Sensitive [tw: mentions abortion] Do you think governments should be able to control their population legally? (1 Viewer)

[Mayday]

I had a discussion board assignment the other day and it really got me thinking...

What are your opinions on population control? Please keep in mind that population control includes both increase and decrease. I personally feel like countries should be able to control their population as it can greatly affect the economy as well as competition in the workforce. This being said, I do think that it should be done in much more humane ways.

There are a couple pros and cons that I am going to list, but these are in no way equal to each other in terms of significance.

A lower population leads to lower competition in the workforce, further improving the quality of life in the country on average.
If we're referring to limiting the numbers of kids countries could have, then families will be able to better support the kids they have as they have to spend less money.

Some cons would be sex biases causing an imbalance in sexes, particularly more men than women. This obviously greatly affects childbirth rates. High childbirth rates actually are not the problem, the issue is that old people just won't die. Plus, who on Earth would want more men than women.
I personally don't believe in legally restricting people from having kids. Starting a multi-child family is something naturally ingrained in the human mind. I believe there are other ways to control population growth such as increased access and education to birth control, sex ed, etc.


However, I do feel as if the way that countries enforce these population control laws are often very inhumane and cruel, such as forcing abortions, insane fines, stripping couples of their rights, etc. This being said, I'm not sure of a humane way to decrease a population. Giving money to parents who only have one child would disrupt the economy imo, as parents with a single child are more likely more financially stable on average, making the rich richer and the poor poorer. Idk tho just a thought.​

 

[Mayday]

im very well aware that a kpop forum is not the place to post this but none of my irls really care

comment hoes

 

[Mayday]

baby you got 7 assignments due today and you're talkin abt how not wearing protection ruins the economy wyd


please wear protection guys, we're tired.

 

[Mangoey]

It seems kinda inhumane? So I guess from a moral standpoint I gotta say governments shouldn't have that right.

However, I do see why they should since having too much or not enough people in a country can greatly affect many aspects of their power and control. So from that standpoint, I guess governments should?



Honestly I personally don't know where I stand. My opinion is probably biased cause I don't want a super large family. Two kids at most if I have any at all. Either way though, i's kind of a hard topic to discuss, there are so many nuances to it.

 

[Lovely_Cornchips]

im very well aware that a kpop forum is not the place to post this but none of my irls really care

comment hoes

You are welcome to post basically anything here so I wouldn't worry about it tbh.

I don't support abortions period so I definitely don't agree with population control in general and normally something naturally comes along to wipe out a big chunk of people. It naturally occurs so there shouldn't be a need to force it. I mean look at what COVID fucking did.

 

[Mayday]

It seems kinda inhumane? So I guess from a moral standpoint I gotta say governments shouldn't have that right.

However, I do see why they should since having too much or not enough people in a country can greatly affect many aspects of their power and control. So from that standpoint, I guess governments should?



Honestly I personally don't know where I stand. My opinion is probably biased cause I don't want a super large family. Two kids at most if I have any at all. Either way though, i's kind of a hard topic to discuss, there are so many nuances to it.

Yup, I'm very confused as well. Yes and no.

I'm all for encouraging population growth, like in Japan. But when it comes to decreasing the population it becomes kinda a touchy subject because like...how can you do that ethically?

It's a bit selfish and shallow to view this from an economic standpoint but it's important to keep in mind that the economy is significantly impacted by too little or too many people.

It's like communism. Assuming all practices would work ethically without any disruptions, I would have to say yes. But considering any possible methods of population control, I would logically have to say no.

 

[Mayday]

You are welcome to post basically anything here so I wouldn't worry about it tbh.

I don't support abortions period so I definitely don't agree with population control in general and normally something naturally comes along to wipe out a big chunk of people. It naturally occurs so there shouldn't be a need to force it. I mean look at what COVID fucking did.

do you mean forced abortions?

 

[Lovely_Cornchips]

do you mean forced abortions?

No abortions in general.

 

[Mangoey]

Yup, I'm very confused as well. Yes and no.

I'm all for encouraging population growth, like in Japan. But when it comes to decreasing the population it becomes kinda a touchy subject because like...how can you do that ethically?

It's a bit selfish and shallow to view this from an economic standpoint but it's important to keep in mind that the economy is significantly impacted by too little or too many people.

It's like communism. Assuming all practices would work ethically without any disruptions, I would have to say yes. But considering any possible methods of population control, I would logically have to say no.

I don't think it's selfish or shallow at all tbh. The economy has become way too important to society for us to not worry about it. If it crashes, that's a lot of people who lose their money and/or livelihoods. Ultimately humans are slaves to the economy at this point and while it's not a good thing imo, it's not really something that I have a solution to

 

[mysteric]

idk, as long as they're not hunger games or running man ing it I'm mostly in support of it ig??

I think for the next bit countries will only focus on growing their population for the economic benefits though
dealing with overpopulation is too far ahead, especially when there's money to be made with a larger, younger population

 

[Mayday]

No abortions in general.

Oh okay.

Well regardless, I don't think your pandemic example was a very accurate one as pandemics happen about every 100 years. Despite the pandemic, countries like India and China are still suffering to an extreme degree.

By population control, I wasn't implying forced abortions or anything. I think there are a variety of things that a government can do to control it's population, which even includes rewarding parents who have less kids or making methods of birth control free or cheaper.

 

[Mayday]

idk, as long as they're not hunger games or running man ing it I'm mostly in support of it ig??

I think for the next bit countries will only focus on growing their population for the economic benefits though
dealing with overpopulation is too far ahead, especially when there's money to be made with a larger, younger population

What do you mean with "too far ahead"? Like too far ahead into the future? Bc we're already dealing with overpopulation.

 

[RainbowDevil]

My take is always that abortions should be legal and available to anyone. Condoms are a thing ofc but nothing is 100% and some people are just stupid so let them pay you money for their stupidity :wonugl:

 

[Mayday]

I don't think it's selfish or shallow at all tbh. The economy has become way too important to society for us to not worry about it. If it crashes, that's a lot of people who lose their money and/or livelihoods. Ultimately humans are slaves to the economy at this point and while it's not a good thing imo, it's not really something that I have a solution to

That's a good point. If anything, a weak economy would hurt society even more, to an even larger degree. This question really isn't an easy one at all.

 

[philosophiKally]

I am one for making sure the economy thrive as we all inhabit this earth and it's only fair to ourselves that we keep it alive as much as possible. However... while I do agree that population control plays a huge role in the stability of our economy, if we're talking about the government taking control, there will never be a "humane" way of them doing it.

I don't wanna get into too many controversial factors, so I will just say this. The government doesnt live the same life as we do. Their lives are much more glamourized and secured than ours as we are most likely seen as mere civilians to them. This might sound harsh, but if a normal civilian dies, that wouldnt affect them at all.

In terms of population control, if the government is given the rights to do so, then it will be automatically non consensual, and anything non consensual, forced even, is usually inhumane.

 

[Mayday]

My take is always that abortions should be legal and available to anyone. Condoms are a thing ofc but nothing is 100% and some people are just stupid so let them pay you money for their stupidity :wonugl:

Abortions are legal in China and they still have overpopulation problems.

While I do appreciate your wokeness, I am sad to inform you that that is apparently not the solution 😔

 

[Ineul_Ze]

I completely believe in population control, hell nature itself does a lot of that too. It's a disgusting way to look at it, but that is technically what COVID is doing. People are ignorant and selfish is they believe that the world should have no limit on population, the larger the population the more resources it takes - if you look at countries like India and China where lots of the country are underdeveloped and the people who live severely under the poverty line live close to death on a day to day basis while still being young.

It is unfair to bring humans into this world and have them suffer and not be able to experience the true beauties of the world in comfort. So yeah, at some point when you're too old to be able to take in the love from life I believe you should have the choice to 'go' on your own will. And I don't believe those in underdeveloped areas should be allowed to bring children into this world scraping by ...

 

[Lovely_Cornchips]

Oh okay.

Well regardless, I don't think your pandemic example was a very accurate one as pandemics happen about every 100 years. Despite the pandemic, countries like India and China are still suffering to an extreme degree.

By population control, I wasn't implying forced abortions or anything. I think there are a variety of things that a government can do to control it's population, which even includes rewarding parents who have less kids or making methods of birth control free or cheaper.

I like your last suggestion and obviously, realize you don't necessarily mean just doing forced abortions. I know China had restrictions at some point which I think they lessened? (Not entirely sure on that.) I also think there should be way more education on contraception and ways to avoid pregnancies.

But within developing countries, it is typically normal to have a larger family so that they have kids and a larger family to help with the work and sustain the family farm and income. Things along those lines but it also has negative effects as well which is why I believe education is super important but with some places being more conservative and not being willing to discuss something more viable other than being abstinent (which I know some people can live like that and kudos to them tbh) but I know others really can't do that or would struggle with that lifestyle. As well as some education systems just being straight shit or unable to afford this time of education I'm not entirely sure how you would go about setting this stuff up.

 

[mysteric]

What do you mean with "too far ahead"? Like too far ahead into the future? Bc we're already dealing with overpopulation.

not enough an issue for policy makers to see it as a serious issue and take action on it right now, or for effective groups to form from what I've seen
since all you see in newspapers and whatnot are stuff about the east asian tigers combating ageing population, nothing about overpopulation anywhere tbh, I can't remember the last time I've read about it in legitimate news sources when I literally just read an article about the changes needed in s. korea's military service model to deal with an ageing demographic today

 

[Mayday]

I am one for making sure the economy thrive as we all inhabit this earth and it's only fair to ourselves that we keep it alive as much as possible. However... while I do agree that population control plays a huge role in the stability of our economy, if we're talking about the government taking control, there will never be a "humane" way of them doing it.

I don't wanna get into too many controversial factors, so I will just say this. The government doesnt live the same life as we do. Their lives are much more glamourized and secured than ours as we are most likely seen as mere civilians to them. This might sound harsh, but if a normal civilian dies, that wouldnt affect them at all.

In terms of population control, if the government is given the rights to do so, then it will be automatically non consensual, and anything non consensual, forced even, is usually inhumane.

Okay, I'm not pro government or anything but I definitely disagree with a lot of the points you made here.

The government taking control in certain aspects can actually benefit individual lives rather than harming them. The government workers absolutely are privileged but I still believe that a lot of things they do can actually help.

Like some of the pros I mentioned, a lower population would improve the lives of individual families and decrease unemployment rates so that would definitely help people. But at the same time, if the government can control reproductive aspects of our life, they can control anything...which is why I'm stumped on my answer.