Post B1NolUJunJCLHUpiWe by angusm@mastodon.social
(DIR) More posts by angusm@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #B1NGVHpQ4ey9SnfjRw by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-12-18T13:28:20Z
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@datarama > The term "Ceauşescu-children" is still sometimes used in the meaning "systemically, extremely mistreated kids"Romanian orphanages has a similar resonance in Aotearoa, at least among people old enough to remember the Cold War.@alextecplayz @cstross
(DIR) Post #B1NH6VwIZZqRwUdobQ by cstross@wandering.shop
2025-12-18T11:11:44Z
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China to hike tax on condoms in attempt to boost falling birth rate https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/18/china-to-raise-tax-condoms-boost-birth-rateThat's not going to work. Instead, it'll boost the abortion rate and cause a spike in the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases.(Attempts to force women into pregnancy by withholding contraception tend to fail horrifically—see also Romania in the 1970s and 1980s following Decree 770.)
(DIR) Post #B1NH6XJjRwBSDSc2lc by alextecplayz@techhub.social
2025-12-18T11:30:38Z
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@cstross Worse, because of our Ceaușist measures against abortion, it didn't just increase the birth rate, but it seriously increased the amount of unwanted children, and just a few years after Decree 770 was passed, Ceaușescu pulled back funding from everything in order to pay Romania's foreign debt.One of our independent news publications, Recorder, released a video about this back in September: https://youtube.com/watch?v=S2G790FEsXk (age-restricted), which showed the conditions in 'handicapped' children asylums / orphanages as they were called back then. Disabled kids were categorized in either 'small', 'medium', or 'total' handicap level. 'total handicap' kids were basically deemed irrecuperable and unproductive.Some of these orphanages were severely understaffed and underfunded, kids would share slices of bread between them, they would huddle in their unlit, grimy and filthy dormitories naked (as they didn't have the funds to get them all clothed), covered in dirt, their own urine and feces...
(DIR) Post #B1NH6YHHsVp3CATbay by alextecplayz@techhub.social
2025-12-18T11:37:51Z
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@cstross They were beaten (as corporal punishment was the norm during the communist regime), the kids starved to death, I would consider this as a crime against humanity, and if Ceaușescus had a fair trial, I'm more than sure the kids' conditions and deaths would have been added to their tally.And I'm not even covering the lack of teachers back then, teachers had to shorten their classes in order to accommodate the sheer amount of students in their classes, and the economic toll that Ceaușescu's debt repayment plan took on parents that then had to ultimately send their kids to orphanages because they couldn't afford everything they needed.Hopefully they are prepared to accommodate the rise by ensuring there are enough school staff, enough hospital staff, and ensuring that parents can afford having one or more children under these new measures 🙁
(DIR) Post #B1NH6ZHK9rRiIZV9I8 by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-12-18T13:35:01Z
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@alextecplayz > Hopefully they are prepared to accommodate the riseIf there's one thing the CCP is good at, it's long term infrastructure and public service planning.But @cstross is right, restricting access to birth control will not work. After generations of One Child Policy, the culture and built environment are optimised for one child families. One example, having a second child makes suitable housing difficult to find.Reference: lived in China for 2 years. Picked up a few things.
(DIR) Post #B1NolUJunJCLHUpiWe by angusm@mastodon.social
2025-12-18T12:36:38Z
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@cstross “Gee, condoms are a bit pricey these days, I guess I better just start a family,” thought no one ever.
(DIR) Post #B1O1QyILS8d7ZKe7Ki by Nimbius666@comp.lain.la
2025-12-18T22:14:10.963255Z
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@cstross the cccp did this too...a tax on single men. Never worked either. Looks like the US has the absolute worst system for promoting children though