Gongol.com Archives: April 2025
April 20, 2025
People aren't production targets
The extraordinary (and bizarre) fascination that the world's present-richest man seems to have with high-volume procreation has raised all kinds of strange issues of paternal responsibility and bewildering suggestions of abandonment. ■ The situation also puts an important value judgment about parenthood in the spotlight. It's undoubtedly better to bring a small number of children into the world and furnish them with an abundance of love and affection than to approach them as outputs to be maximized. The psychotherapist Philippa Perry put it sagely: "[Y]ou are creating a person to love, not a work of art." ■ That verb, "creating", is widely imbued with a sense of meaning that reaches into the spiritual. Even for those who do not observe any particular religious or spiritual practices, "creating" is still a much better word than "making". It suggests an intentionality that may not always be true, but which deserves the presumption nevertheless. ■ A due respect for the dignity of each individual life requires treating people -- even the tiniest newborn -- as a complete person, entitled to the full array of human rights and liberties that belong to all others. Treating births as some kind of production target to be maximized undermines that presumption of dignity.
