Darwins-pros-cons-of-marriage

[Amphora]

A friend of mine posted this on facebook:

http://jameswittering.wordpress.com/2008...-marriage/

And I found it very intriguing.

And this to:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/comm...0714.story

Enjoy!

Which side would you pick pros or cons? Or both?

[Rev. Rye]

Darwin's List with my Annotations
Pros:

* Children (if it Please God) [Definitely not one for me]
* Constant companion (and friend in old age) who will feel interested in one [Good, but in this day and age, could probably be as well done in a "Common Law" relationship.]
* Object to be beloved and played with. Better than a dog anyhow [Well, it's from a 19th century male. What do you expect?]
* Home, & someone to take care of house [In this day and age, it's really hard to find
* Charms of music and female chit-chat [Well, the advent of recorded media has made the former part of this a moot point, but the female chit-chat, well, your mileage may vary; especially depending on the mind of the female. Are we talking about a female mind like Lionel Shriver (author of We Need to Talk About Kevin, my favorite book by a female author), or Bella Fucking Swan?]
* These things good for one’s health—but terrible loss of time
* My God, it is intolerable to think of spending one’s whole life, like a neuter bee, working, working, and nothing after all—No, no, won’t do. [Certainly an argument for female companionship, but, by this point, not marriage.]
* Imagine living all one’s day solitary in smoky dirty London House [Well (I use that word more than a fucking Rockabilly singer), I long for the days when I can be a recluse.]
* Picture yourself with a nice soft wife on a sofa with a good fire and books and music perhaps compare this vision with the dingy reality of Great Marlboro Street, London. [Well, both have their good points. One may be more conducive to my happiness, but the other is probably better if you're going to write about human misery, as I will.]

Cons:

* Freedom to go where one liked [Well, I rarely go out except for School, movies, Weekly Library runs, and occasional Borders runs.]
* Choice of Society and little of it [YES!]
* Conversation of clever men at clubs [Well, I have known very few people who were close to my intellectual equal (Considering that my IQ is one standard deviation below Ludwig Wittgenstein, that's no surprise) and most of them were my professors.]
* Not forced to visit relatives and bend in every trifle [Well, I suppose there's always reading in this case.]
* Expense and anxiety of children [Interesting that he lists children as both Pros and Cons.]
* Perhaps quarrelling [Clearly a big reason I avoid people.]
* Loss of Time
* Cannot read in the evenings
* Fatness and idleness
* Anxiety and responsibility
* Less money for books etc. [Yes, although I'm pretty sure that If I do take a girlfriend, she'd probably be big on reading as well.]
* If many children forced to gain one’s bread (But then it is very bad for one’s health to work too much)
* Perhaps my wife won’t like London; then the sentence is banishment and degradation into indolent, idle fool.

In short, I do tend to be against marriage. I am certainly not against female companionship, but I realize that in the past Century and two-thirds, most of the arguments for marriage can hold over into a cohabitation. The fact is, I always found marriage ceremonies dull, and by this point, I suppose that virtually all of the traditional benefits of marriage can be found in a cohabitation (except perhaps the approval of a God who probably doesn't exist and even if he did, will probably do nothing), and with fewer drawbacks (from expensive ceremonies to massive amounts of red tape to end it in the likely event that it fails.)

[Amphora]

I am aware that the members of this forum know more about Darwin than I do.

And I admit that I don't know much about Darwin.

I thought this would be very informative to the forum.

[leo-rcc]

I am aware that the members of this forum know more about Darwin than I do.

And I admit that I don't know much about Darwin.

I thought this would be very informative to the forum.

It is, thanks for that.

I know only a little about Darwin, just as I do only know a little about Hawking, Einstein, Bohr, Curie, Newton, van Leeuwenhoek, and Galileo. It doesn't really matter much to me, the work these people did and the benefits we got from their work is far more interesting to me than their personal lives.

[leo-rcc]

Oh and as for marriage: If two people want to pledge their love for each other in something official like a marriage, I am fine with that. It doesn't concern me, it doesn't bother me, it is none of my business. I don't see the need to give a marriage special privileges over any other living arrangement though.

[Pippy]

An amphora is a thin two handled Egyptian pot!

[Rhizomorph13]

Pippy is the first name of Miss Longstocking.

[Violet]

An amphora is a thin two handled Egyptian pot!

If that be the case, then Amphora is the smartest damn pot I have ever seen 0.o

[Amphora]

An amphora is a thin two handled Egyptian pot!

You are some what right. Here's a link that tells you all about amphora's:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphora

[Pippy]

Good damn, I am named after a Papilon (a long haired chihuahua) whom in turn was named after Pippen Took. I am not, I repeat, not named after some girl with long stockings.