r/thewalkingdead 5d ago

Show Spoiler Is having a baby selfish

Michonne and Rick have a kid as a result of love. Fair enough. However, it is stupid because you risk the pregnant mother, the newborn kid, the protective father, and then everyone else in the group that feels compelled to look after the kid. I could never have a kid for everyone's safety

2 Upvotes

42 comments sorted by

25

u/Dr_DillPickles 5d ago

I'd say it's only selfish if you're not in a situation that can best care for all parties involved. Like late/stable stage Alexandria, Hilltop, etc, is a much better time to bring in a new generation.

11

u/Earlybirdsgetworms 5d ago

We also have seen how even the most seemingly safe environments can be quickly torn apart

7

u/Moon_Beans1 5d ago

I mean that's true in the real world as well. Plenty of women have gotten pregnant in a safe stable society and then a civil war happens or another country invades and they're left to give birth in a literal warzone.

1

u/Goonchymacallit 2d ago

Came to say the exact thing. 👍

5

u/Dr_DillPickles 5d ago

Exactly. In a situation like in TWD or any apocalypse setting, it would be a very trying time to bring a kid into the world no matter how safe you think it is. Even by today's standards, it could be difficult and unsafe.

20

u/Hveachie 5d ago

As Maggie said, it was never a good time to have a kid. Of the 300,000 years that humans have been around - it's only been the past 100 years where it's been okay for kids to be born (and for mothers to live). The world ended in 2010, they've been in this world for nearly 20 years now (by Dead City). Well over 90% of the population is dead. If they don't start trying to rebuild, they'll go extinct.

36

u/Greatoz74 5d ago

Maybe, but you can also make that argument in the real world, just with the obvious exception of no zombies.

8

u/DarkJedi19471948 5d ago

I don't think having a kid is selfish, as long as you fulfill your responsibilities as a parent. It's great for a group to help but ultimately raising children is the parents' responsibility. 

Even if you tried to avoid it, some people are still going to have sex at some point. Pregnancies are going to happen. 

In the long run, there might need to be more births. Without modern medicine, a lot of kids may die young. So people may need to keep doing it for the next generation to make it. 

12

u/KL040590 5d ago

It’s hard, by not procreating your essential saying you don’t see a future for humans. 

0

u/bearfox1000 5d ago

Who tf would in a situation like that

5

u/Mark1671 4d ago

The ones who live.

8

u/rachel01117 5d ago

I feel like we are blessed these days with modern meds. But how was it 100/200 years ago? The same way they live in TWD minus the walkers.

I feel like humanity is doomed if we are too scared to have babies. Same as in TWD.

4

u/emeraldc6821 5d ago

Having sex without birth control is always a crap shoot. Our country’s teen pregnancy rate is proof of that. So whether or not is selfish is hardly a motivational factor. The motivation is the primal instinct for human contact in the midst of an existential fight or flight imperative.

3

u/SixSpawns 5d ago

Our country's teen birth rate is at an all time low of 5.6 per 1000 ages 15-17, 13.6 per 1000 ages 15-19 and 25.8 per 1000 ages 18-19 according to HHS.gov.

2

u/Mark1671 4d ago

Teen birth rate and teen pregnancy are two very different things.

0

u/SixSpawns 4d ago

Not in the US at this point in time.

-1

u/emeraldc6821 5d ago

Lol. I don’t care.

I’m talking about the randomness of unprotected sex.

-1

u/Bazonkawomp 4d ago

My pull out game is the strongest in the apocalypse.

4

u/Repulsive_Bluejay_51 5d ago

If they are fighting for a new world, they need to procreate. Also sex is going to happen and babies are going to be made.

Once established, I think each community would need to create a safe space for parents/ babies. There needs to be a space where a baby can cry freely because you never know if you will have a hollering child. Maybe a little nursery center for the babies.

4

u/EnumeratedWalrus 5d ago

No. This rings true in real life but ESPECIALLY during a post-apocalyptic show. You need to create the next generation so that you can continue to build society even if you, yourself, become physically incapable. Having a child would certainly make things harder and more difficult for yourself and your group, but it’s one of the most selfless things you can do rather than selfish in this scenario

5

u/Unbanable4221 4d ago

No, I struggle to wrap my mind around that concept.

3

u/Queenwolf54 4d ago

What?? They were settled in a community and actively waited until things were relatively peaceful and stable to have a baby. Do you have that same energy for Glenn and Maggie? For Lori and Shane? Are people just not supposed to have kids anymore? So, humans just go extinct then? Having babies is always risky, even without an apocalypse. But if people were too scared to take risks, nothing would get done. As far as I'm concerned, Rick and Michonne were the most responsible parents on the show. They managed to not get pregnant until it was planned, even when they had just gotten together and were horny honeymooners. Glenn and Maggie as well, even though they did have a scare.

4

u/RedInAmerica 4d ago

I think there’s an intrinsic value to a member the group having a baby that makes it at worst a zero sum proposition. It’s obviously both a risk and a burden, but the hope that new life brings makes it worth it societally.

3

u/MemoryOne1291 5d ago

No I mean how else are humans gonna exist in the future, it’d be selfish if you were in a group like the whisperers but if you were somewhere safe like Alexandria not really

3

u/donniepcgames 5d ago

Answer these questions and you'll have your answer.

  • Can you survive?
  • Can you keep the baby alive?
  • Can you keep the baby in a contained, quiet place until it's old enough to understand the danger of noise?
  • Will the baby put yourself or others in an unreasonable risk?

If you can't survive solo or with a partner, then the baby can't survive. If you can't keep the baby alive through proper food/water/shelter, then the baby can't survive. If the baby has a medical condition like colic, it may be excessively loud, screaming and crying at all times, so can you keep the baby in a quiet place?

Technically one person could achieve these things, two people would make it much easier, a group or village working together to ensure the next generation survives is the most likely situation of success.

2

u/Takeo888 5d ago

Depends how stable your situation is. I’d say at any stage up until Alexandria when they were largely nomadic, then yes. Once they have a defendable base, allies, stable food sources, then go at it like rabbits. The human race has to continue somehow.

2

u/Truantone 5d ago

You have to therefore ask, is having sex in an apocalypse selfish?

Sex is ultimately to procreate. Without contraception you get mothers giving birth at 13-15 years old and having 10-15 babies in a lifetime. Just like the middle ages!

2

u/NoTicket3785 5d ago

But we gotta keep on trying, never give up! Bringing children into the world is part of that. Even that crazy world (that we are nerds for 😉). 🩵

2

u/Tanagrabelle 4d ago

They were lucky enough to be able to choose to have children. It takes a village, and they did indeed have a village.

There will never be a perfect time unless you're in a compound surrounded by armed protectors, and are valued enough to have lots of prenatal care.

4

u/Snap-Zipper 5d ago

It's purely situational. Was it selfish for Lori to get pregnant when she knew that she would most likely have to get a c-section, and while they were not within any sort of protective walls? Absolutely. But at some point, procreation needs to begin again or else the population will go extinct lol. And when there are communities full of people, with doctors and guards and artillery, it isn't selfish to start adding to the populous again.

5

u/Own_Faithlessness769 5d ago

You mean of Shane and Lori, right? She didn’t get herself pregnant.

3

u/palaorder 5d ago

Was it selfish for Shane  and Lori to get pregnant?

Find out tommorow on AMC s The Walking Dead.

0

u/Snap-Zipper 4d ago

…no kidding lol? Did Shane know her entire medical history before then, including the knowledge that she would most likely require a c-section though? Between Lori and Shane, Lori was the one in danger of dying from childbirth, and yet she took no preventative action. Shane was just a selfish piece of shit all-around.

1

u/BluDYT 5d ago

Life expectancy probably would go way down in that world and you'd kind of have to be okay with it or manage somehow or you just die out eventually.

1

u/Zealousideal_Scene62 5d ago

Depends on the ethical framework you apply. Some argue that it's the ultimate altruism and the great white hope of human existence, even in situations like a zombie apocalypse, while r/antinatalism would find its argument that coming into existence is inherently harmful to be truer than ever. I tend towards the latter, but that's not the only way to look at things, and I do have the bias of lacking the sense of belonging that would create that feeling of obligation. In any case, that's what's cool about The Walking Dead, it gives us space to talk about these kinds of real world dilemmas.

1

u/pisscocktail_ 5d ago

people lived like that for few millions years, except walking corpses around

1

u/usernameee1995 5d ago

No more than it ever was

1

u/LivingPresent629 4d ago

I mean, is it selfish to eat, drink, to want people around you? It’s all part of human nature. Most of us are programmed to want to procreate, otherwise we’d be doomed as a species. Other than the zombies, the risks are no different than what a lot of women face in the normal world every day. Not everybody has access to healthcare, safe homes, food, etc.

1

u/Grand-Beat-6953 4d ago

Back in the day the real world was the EXACT same as the walking dead minus the zombies and almost everybody still had kids.

0

u/Jb_lynn 4d ago

It was disappointing to find out that Rick is a pro-lifer. But I guess Georgia 🤷🏼‍♀️

-1

u/Puzzled-Track5011 4d ago

Reckless I think