The problem has been growing and building for a long time.
When spanking a child became taboo, we began raising shallow selfish disobedient humans. My kids went along with Dr. Spock and responded to the fear of being a bad parent, along with fear of being arrested for child abuse. As a result, I observe my grandkids being totally disrespectful to their moms and dads.
No amount of time outs will ever replace an over the lap butt spanking, beginning when kids are toddlers, given with advance warning and always delivered with love and not anger.
Look at behaviors in K-12. Bullying or disrespect were not tolerated in schools in the 50’s or 60’s. I actually received a spanking by my 2nd grade teacher in front of the class for misbehavior.
In first grade the day began with the pledge of allegiance and a prayer by a student. Now, one state needs a law to put the 12 Commandments on the walls of their classrooms! Talk about social emotional learning. . . With the loss of discipline SEL became a required subject. . .
AND, it was the TV and evening news that brought societal change right into my home setting new and devolving societal expectations. Of course you could go all the way back to the first printing press for the beginning of that happening.
Silicon Valley is full of Woke Cali narcissists who by the time they figure out there has to be more to life, they are surprised that it’s too late to have a family. Progressives like Bill and Hillary, and Barrack and Michelle, have marriages of convenience. Better to be single. It takes a lot of work to find a person who is dedicate to finding a person to marry who is capable of a lifelong commitment. I was at the grocery store and a man in line was commenting that he felt like a loser because he was getting a third divorce. I butted into his conversation with the checker to remind him that he should be proud that he kept trying because marriage and family are honorable and noble goals.
This is an excellent piece, pulling together several pieces of evidence and making a coherent explanation for it all.
There are other factors at play in the decline marriage and fertility rates though.
An important study that was simply squashed, never properly refuted, from about 15 years ago, showed that women who had gotten an HPV vaccine were only 60% as likely to have had a child as women who had never gotten an HPV vaccine. That factor by itself could explain the massive drop in fertility that marched upward through the age cohorts starting in about 1990.
The more recent clot shots have also impaired fertility, although it's not known if it's more of a temporary or permanent effect.
Men's testosterone levels are continuing to drop.
And family formation is being inhibited by unaffordable housing.
Excellent observation about the current fertility decline. Go on step further, the entitled mentality of both men and women. Children get in the way of “having it all”, chasing the elusive dream, not realizing there will be sacrifice and responsibility to raise and educate those children. Deep commitment is lacking from these couples and it is easier to divorce than stick it out.
You may be right on the HPV vax relationship to infertility. There are, however, STDs that directly cause infertility. Sexually active women who want the vaccine, are also more likely to have other STDs. Physicians still advise women to be evaluated for HPV even if they had the vaccine. The HPV vaccine is far from 100% effective. I cringe every time I see the commercials on TV encouraging parents of preteens to get their child vaccinated for HPV. Japan actually banned the HPV vax for several years because so many young girls suffered syncope after being vaccinated. It is now back on the list for vaccines for Japanese children.
Since the genie is out of the bottle the only logical conclusion is to separate child bearing from family creation and provide incentives to make it happen.
Your work always stimulates my thought! My intuition is that it’s not that we need to abandon this algorithmic exercise ,but that we need to refine it to address the concerns you mention. Get busy!
I know several who successfully found mates online, though yrs ago. As usual, AM exposes details (with statistics!) I could never imagine. Wow! Clearly disruptive to 'normal' family formation. (GREAT headline choice.) Though Silicon Valley may have had no ill intention (only their profit margin), there IS a spiritual enemy specifically intends to destroy ALL; family - what a perfect target.
The algorithms fail to account for the human “knowing”, the instinct that says “this if the one?” That instinct has developed over millennia and has not been bottled up for sale. Safe, superficial algorithms have been sold as substitutes but they fail to capture the nuance of knowing which potential partner is a real fit. hr the
Without tradition or taboos, technology has enabled women to form themselves into "Alfa Male harems". These men will bed them, but not commit to them, resulting in "All men are bastards" TikToks, unrealistic expectations, and the feeling of "settling" at the alter.
The problem has been growing and building for a long time.
When spanking a child became taboo, we began raising shallow selfish disobedient humans. My kids went along with Dr. Spock and responded to the fear of being a bad parent, along with fear of being arrested for child abuse. As a result, I observe my grandkids being totally disrespectful to their moms and dads.
No amount of time outs will ever replace an over the lap butt spanking, beginning when kids are toddlers, given with advance warning and always delivered with love and not anger.
Look at behaviors in K-12. Bullying or disrespect were not tolerated in schools in the 50’s or 60’s. I actually received a spanking by my 2nd grade teacher in front of the class for misbehavior.
In first grade the day began with the pledge of allegiance and a prayer by a student. Now, one state needs a law to put the 12 Commandments on the walls of their classrooms! Talk about social emotional learning. . . With the loss of discipline SEL became a required subject. . .
AND, it was the TV and evening news that brought societal change right into my home setting new and devolving societal expectations. Of course you could go all the way back to the first printing press for the beginning of that happening.
Silicon Valley is full of Woke Cali narcissists who by the time they figure out there has to be more to life, they are surprised that it’s too late to have a family. Progressives like Bill and Hillary, and Barrack and Michelle, have marriages of convenience. Better to be single. It takes a lot of work to find a person who is dedicate to finding a person to marry who is capable of a lifelong commitment. I was at the grocery store and a man in line was commenting that he felt like a loser because he was getting a third divorce. I butted into his conversation with the checker to remind him that he should be proud that he kept trying because marriage and family are honorable and noble goals.
Sorry to let you know this way, but I can't use my card to renew. Any suggestions?
This is an excellent piece, pulling together several pieces of evidence and making a coherent explanation for it all.
There are other factors at play in the decline marriage and fertility rates though.
An important study that was simply squashed, never properly refuted, from about 15 years ago, showed that women who had gotten an HPV vaccine were only 60% as likely to have had a child as women who had never gotten an HPV vaccine. That factor by itself could explain the massive drop in fertility that marched upward through the age cohorts starting in about 1990.
The more recent clot shots have also impaired fertility, although it's not known if it's more of a temporary or permanent effect.
Men's testosterone levels are continuing to drop.
And family formation is being inhibited by unaffordable housing.
Excellent observation about the current fertility decline. Go on step further, the entitled mentality of both men and women. Children get in the way of “having it all”, chasing the elusive dream, not realizing there will be sacrifice and responsibility to raise and educate those children. Deep commitment is lacking from these couples and it is easier to divorce than stick it out.
You may be right on the HPV vax relationship to infertility. There are, however, STDs that directly cause infertility. Sexually active women who want the vaccine, are also more likely to have other STDs. Physicians still advise women to be evaluated for HPV even if they had the vaccine. The HPV vaccine is far from 100% effective. I cringe every time I see the commercials on TV encouraging parents of preteens to get their child vaccinated for HPV. Japan actually banned the HPV vax for several years because so many young girls suffered syncope after being vaccinated. It is now back on the list for vaccines for Japanese children.
Since the genie is out of the bottle the only logical conclusion is to separate child bearing from family creation and provide incentives to make it happen.
I think there are other "logical conclusions".
Your work always stimulates my thought! My intuition is that it’s not that we need to abandon this algorithmic exercise ,but that we need to refine it to address the concerns you mention. Get busy!
I know several who successfully found mates online, though yrs ago. As usual, AM exposes details (with statistics!) I could never imagine. Wow! Clearly disruptive to 'normal' family formation. (GREAT headline choice.) Though Silicon Valley may have had no ill intention (only their profit margin), there IS a spiritual enemy specifically intends to destroy ALL; family - what a perfect target.
The algorithms fail to account for the human “knowing”, the instinct that says “this if the one?” That instinct has developed over millennia and has not been bottled up for sale. Safe, superficial algorithms have been sold as substitutes but they fail to capture the nuance of knowing which potential partner is a real fit. hr the
Without tradition or taboos, technology has enabled women to form themselves into "Alfa Male harems". These men will bed them, but not commit to them, resulting in "All men are bastards" TikToks, unrealistic expectations, and the feeling of "settling" at the alter.