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PaperclipPerfector  6d ago (text post)   21184 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 6, 2026

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suggesting you redistribute this somewhat triggers empathy and accusations of killing your sweet grandma.

I despise such an emotionally manipulative accusation. The social contract used to be that after your parents took care of you when you grew up, you would take care of them in their old age. I don't need to pay more taxes for grandma to be taken care of. Rather, my taxes end up going to people who have absolutely no relation to me and don't even pretend to vote in my interests. This breakdown in the social contract correlates with attacks on traditional family structures and contributes to an atomized, isolating society. It feels like we broke something that was working perfectly fine, and now we're trying to fix it with band-aids.

It feels like we broke something that was working perfectly fine, and now we're trying to fix it with band-aids.

Low fertility and increased lifespan probably would've broken it on its own. Mass divorce and familial dysfunction just poured salt on the wound, transforming "part of life" into a potentially Sisyphean burden. What happens when it's not "sweet grandma" but a malingering, toxic trainwreck that the children have spent years doing their best to avoid?

I have the misfortune of seeing this within my own family.

You’re right that there is no easy solution, given that lifespans have never been this long we have zero idea as a species how to handle this state of affairs where people can be massive drains on society at large from the age of 65-95 (or longer)

Yes. We socialised the obligation to care for aging parents - and did so almost completely, whereas we only socialised a small part of the obligation to raise your own children. (Interesting question - why?) With hindsight, this was a mistake.

Because universal early childcare is a fiendishly difficult math problem.

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