🔗

Deathbulge gets a small royalty fee for panel two.

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.   
    They may not mean to, but they do.   
They fill you with the faults they had  
    And add some extra, just for you.  

But they were fucked up in their turn  
    By fools in old-style hats and coats,   
Who half the time were soppy-stern  
    And half at one another’s throats.  

Man hands on misery to man.  
    It deepens like a coastal shelf.  
Get out as early as you can,  
    And don’t have any kids yourself.  

Poem by Philip Larkin.

First time I read it so I looked it up.

I dislike this poem, not ALL people seem to be as fucked up by their parents. So the poem sort of functions as apologia (oh it's just a thing that happens).

But there are some people who are less fucked up by their parents! The more fucked up people tend to be the more alienated by them in the long run.

hurt people hurt people

It is ok to go no contact too. Don't internalise the ROT. Sicsadworld
Cut through the bullshit and then die
Keep on truckin

This is really just PC Principle from south park

You have to go to the source. This comic is much much longer.

Next panel:

Humanity all the way down, can we ever change?

I did not expect spontaneous Larkin on Lemmy!

I was thinking about exactly this after I posted.

not ALL people

When we read it this way it makes sense again imo.
At the very least, "get out as early as you can" can be a personal solution, not one applied to all humans.
Honestly I think that's how the author meant it, too. They were just generalizing.

Yes I think I copy-pasted from that exact page though for me it will always be recited by Anne Clark.