“AwakenWithJP fails on Antinatalism” – Lawrence Anton & Freeda Animals ▶️

Much of the revolt aroused in the adult world by simply positing the antinatalist problem indicates that parents take great pleasure from the procreative act, and react—sometimes angrily—against those who dare threaten that powerful source of pleasure, and consequently the immense power over the one who will be born. This total power over another one’s life is highly seductive, and no one wants to give it up. (“Responsible abstention: why not having children is a moral act”*)

Grande parte da revolta que desperta no mundo adulto a simples colocação dessa questão (antinatalista) indica que os progenitores obtêm um prazer muito grande no ato procriador, e reagem — às vezes iradamente — contra quem comove essa poderosa fonte de prazer, e consequentemente o imenso poder sobre aquele que vai nascer. Esse poder total sobre outra vida é intensamente sedutor e ninguém quer abrir mão dele. (“Abstenção responsável: por que não ter filhos é um ato moral”)¹

¹ Julio Cabrera. Mal-estar e moralidade. Situação humana, ética e procriação responsável. Brasília: Editora UnB, 2018, p. 464. Transl. by Rodrigo Menezes.

Famous YouTuber reacts in outrage to antinatalist billboards put up by Stop Having Kids. No arguments, just sheer self-embarassment. Antinatalists Lawrence Anton and Freeda Animals react to such a moralistic bigotry:

According to “awakened” beacons of morality such as JP Sears, Antinatalists are “evil” and “mentally ill”.

JP Sears accuses antinatalists of being “evil” and “mentally ill”. That’s what antinatalists would think of “pro-life” advocates like JP Sears. “Parents—genitors—are provocateurs or mad”, Cioran once wrote. One may argue that being “pro-life” amounts to being “pro-death” all at once, for every living being must die as a natural necessity of being alive. To procreate amounts to delivering the newborn to necessary death (and before that, to countless and pointless sufferings). Procreation is thus a small murder; Antinatalism is not “pro-death”, it is anti-murder. It’s against creating new sentient life, certified that the non-born do not lose anything, nor do they gain, for not being born.

JP’s puerile rhetoric goes like this: “I’ve seen some evil things, as you have too, over the past few years, and of course the devil always mascarades as an angel in disguise, evil always shows up saying: ‘Hey, we’re here to help, listen to us, do as we say, and you’ll be better off’. […] For awakened people (sic), we have a distinction, we realize evil doesn’t show up saying ‘I’m evil’, he shows up saying: ‘I’m here to do good’.”

JP has a point, but he fails to acknowledge the full implications of this argument. He lacks the intellectual virtue of “thinking against oneself”, to put it like Cioran. By the way, isn’t that what he’s here for in the first place? To “do good”, by warning people against the “Evil of Antinatalism”? Isn’t JP so well-intentioned? Such a sane and righteous gentleman… mens sana in corpore sano! Way before Stop Having Kids existed and Antinatalism was a thing, the same suspicion (devil in disguise) already lied upon priests, bishops, pastors, politicians, philathropists, good citizens and whatnot. There’s no disguise the devil fancies more than that of a religious authority. Many of those who would deserve to go to heaven, according to JP’s axiological system, might as well burn in the eternal flames of hell when they die. As far as the Antinatalist is concerned, Evil shows up saying: “Hey, life is sacred, have all the kids you want, be fruitful and multiply!”

JP’s reasoning may be simplified as follows: “Antinatalism is contrary to my deepest beliefs, therefore it’s evil.” It’s a childish reasoning, not uncommon among religious conservatives. Since they believe in an undisputable divine authority, they tend to be naively dogmatic when it comes to ethical or metaphysical debates, without any effort to think reasonably for themselves. “God approves it” or “God condemns it”, and that’s that…

Finally, JP comes up with a straw man based on the notion of an extinctionist drive that is supposedly inherent to Antinatalist philosophy. And he does that while resorting to such a reliable intellectual in the field of ethics as… Elon Musk. JP reacts in outrage, scandalized, to Stop Having Kids with the costumary “pro-life” apocalyptic alarmism (and so does Elon). He fears Antinatalism will cause humanity to go extinct. JP is so ironic, witty, idiosyncratic, just like a cool sitcom character: “We’ve gotta kinda kill humanity to save humanity, trust me…” Seriously? Unfortunately or not, Antinatalism is The Lost Cause. Which is not a reason to give up on it (pretty much the contrary, if one is an amateur of lost causes). Dixit Cioran:

Timid, devoid of dynamism, the good is inept at communicating itself. Evil, much more zealous, seeks to transmit itself, and succeeds because it possesses the double privilege of being fascinating and contagious. Hence we see a bad Demiurge extend himself, get outside himself more easily than a good God.
We have all inherited something of this incapacity to remain within ourselves, whereof the Creator was to make so vexing a demonstration: to engender is to continue in another fashion and on another scale the enterprise which bears his name—it is, by a deplorable mimicry, to add to His “creation.” Without the encouragement He has given, the desire to extend the chain of beings would not exist, nor that necessity to subscribe to the gimmicks of the flesh. Every childbirth is suspect: the angels, luckily, are unsuited to it, the propagation of life being reserved to the fallen. The plague is impatient and greedy; it loves to spread. There is every reason to discourage generation, for the fear of seeing humanity die out has no basis: whatever happens, there will everywhere be enough fools who ask only to perpetuate themselves, and, if they themselves end by flinching from the task, there will always be found, to devote themselves to the cause, some hideous couple. . . .

CIORAN, The New Gods (1969)

LAWRENCE ANTON makes videos about why he shouldn’t be here to make videos about why he shou… you get the picture. Subscribe – join the cult!

FREEDA ANIMALS: I am pro-bodily autonomy and anti-exploitation of non-humans, humans, and the planet. I refuse to buy into propaganda and hype surrounding many things like natalism, covid-19 & all things big pharma, war & imperialism, and just general fuckery pushed out by our governments and MSM. I prefer to think for myself, follow the truth (regardless of who speaks it), and encourage others to do the same. I’m an animal rights and antinatalist activist and believe that non-humans should be granted personhood. I have documented non-human exploitation and organized liberations, as well as direct action demonstrations. I organize street outreach demos for Stop Having Kids.

JP SEARS, known online as AwakenWithJP, is an American conservative YouTuber and comedian. Sears is known for his satirical YouTube videos where he parodies lifestyle gurus, wellness coaches, and government policies while providing comedic advice.