i have a family :p
There's no one correct way to live, my friend. I know people in their 60s who are childless and loving life. Men and women. There are lots of ways to create social bonds and find happiness without marrying and meking bebe.
I seem nice because I am nice :)
We want different things for ourselves, and we trust different people but it doesn't mean that either of us is brainwashed. There isn't one single solution to our problems and different people value and prioritise different things. It's okay.
I understand your mistrust in socialist systems.
I do often suspect that the reason capitalism sustains itself is because it allows for human greed and exploitation within the system, whereas systems that trust in human nature leave themselves open to exploitation from power-hungry dictators.
But I think there must be a way to temper the exploitation that exists throughout the current capitalist system, with the biggest business owners earning more money than their average worker is not going to make even in they had several lifetimes.
There must be a way we can make things less painful for the most vulnerable people in this system without installing a murderous despot to rule, don't you think?
Again, I just want you to understand: I don't shun the family. I never meant to say that I think family has no value.
But surely you can understand that from my experience I cannot prioritise the two-parent nuclear family model over other social bonds? The nuclear family failed me in my childhood. It was a source of unhappiness, and we found happiness in community groups. My parents are still part of my family and I love them and we're all pretty happy.
So for me some immediate changes I'd like to see are:
a) tackling wealth inequality in societies - if even just a little were done to ease the dependence of those who have little to support themselves and their families then the stress of the worklife and the pressures of unreasonable power dynamics would be eased considerably. This could be done by having higher taxation on the highest earners in order to fund living wages for the lowest earners. Another option might be creating in publicly-owned energy suppliers to provide free energy to populations and again ease financial pressures from corporate energy profits. I mean there's loads of different ways wealth inequality could be made fairer.
b) developing better communication, clearer understanding of different needs. If it's more normal for people in relationships to anticipate that their partner's needs may be different to their own, and that those needs may change and that it's okay to talk to your partner about what you want from the relationship then I think lots of relationships will be happier and healthier. This applies to any kind of relationship really, though I think the most pain comes from poor communication in romantic relationships.
