Why is RSS All Comments important? - and, A High Fertility/High Freedom Culture in contrast with mainstream culture's view of childbearing as a 'trap'

This started off being a 'general idea,' but it turned out that it's referring to 'my blog in particular.'

RSS all comments is important on blogs that are somewhat quiet and inactive. Most of the time, I blog with the assumption that I am kind of 'talking just to hear myself talk.' It's an expression of what I want to say, I know there are people out there reading it and everyone knows what's going on, but it isn't 'actionable.'

In other words, I'm not specifically asking for feedback or suggestions, or asking people what time and place they want to go somewhere, or asking questions like 'What do you think about this?' If I were a community member engaged in a process of building consensus on an issue, it would be different. Lots of comments would be part of the process. I've seen other people who really do use blogs actively to make plans and decisions of 'what we'll do and when.'

I've also looked at other bloggers who are consciously and deliberately using the blog world to network with large numbers of people. In order to do this, you have to link to other blogs, comment on other people's blogs, blog with people you've met in person, put as many relevant tags as you can, and so on. There are things that you can do whenever you really are firmly committed to making your blog very well known and very active.

Anyway, on a quiet blog, you get used to not seeing any comments. You don't even glance at the teeny-weeny, small font 'comments' link at the bottom of the post anymore. Weeks go by and only an occasional comment happens and then you might overlook it. (Oh no, sorry, this is one of those things where I should just openly say I had a comment recently and was pointing to it.)

It's funny, I have mixed feelings about comments. I can't handle them when they happen, in a way, because you have to tolerate open criticism and trolls who randomly run around insulting people, then disappearing into the darkness and not giving a crap about your delayed witty reply. I don't write my blog in order to hear random people commenting 'You're insane, you should go to the mental hospital and get some help,' or anything like that.

So anyway that was the point of 'RSS all comments no matter what post.'

I wish I weren't sick right now. There are so many things where I know *exactly* what I would like to do, and I know *exactly* how I would do it, and I know what goals I want to accomplish, and the real-world details of how to get it done - and I can't, because I am so sick and have been for the past couple months that every day is just a struggle to get through. I can't bring up the mental focus and energy to commit to doing things where I would have to be reliable.

But an active blog has these characteristics: it can be active because the subject matter itself is highly controversial and provokes people to think, or it can be active because you are reaching out to people and asking them for questions, participation, and feedback.

One blog I read recently was when I did a web search for "small minded" "small town" because I am trying to understand my prejudices against certain kinds of people, why I instantly recognize or categorize somebody as 'not my type' or 'someone I wouldn't get along with.'

I ended up at My So Called Life. This actually turned out to be an interesting blog, so I looked at a couple pages. She has lots of friends actively commenting, and people who know her in person, but at the same time, she isn't talking about anything really obscure, scary, technical, or controversial (like me talking about electronic mind control) - she is talking about everyday, safe things, and things everyone would understand.

I have noticed something about myself, which is that I have gone into a lot of beliefs and practices that are as non-mainstream and obscure as possible. But at the same time, it isn't just done randomly or just out of sheer defiance. I do a lot of these things because I really believe in them or because I feel that they are important for more people to know, like Austrian Economics. If more people understood the Austrian Economics perspective on things like economic bubbles, it wouldn't be such a surprise to them when the economy collapses. Lots of people really feel that it's unexpected or unusual or rare to see the entire economy collapse in a total mess, but actually, it's a routine event that happens every couple years. Nothing is stable, and it won't ever be stable, in this economy.

Warning, a bunch of bitterness here:

Anyway, the lady on this blog wasn't talking about non-mainstream obscure topics, so all of her friends are able to participate. And she has this really long list of her friends' blogs on the side. And they are all normal healthy people living normal, healthy lives and just being friends. This is something that I envy, but also, feel frustrated with: those people will all be able to make lots of money at their jobs, but they'll totally disagree with me about what to use that money for. I can't tell them, 'Hey, donate some of your money to this or that person or project.' So I see wealthy, healthy people living happy lives, and doing things with their money that I don't like - like 'Shopping!' She described 'shopping' as one of the joys of life that she has discovered now that she's moved into the city. Yay shopping! Yay credit cards! This is her alternative to small-mindedness of the little towns: shopping and debt. Big-mindedness? and worldliness. So, I envy her and criticize her at the same time.

I want a community that values things which are usually seen as contradictory: high fertility and family values, BUT ALSO a wider perspective on the world than just 'my small town and neighborly gossip' or 'the bible says so.' But I don't just want random worldly knowledge - I want knowledge which is guided by a strong belief system that helps you evaluate things in terms of universal values, like human rights. You don't just go around randomly looking at other cultures and seeing how different they are, but rather, you can actually compare and contrast them in terms of how well they fit with universal human rights.

To people like this lady at My So Called Life, 'Low Fertility' and 'Staying Single' is the path to personal freedom. I want to see personal liberty, traveling, fun and adventures, enjoyment of life, fulfillment of goals, high education, entrepreneurship (see scott adams' comment here about childbearing and entrepreneurship), and other values, ALONG WITH high fertility.

I used to believe exactly the same things she does. I believed that if I avoided marriage and family, I'd have my freedom and could achieve goals and have adventures. I thought my life would be more meaningful. I thought that having only ONE child would be a horrible trap into a life of slavery, much less having two or more children, or the dozen children in the very large family that I have been thinking of nowadays. (I've kept saying that I want to talk about that subject and have been putting it off. There are reasons why our culture became very low fertility, when it used to be high fertility. I want to talk about the 'environmental impact' of high fertility, along with the economic and cultural and personal impacts of it. I want to talk about all the cultural/economic forces that caused society to become as low-fertility as it is. I want to mention Julian Simon again and bring his thoughts into it.)

I thought of something funny the other day. Having a kid is just like getting a dog or a cat. Lots of single people who call themselves free people, having fun, avoiding marriage and family, still do have dogs and cats. Why are kids different from dogs and cats? It might be partly because in some strange emergency, you could sell or give away your pet to someone else - even though, in reality, you never intend to do that, and you love them as much as a child. There are lots of other reasons why people choose pets instead of children. They might want to avoid increasing the human population, for instance.

But having a child is even better than a dog or cat in a way. You get to watch PROGRESS. With dogs and cats, there is no long-term plan to liberate the pet from depending upon you for food and shelter. With children, there is. That's the goal. They're being fed and sheltered temporarily, but in the long run, you want them to go out and earn their own money and live in their own house. With a human, you can watch their intellectual and emotional development, their language, their learning. With dogs and cats, you can train them to do some things, but mostly, they are a passive companion who doesn't change or learn much over time. I *love* dogs and cats - I can't have any at this apartment where I live right now - so I'm not criticizing the decision to have a pet. I have loved many animals over the years and they do feel just like a child or a friend or family member.

I think I will write the rest of this in a separate post. I wanted to talk about the concept of high fertility and need to think about it more. Note, it also involves adoption, not just your own kids, and it also involves building intentional communities. All those subjects overlap. Anyway, more later.