“By the end of this series, I aim to convince you” I’m sold already. I wasn’t opposed to your stance before. It’s just that I was incognizant of how severe and universal poverty was, and that’s an admission of my failure and my distant view of living in a western society. I like the quote from Joulzey that says, “we’re all one injury away from poverty,” something along those lines and how that relates to not just me and my sphere. But, everyone is one slip away from poverty (not that we’re already not).I like that you gave statics and graphs showing us how there's not just one set of poverty, but various facets of it, i.e., multidimensional poverty and MPI, as a contrast to HPI, which is very flawed at gauging poverty not just around the world but even in our individual lives, there's so much nuance to this conversation. I appreciate you for enlightening me and opening my psyche to different views I wouldn't have been conscious of if there weren't ardent individuals like yourself.
The whole counter argument to this that poor people shouldn’t reproduce is just so insane to me. Eugenics aside, why the hell are people (often the same people preaching “leftism” and being “anti” capitalist) viewing financial/material profit or poverty in higher standing than creating families and communities? Poor people can desire parenthood too...it’s insane to me that people think that’s a privilege of the “not poor.”
I’m not sure if I described this in a way that makes sense, I haven’t fully vetted my thoughts. But, I figured I’d share just...shit’s nuts.
I've always been so-so about this argument of whether or not poor people should stop giving birth, not because I leaned towards one side of the argument but because I'm a Nigerian living in Nigeria and I see poor people give birth every day. The foremost thing on my mind is always: I wish things would be better, I wish the government cared about us. I'd be considered a middle class Nigerian but, over the years, middle class Nigeria has been eroded and basically eliminated by poverty. So I can imagine some American looking down at people whose financial situation is similar to my and my family's and saying we shouldn't procreate, rather than questioning the problems that intentionally keep us as we are.
Because of my existence as a Nigerian, I have always been aware of the fact that most of the world's population lives in unbelievable levels of poverty, including my family and I. And, in fact, the Nigerian government keeps implementing new policies to ensure that we suffer even more and slide deeper into poverty; where we could spontaneously afford this, we now struggle to afford the cheaper and lesser quality option; where we could pay for electricity and cooking gas without worrying about halving our income, it isn't so today; where we now spend at least 70% of our income on food.
Thank you ever so much for this and for existing 😭 seriously I’m unlearning and so thankful for you 🙌
The photo is so adorable also 😭😭
brilliant. thank you. can’t wait for the rest.
“By the end of this series, I aim to convince you” I’m sold already. I wasn’t opposed to your stance before. It’s just that I was incognizant of how severe and universal poverty was, and that’s an admission of my failure and my distant view of living in a western society. I like the quote from Joulzey that says, “we’re all one injury away from poverty,” something along those lines and how that relates to not just me and my sphere. But, everyone is one slip away from poverty (not that we’re already not).I like that you gave statics and graphs showing us how there's not just one set of poverty, but various facets of it, i.e., multidimensional poverty and MPI, as a contrast to HPI, which is very flawed at gauging poverty not just around the world but even in our individual lives, there's so much nuance to this conversation. I appreciate you for enlightening me and opening my psyche to different views I wouldn't have been conscious of if there weren't ardent individuals like yourself.
Thank you!
i had to pause at the 18 minute mark because ismatu was SPITTING!!!!!!!
The whole counter argument to this that poor people shouldn’t reproduce is just so insane to me. Eugenics aside, why the hell are people (often the same people preaching “leftism” and being “anti” capitalist) viewing financial/material profit or poverty in higher standing than creating families and communities? Poor people can desire parenthood too...it’s insane to me that people think that’s a privilege of the “not poor.”
I’m not sure if I described this in a way that makes sense, I haven’t fully vetted my thoughts. But, I figured I’d share just...shit’s nuts.
i'm a college freshman and you are inspiring me to look into this so much deeper. it's almost calling to me.
I've always been so-so about this argument of whether or not poor people should stop giving birth, not because I leaned towards one side of the argument but because I'm a Nigerian living in Nigeria and I see poor people give birth every day. The foremost thing on my mind is always: I wish things would be better, I wish the government cared about us. I'd be considered a middle class Nigerian but, over the years, middle class Nigeria has been eroded and basically eliminated by poverty. So I can imagine some American looking down at people whose financial situation is similar to my and my family's and saying we shouldn't procreate, rather than questioning the problems that intentionally keep us as we are.
Because of my existence as a Nigerian, I have always been aware of the fact that most of the world's population lives in unbelievable levels of poverty, including my family and I. And, in fact, the Nigerian government keeps implementing new policies to ensure that we suffer even more and slide deeper into poverty; where we could spontaneously afford this, we now struggle to afford the cheaper and lesser quality option; where we could pay for electricity and cooking gas without worrying about halving our income, it isn't so today; where we now spend at least 70% of our income on food.
Great collection of essays!
new substack subscriber here!! where do i get the other essays?
wondering the same thing! : )) would absolutely love to read the entire complete essay