Population control is controversial? and why I'm not a Nazi.

"There will soon be seven billion people on the planet. By 2045 global population is projected to reach nine billion. Can the planet take the strain?"  ~National Geographic magazine

I had one of the most bizarre conversations turned debate I think I’ve ever had yesterday. While hiking with a fellow hiker we got onto the conversation of animals in the wild, bears, cougars, etc. She knew a lot about these creatures and pontificated at length about them. I sensed she enjoyed showing off her knowledge, and I encouraged her with questions, and comments like “that’s really interesting” and “I didn’t know that!”


That conversation ran its course and I offered my belief: how unfortunate it is that animals’ numbers are decreasing while the human population is encroaching into their habitat. She immediately took issue with me and insisted, fairly vociferously, that there is no evidence at all that animals are decreasing in number due to anything people are doing. That information is merely propaganda by people who make money scaring people, including, she said angrily, Al Gore. One comment led to another and she disavowed not only climate change, but pollution and waste being a problem, and said it was completely narcissistic of anybody (i.e., me) to believe that humans could affect the planet in any significant way.


I realized pretty quickly not only was this woman’s thinking very different than my own -- fair enough – but also that she lacked any sense of humor whatsoever, not to mention consideration, which made the discussion rather tedious rather quickly. She was also insulting of my intelligence, opinions, discernment, and beliefs, but I said nothing about that.


I challenged her with several examples and information I’ve gleaned over the years, but she would not budge from her position that people are doing no harm to our little blue planet and there is nothing we need to change.


When I told her I believed population was the underpinning issue threatening the future of humans, animals, and the planet and that people should be encouraged to have fewer children, the shit hit the fan. She likened me to a Nazi.  "Theories of population control are what war criminals used to justify their elimination of certain people."

I turned to her, half annoyed and half enjoying this. “Seriously??” I said. “You’re seriously calling me a Nazi because I believe people should have fewer kids?!” I asked louder than I needed to.


“No, I didn’t say that.”


“You compared me to war criminals who exterminate people. That would make me a Nazi.”


“I didn’t say that.”


“But you likened me to a war criminal, right?”


“Yes...  People who want to eliminate other people are less than human."


How she made that leap in logic was beyond me, but the conversation had ceased being interesting or fun five or ten minutes earlier, so I merely slowed my pace and walked in silence while she tried two or three more times to engage me and convince me of the rightness of her argument.  After having been insulted, silence was the most gentle way I could find to be polite. She then began muttering to herself, carrying on an angry and animated conversation with no one in particular for another couple of minutes. 


Apparently, the topic of the exploding population and how it affects the earth’s resources is a controversial topic, but that’s no reason to avoid it. Important issues are often uncomfortable, fraught with complexities and differing opinions, but often the most important issues we need to talk about and address are uncomfortable. In a few short years, our numbers will be beyond sustainability. When do we begin to acknowledge that and try to do something about it?


What I would do if I were in charge is offer financial incentives for families to have fewer kids and financial penalties for parents who have large families, and the choice would remain theirs.  I would make birth control free and health care and education accessible to everyone.  I'm not afraid of slippery-slope arguments, which are often an excuse to do nothing at all.

Do you think population numbers are a problem? If so, what would you do if you could do anything?  If you don't believe it's a problem, can you explain why not?

Friendship

Friendship is not what we offer when the sun is shining, the money is flowing, health is vibrant, and life is good. Those times shared are merely sharing the good times. Real friendship shows itself when your friend needs counsel, is in trouble, needs some advice, needs a shoulder to lean on or maybe to cry on. Our friendship is most crucial during those times. Everything else is just convenience and proximity.

The lack of friendship, the prevalence of fair-weatheredness, is what disappoints me most about Anthony Weiner’s scandal. It’s as if Dems haven’t learned how to be real friends. Oh, not everybody, but far too many.  We are our brothers' and sisters' keepers and we're our reality checks and that requires our courage in honesty.  And it's sometimes inconvenient or uncomfortable.

Too many people we all know, also, don’t know what to say during a difficult moment so they say nothing at all. If I don’t know what to say when my friend needs my ear or some comfort, I will say just that. But I will try to be there with them during the difficult moments because sometimes all we need is to know someone is there and they care. That’s powerful and sometimes that's enough. 

It's good not to be a supernova

"It’s hard to find fault with eagerness. It seems like such a good thing – people motivated and eager to work, take on a project, change their lives, change the world.

"But not too far down the road, eagerness shows its ugly side. People become so committed to their cause or work that they become missionaries. They want everyone to work on this particular issue, or do this diet, or follow this plan that will change your life.

"People also can let their commitment to being of service grow into exaggerated heroism. They’re willing to take on any problem you give them. They keep looking for the next great cause. They seem unstoppable in their motivation and energy. “Bring it on!” is their life slogan.

"Such people are like supernovas – great clouds of fiery, burning gasses that appear powerful and beautiful but are actually already dead. They’ve exhausted their energy, blown themselves up, and what we’re observing in the night sky is just their gaseous remains.

"Eagerness is a good start, but its propensity for unfettered growth requires vigilance. Like a parasite, it tends to kill off its host.

"It’s not a bad thing when our eagerness fades and we find ourselves just doing the work, bored at times, motivated at others, working day by day on little tasks, hoping that some of what we’re doing is useful, but not really sure.

"It’s good not to be a supernova."   ~Margaret J. Wheatley “Perserverence”

Sophie Anderson's "Take the Fair Face of Woman..."

"Take the Fair Face of Woman, and Gently Suspending, With Butterflies, Flowers, and Jewels Attending, Thus Your Fairy is Made of Beautiful Things"  Sophie Anderson

This is politics in 2011?

I'm kind of pissed right now. The press is at this moment breathlessly awaiting Anthony Weiner's press conference for his resignation and they're talking solmenly about what a tragedy this is, the fall and failure of a bright, promising political figure, and they're the ones who caused the fall. Not the old "it's the media" meme, but if they didn't contribute to the end of his career and his representation of his neighbors duly elected by them, then they fed and watered the beast of rampant puritanicalism (new word?) that is so prevalent in our country.

And feed us pablum and we buy it and eat it up.

I have never seen a better congressional speech than several of Rep. Weiner's rantings except for Ted Kennedy's, of which there are many, but yet and still, we have to get rid of Rep. Weiner because of sex, and John Edwards because of sex, and nearly Clinton because of sex.

And I mean, it's NOT like we haven't suffered from a dearth of wise and honest leaders and representatives of our country for the past ten years or anything like that!!! It's perfectly fine to cast aside the smart, brilliant, commited ones because they engage in personal sexual shenanigans.

Sometimes I hate this country...  Sometimes I despair for it.  Sometimes I love it, but mostly it's discouraging how our politics run.  I do find encouragement in knowing the brilliant and vivacious Rachel Maddow agrees with me.  Quite a point of pride.