How long have people been imbeciles?

I read an article yesterday explaining that since the recession, the birth rate in the United States has decreased overall, but it has increased in women over 40. Of course, being over 40 I was interested. I read the article - Fine, fine, great, great - and then I did a stupid thing and read people's comments to the article. With the supreme confidence of the ignorantly stupid, about half the posters expressed their opinions. Let me give you a few of them. This is from the article, In a down economy, older moms' births still up in US.

"They probably figure they're going to need SOMBODY to support them when the reach their 70's and 80's"

"We need to stop population growth before it is too late. Two children is enough. Nobody should be allowed to have more than two kids."

"Jesus H! Be older! If your @#$% was dried up, then it was meant to be! Stop having babies when you are as old as the day is long. STOP HAVING KIDS!"

Here's a moving argument from a young lady who's obviously on the road to a PhD: "older parents are alirght, but think about this, would you like your parents to be like 50 or 60 wen u r in ur teens? i know by experience, they are too overprotective, don't let you have fun and well u r better off having kids between 20 and 30, do you want to walk your daughter down the aisle? Well dont have kids at an age over 35, honestly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Oh, and here's a real gem: "old tramps try keeping your knees togeeher"

"It is extremely risky for women to be having children so late. Not only will in most cases the mother be in her 60s when her children graduate from high school, the risks for down syndrome is higher as well as other deformities and disabilities, and I'm sorry but if you cannot conceive naturally, adopt, the world has far too many people for a selfish person to go and have IVF and other fertility treatments."

"The sad thing is that women having children in their 40s will likely begin dying just about the time their children are getting married."

"I would not want babies at an old age of 40's...VERY risky, and c'mon, you not only do you look like a possible grandma, you also are SO much more tired than a woman in 20's or early to mid 30's."

"Kids in your 40's!?!? That is sick and sad! You should live to see your children graduate high school. In fact, you should live to see your grandchildren graduate high school."

"The real reason for the extra babies, is that 30% of the population is unemployed, there's nothing else to do."

"What a sad thing, a 40 year gap in a generation. I would not want to be 80 when my daughters are 40, dead when they are 50. Children are not experiments, or the "new hobby", or little pets to be coveted and shown off. A woman who purposefully gets pregnant with that kind of gap is lacking something emotionally. It is extremely unfair to the person she is bringing into the world."

I'd go on, but I'm getting disgusted.

I love the ones that are assigning me to my coffin by the time I'm 58. You know, at 40, there's no possible way I could live to see my children graduate high school or college let alone to see them married and have children of their own. And if I do, I'll most certainly be a decrepit, old crone barely able to put one foot in front of another. I must be truly selfish to have a child at 40. The decision to do so is obviously all about me. Oh, yes, me, me, me.

I'm glad to know all this now. I had planned to take care of myself and live well into my 100s, happy, healthy, and quite active. Well, now that I know that I'm destined to die before I'm 60, I won't bother. Think of the time I'd have wasted trying to keep myself healthy.

There are other comments as well from people who speak up for the older mothers and really do make some well thought out arguments. The others, however . . . words fail me. That's probably for the better.