Well, my last few entries have been very lighthearted, talking about bathrooms and snow boots. In this post, I am going to talk about something that I have heard a lot abot, overpopulation.
The first time I'd really even thought about overpopulation was last weekend. I attended the Students for Life of America Conference in DC, and they had an interesting view. They stated that the Pro-Choice movement had invented the myth of overpopulation as a way to encourage mothers to have abortions. Now, having never heard that before, I was very skeptical.
Later, I was reading a book called America Alone, written by Mark Steyn. In it, he basically claims that Europeans need to have more kids, because Muslim nations are 'out-breeding' us. Unfortunately, Steyn never cites his sources, which always makes me a little skeptical.
Now, I do believe that some of his statistics are correct. While people used to have tons of kids, they are now waiting until later in life to do so, leading to fewer children. In doing so, there is going to be a lot more elderly people than younger people--which is a problem.
However, in going to Grove City, I have only seen the conservative part of this argument--and it is fair to say that "America Alone" is brainwashing me.
I don't know. What do you think?
Staying on Your Feet
18 years ago
Huh. I guess I'm skeptical as well. I find it hard to believe that girls/women who find themselves pregnant are saying "well, I had planed to take the baby to full term but now that I realize we have a population problem I've decided to have an abortion." Whether we do or do not have population issues, I'm having difficulty buying that this is the swaying argument in most cases.
ReplyDeleteI'm also skeptical of the second comment. Is he implying that mostly Christian nations have to breed their way into creating greater populations than muslim nations so we prevent what? we win what? I'm not sure if that's what he's implying but any way you slice it, I guess I don't get the argument? If you get it having read the whole book maybe you can tell me more?
As for the overall is or is not the world overpopulated I'd say it depends on what your criteria is. For one example, you could look at it from the point of view of food. There is a world food shortage right now. On the otherhand, if the general availability of food was spread evenly over the earth, there would be enough for everyone.
It's not so much Islamic countries that people worry about. The problem with being "out-bred" is that there are many nasty Islamic terrorist types who are doing the breeding for us. Not just here in Canada, but especially in Europe where they number around 20% already. Once they get to 30 or 40 percent they will demand Sharia Law, roll back homosexual rights and so on. Good Bye Western Democracy, Hello Islamic Republic.
ReplyDeleteLiberty is what it's all about. Sharia law is oppressive. And the nanny state (European socialism) which Steyn talks about has also diminished human liberty, to the extent that it's fed into the reluctance of Europeans to work, live, love, create, and procreate.
ReplyDeleteBe sure to read the whole book. It's an eye-opener.
Even if he cited sources, why would you trust them rather than the sources cited by his opponents? Dueling experts. Instead look at the core values that you know are true and see which experts agree with you on those, and preliminarily/tentatively trust them in the areas of their expertise until/unless you become an expert in said areas.
ReplyDeleteE.g., I know with a deep and absolute certainty that I am not the accidental byproduct of a cosmic burp some umpty-billion years ago, but am rather specially created for a purpose, as is every other human being. In the field of geopolitics, it seems apparent to me that those experts who think we are here by accident tend to think the world is overpopulated. Those experts who acknowledge we are specially created for a purpose tend to think the earth is not overpopulated, though there may be problems of resources being taken from those who need them by oppressive govts, mostly Muslim, which creates poverty and famine.
Doc
Molly, congratulations on your growing awareness of the problem of overpopulation. Allow me to give you a better idea of the scope of the problem. Today, the world is adding approximately a quarter of a million people every single day. That's about 100 million people per year, or the equivalent of another United States every three years.
ReplyDeleteThe United States itself adds more than three million people per year (approximately half of this through legal and illegal immigration), enough to fill a city the size of Chicago. The U.N. ranks the United States with eight other countries - India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Uganda, Ethiopia and China - as accounting for fully half of the world’s population growth by 2050, by which time the U.S. population is expected to have grown from 305 million today to 400-450 million, and the world population will grow from 6.7 billion to approximately 10 billion.
It is true that birth rates have fallen to very low levels in some places, like western Europe, where they maintain their populations with high rates of immigration, primarily from the Middle East.
World population growth is determined by only two factors - the birth rate and the death rate. Any thinking person would acknowledge that it is impossible for the population to grow indefinitely. So the population must stabilize at some point, either through a rising death rate, a falling birth rate, or some combination of the two. The only sensible position is to favor stabilizing the population at a lower level, through a reduced birth rate, as opposed to allowing conditions to deteriorate to the point where it is done for us through a higher death rate. Think about this: people who are opposed to reducing the birth rate are, by default, in favor of a higher death rate.
I see two major obstacles to achieving a stabilized population:
1. Economists. Since the seeming failure of Malthus' theory (google "Malthus" to learn more), economists have been steadfast in their refusal to ever again consider the subject of overpopulation. They now shrug it off by asserting that man is ingenious enough to overcome any obstacle to further population growth. In fact, they go further and claim that economic development is dependent on population growth and that it is impossible to have a healthy economy without it. Of course, all of that is utter nonsense.
2. The Catholic Church's opposition to contraception.
Most people are rightfully concerned about overpopulation's effects upon the environment and resources. My book, however, deals with an economic relationship between population density, per capita consumption, and rising unemployment and poverty that economists have yet to recognize. If you're interested in learning more, please visit either of my web sites at OpenWindowPublishingCo.com or PeteMurphy.wordpress.com.
Pete Murphy
Author, "Five Short Blasts"
I don't know that Steyn is worried so much about over population per se, but in a democracy, the majority rules. He is pointing out that in many european countries, democratically elected sharia law is a distict possibility in the near future.
ReplyDeleteIt is an interesting argument, and may not be hypothetical for much longer. America will be at an advantage in that it has an opportunity to see how this plays out in Europe.
My wife is Flemish and I have been visiting her home in Belgium on a regular basis since 1990. The Islaminization of Europe is very real. I had been watching it for years before I ever heard of Mark Steyn. Steyn put into text the thoughts that had been rattling around in my brain for a long time.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Islam is not the problem. The West is killing itself with its affinity for such things as socialism, multiculturalism, secularism, and moral relativism. That is what leads to the very low birthrates all across Europe. Islam will inherit large sections of the Western World by default.