makes sense; we touched on that in a recent discussion here about the heavy use of antidepressants among Americans. And one wonders, sometimes, if the recent 'epidemic' of mental illness represents a kind of hypochondria, based on excessive self-concern. Around this time, someone may take offense, as they have a relative who suffers from some disorder, or perhaps they themselves have been diagnosed. So if I've trodden on somebody's toes, no offense is intended, but I do know of people who excessively focus on themselves and their feelings, and who consequently make themselves to be invalids of a sort. I've also known people who obsessed over physical symptoms, and who imagined themselves to have every ailment they read about. For some people, 'mental illness' is the focus of their fear, and they hear and read these warnings from experts about how 'one in three Americans is mentally ill' or words to that effect.
Lo and behold, they begin to be sure they have a disorder. If they are meticulous and tidy, someone tells them they must have ''OCD.'' If they have moods that vary, someone says 'you must be bipolar.' A shy person must be afflicted with 'social anxiety disorder' and so on.
One external factor I can think of which discourages young White people from marriage and family formation is that most attend college (for more than four years, usually, unlike in the past) and graduate with huge student loan debts. Some that I know of graduated with $25-30,000 in student loans to repay, and I don't think that's unusual. Given the cost of living, few young people with that kind of debt are good candidates to marry and start a family soon. They just about have to pursue a lucrative career to start repaying their debts, before marriage is a possibility.
Donovan is right that most people are influenced by what their peers are doing, and that if larger families become the trendy thing to do, perhaps things will turn around. I would like to see, though, not just larger families, but stay-at-home mothers. Why have several children if the plan is to immediately return to the workplace and 'career' while the children are dropped into the laps of Third-World nannies (as is the case among many affluent couples)? I suppose a better situation would be if grandparents care for the child or children, but the optimum is for the mother to care for her own children.
In my community three (sometimes more) children are very much the norm, but I don't think this portends a new trend, necessarily; this town is populated by mostly conservative and Christian people with traditional ideas about family. But perhaps the trends will change in that direction, given the right circumstances.
Read all of Donovan's piece at the link, if you have not already done so.
Labels: Birth Rate, Demographics, Family Unit, Racial Dispossession, Social Change