It causes needless suffering.

I'm happy with a vegan patty and cheese.

Right, but a celebrity look-alike would be much cheaper than the celebrity, and their faces might be practically indistinguishable.

My parents had children they couldn't actually afford, so they spent most of their time at work instead of raising us. Somehow, they expect me to be grateful to them for not being there and for bringing me into slave world.

I wish I hadn't been born.

My best guess is they thought it would reflect poorly on them as parents, and their image is more important to them than their childrens' happiness. Certainly the case with my parents, at least.

"Ah, dang it, I showed up late and they're out of masks. I guess that means I'll have to use the voice-cancelling ball gag again..."

Yikes! It is frightening how shameless some people are; proud, even.

When I was young, I decided I probably shouldn't have kids. I figured that if my parents (who I loved and respected at the time) couldn't raise me without so much pain and fear, I'd probably do an even worse job.

When I told my abusive mother this as an adult, she told me I did not actually have that thought. How convenient for her.

We no longer speak. 🥲

I just feel like I'm running behind something, not even sure what exactly, money, stability, proving something to myself, maybe all of it at once.

The rich are tightening the vice. They do not want us to afford to live independently, they want us to be their slaves.

Good luck.

I agree with you in spirit, although "dead things can't consent" is insufficient in my opinion. Sex toys can't consent either, but there is nothing morally wrong with using them appropriately.

We evolved a sense of revulsion about corpses to help keep us safe. Christians have a harmful habit of backwards thinking, claiming an invisible wizard created the morals we developed naturally over time. My abusive parents will never face justice because too many people think they're entitled to believe things that are not true.

It is scary how many people genuinely seem to think atheists can't or don't have morals. Imo, it's immoral to lie. If everyone could stop pretending magic is real, if we could hold each other accountable using standards that are grounded in observable reality, we could solve a lot of problems.

I am here because my parents thought the only ethical way they could have sex was to get married and have children. They had no interest in actually raising those children. I have been suicidal all my life, but at least I am finally far away from them.

Yes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_New_Orleans_truck_attack

I prefer to focus on reality. Abuse has been normalized and things need to change. Others have it worse than I do. There are more victims every day.

Thank you. ❤️ Your words bring tears to my eyes, just knowing that I am seen.

Best wishes on turning your world into something better than what was handed to you!

I hope I am clearing that very low bar, lol, but it is difficult. Backwards thinking was violently programmed into me. I have to keep reminding myself that my parents were wrong. I feel like a broken person, but it wasn't my choice.

I try to use the pain as motivation. I know others have it even worse and I want to do whatever I can to help them. I wish I knew how.

Other people do not know how you feel. It may well be love. But it may not be worth bringing up to her, she may get the wrong impression like others here. I wish society encouraged honesty, but I don't know what's best here.

In theory, it makes sense; it's a physical thing we can exchange to represent gratitude.

In practice, it has been completely weaponized against us and I hope we can stop using it.

We live in the information age, we can track needs and contributions in a way that is more difficult to exploit.

I am reacting defensively, you attacked OP by pretending to know their mind and confidently asserting you know they are wrong when you can't possibly know that. It's a pretty shitty thing to do and it'd be wrong of me not to point that out.

Here's one for you: you don't actually love your father, it's stockholm syndrome. How do I know? It happened to me, therefore it must also be your experience.

Does that feel good?

Some of the people here are family men who actually do know what we're talking about. To falsely equate your "I don't know" with experience driven advice, is a disservice to OP.

Kindly fuck off with your assumptions. When I was young, I chose not to have children because my parents were unable to raise me without traumatic fear and pain, and I never wanted anyone else to feel that.

I love someone, but we are not together and likely never will be.

Would you be upset if someone told you that you don't love your wife?

Stop pretending to know things you cannot know. Your experience is not everyone's.

"Two teeth, two eyes?"

"Yeah, whatever."

"Hmmm... We could probably save on eyes if we add more to teeth."

"Yeah, whatever."

Six... Months... Later...

"Ever since I was a little child,

I asked my mother why we believe in god.

She told me that he loves us, with a smile...

But that answer always kind of struck me as a little odd.

Because I was a better reader than my parents.

The bible's god and their god weren't the same.

Any honest kid can see there is no defense

For the psycho who will kill you if you mispronounce his name!

That ain't love...

That ain't love.

There ain't no hate like christian "love".

That ain't love...

That ain't love.

When all you have to be is honest, LYING IS NOT LOVE.

Maybe if you ever had a real friend,

You would understand just what you took.

But jesus pleased you more than your own children,

So you sacrificed us all to the death god in your stupid book!

You never ever really learned what love is.

You sold us for your own disgusting lie.

You used VIOLENCE on your BABIES to ENFORCE it

And it ruined my whole goddam motherfucking ONLY LIFE!!!

That ain't love...

That ain't love.

There ain't no hate like christian "love".

That ain't love...

That ain't love.

When all you have to be is honest, LYING IS NOT LOVE.

I guess I'll do my best to wind this song down.

Thinking about you makes me want to scream.

So before I go, let me alert the whole town:

To never let your children close to JOHN STOWE or CHRISTINE.

Because these two are the FUCKERS who ABUSED ME-

...

Because these two are the FUCKERS who ABUSED ME.

I begged for them to stop, they told me "NO".

So if you, my friends, could all join me in cursing

Until my dying breath, the liars: JOHN AND CHRISTINE STOWE.

That ain't love...

That ain't love.

There ain't no hate like christian "love".

That ain't love...

That ain't love.

When all you have to be is honest, LYING IS NOT LOVE.

When all you have to be is patient, VIOLENCE IS NOT LOVE.

When all you have to be is GIVING, TAKING IS NOT LOVE.

When all you have to be is LOVING, HATRED IS NOT LOVE.

...and FUCK YOU. for RUINING my life."

Thank you. I suspect I will be dealing with echoes of my trauma all my life. I have to remind myself that my parents were and are wrong, that I do not deserve to be hit. I have dealt with suicidal ideations all my life, my parents were hurting me before I could consciously understand anything.

The abrahamic faiths are death cults and should be opposed. What happened to me and worse is still happening to others all over the world.

But we should still oppose superstition and we should correct wrong beliefs. Magical thinking makes accountability impossible.

You blame "politics," but what would politics look like if no one could lie? I suspect we would finally work together to do what's best for us all. We can't stop people from lying, but we can stop accepting faulty excuses. There is no evidence, argument, or reason for anyone to believe in any god. Only fallacies. But when people are allowed to believe whatever they want, abusers take that as far as they possibly can.