It’s not that simple. Most people respect each other before getting married. Their ugliness isn’t a reflection of their true character but the context of the situation. Most people are not inherently violent but when you back them into a corner they show their teeth. This doesn’t mean they are violent just like it doesn’t mean people are disrespectful. They become that in the context of their marriage when incentives and needs are misaligned.
Discussion
Hm. Maybe. I don't really know what is good for other people. I only know what's good for me. I was perfectly capable of figuring all of this out with a little work. So I don't see it as unfair, but other people can craft their own conclusions and solutions. I don't really care. I think there are much, much deeper causes of the problems you're talking about, like lack of rationality (assuming, jumping to conclusions in everything people think), generational immaturity and lack of accountability, statism, fiat, an overly strong need to fit in with a tribe, and the inherent difficulties in the game that, from the perspective of nature, must be part of the system for the human race to maintain a healthy degree of natural selection and not fall into extinction. Some of this is fine and some of it sucks. I don't know what sucks for other men so much as I know what sucks for me.
I get where you’re coming from but what worked for you has only worked for you so far. Things change and they often change fast. Assuming that what has worked for you will continue to work is like saying that things will continue to stay the same. But the person you are today is not the same as the person you were yesterday. This means that change is expected and that means incentives will also change. The respectful person that gets married today may not be the same respectful person in 10 years. That’s what me and OP are trying to argue.
Yes good point but the counter to that is that there are entire systems that align incentives in the opposite way, that's what I was trying to highlight.
What systems? 🤔
Idk like personal accountability and the many contracts you make, in writing or in speech, with your partner, and stuff. Something like that. It's not all guaranteed to fail just because of a few external perverse legal systems and shit.
I don’t have any interest in making any sort of contract with the state. A marriage contract requires the state to be the enforcer. Unless you’re talking about an unwritten contract between a man and his partner. That’s fine but not marriage in the traditional sense.
You’re right that it is not guaranteed to fail but the odds are a coin toss that your marriage will fail. And that doesn’t account for the number of marriages that are miserable but stay together for the kids or because divorce is expensive. I know a decent amount of people that have been separated for many years but still legally married. Even more that are trapped in a loveless marriage where cheating is likely happening or inevitably going to happen.
I guess I'm living in anarchy in my head. I'm talking about a voluntary contract of marriage with reasonable terms. That's a good point that usually people mean a state instrument. Gross. Yeah I don't know about that one. I rely on private contracts as much as I can for everything. But that's an issue with statism and everything that accompanies statism, much moreso than an issue with the concept of a legally binding marriage.