This comment by Yvain clears up a lot:
Someone on IRC said it better than I could – I am much more likely to agree with object-level Reactionary policies – which was what Nutshell talked about – than with meta-level Reactionary theories – which are mostly what this is addressing.
I agree with Nutshell on most of the object-level policies that didn’t get directly rebutted here, except insofar as they’re things that are hard and probably counterproductive to change. But many of the parts that say “If you’re in a hole stop digging” seem mostly correct to me.
Here’s a link to the Nutshell essay. The ‘stop digging’ phrase occurs in discussions of cultural assimilationism, immigration selectionism, Chinese-style neo-imperialism and corporal punishment. Presumably, Yvain has some degree of sympathy for most or all of these policies. But of course you should rely on what he says in preference to any exegesis of mine.
Yes, of course.
Meh. I could have made a much more convincing post to make myself look virtuous. Perhaps I should have. But I do want to encourage the reader to see childrearing as virtuous.
Well, I’m done having children—I’m hoping to induce other people to have children. Other people with genes somewhat similar to my own, you might say, and I won’t protest.
When I wrote this post I realized that it had the potential flaw of appearing like I was primarily interested in bragging or complaining about my own decisions/situation. Your comment reveals to me that this flaw was more serious than I had thought. A better strategy might have been to write about friends of mine who have children and compare their lives with that of acquaintances without children. That way I could have gotten in the poop stuff without the annoying holier-than-thou effect. Thank you. [Edit: I removed the personal part for now.]