Shock! Horror! Arghhhh! Overpopulation!

This discredited shibboleth won't die.

Marcus Roberts | May 31 2017 | comment

One of the ideas that this blog is trying to combat is the doom-mongering of those preaching the overpopulation panic. Although it has died down a fair bit since Paul Ehrlich published "The Population Bomb" in the 1960s, and indeed even since we started writing on this blog over six years ago, there are still calls for population control measures by certain people. Including, apparently, Bill Nye, apparently a 1990s star of educational science videos for kids and new star of the bien pensant in 2017.

Now, I know nothing about Bill Nye as he wasn't part of my childhood growing up in New Zealand, but apparently he is concerned that there are too many "sponges" (his metaphor for people) being born, and that something needs to be done, particularly in the west. As this video demonstrates, there may be a problem with resource distribution in the world, but this is less concerning than it was even 20 years ago and fewer people are starving now despite the population also increasing. Furthermore, the idea that the state should start down the road of population engineering is an extremely dangerous one.

The one thing it doesn't note is that humans cannot and should nto be reduced to resource-consumers only. Not only is this reductionism morally problematic because it ignores the full dignity and human worth of each person (as well as each person's ability to decide on family size's without state coercion) it also ignores the ability of each person to be part of the solution to any problem facing humanity. That is, humans are not only consumers/polluters but are also inventors/scientists/thinkers/entrepeneurs/lovers/producers. Each person is not only part of the problem, but part of the solution too. Let's hope that the Nye's of the world don't get their views any closer to those in power...

“Now that you’re here … we’ve got a small favour to ask. More people are reading MercatorNet, but far fewer are donating. Unlike many online magazine, we haven’t put up a paywall and we don't have lots of obtrusive advertising. So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

MercatorNet’s independent, vibrant and informative articles take a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our views on human dignity matter – and because they might be your views as well.

If every fan of MercatorNet donated just $10, our future would be much more secure.

Donate Now

- See more at: https://www.mercatornet.com/demography/view/overpopulation-fear/19877#sthash.0rrTsLVR.dpuf

May 31, 2017

There is one fact about euthanasia which ought to be front and centre in debates, wherever they take place. Nearly everyone who requests it is not suffering from unbearable pain.

As one of the leading bioethicists in the United States, Ezekiel Emanuel, points out, existential angst is the main reason. “We should end the focus on the media frenzy about euthanasia and PAS [physician-assisted suicide] as if it were the panacea to improving end-of-life care,” he says. And Dr Emanuel, the brother of President Obama’s one-time chief-of-staff, is not in the pro-life camp.

This finding has been confirmed again and again. As Xavier Symons reports in today’s issue of MercatorNet, most of the victims of Canada’s new euthanasia legislation are affluent and educated and dread losing their autonomy.

If euthanasia is “needed” because people are lonely and dependent, surely the solution is solidarity and companionship, rather than a lethal injection.