Although Ehrlich opposed poverty, he never promoted the redistribution of wealth. For him, humans are best described in terms of numbers, like butterflies and other insects. His remedies for overpopulation were draconian: high taxes on diapers, mass sterilization, and the addition of disinfectants to food exported abroad. In 1969, Stewart Brand, one of Ehrlich’s Stanford defenders, told an interviewer at an overpopulation rally, “We want to see people have fewer children – and better kids. .”
Better ones.
In 1971, Garrett Hardin, who had a PhD at Stanford in microbiology, went further. In one The New York Times piece of opinionHardin argues bluntly about stripping women of the “reproductive rights” of women. The Southern Poverty Law Center now calls Hardin’s writings “outspoken in racism and quasi-fascist nationalism.”
MUSK GRABBED the mic panics population circa 2020. He sounds contrasting, even pope. Although elsewhere he has expressed indifference to infant care – and has been rejected by one of his 10 children – he has been quoted in The New York Times like saying”babies are super cold. Furthermore, by choosing a large parent chicken, he told Magazine audience, “I’m trying to set a good example.”
Musk also announced, on Lex Fridman Podcast, that “sex without procreation … is a rather silly act.” Some Catholic traditionalists pounce, claiming that Musk is done Humanae Vitae. Meanwhile, the modern NoFap group, who refrain from masturbating in an attempt to turn their love affair into the worse, also proclaimed Musk as a brother.
Others on the right are similarly panicking about birth rates. J.D. Vance, the Ohio-based venture capitalist, told Tucker Carlson last year that “kitten ladies” run America. To promote pregnancy in such women, Vance – his logic is unstable – has proposed a “complete ban” on pornography. “If we want a healthy ruling class in this country… we should be more supportive of people who actually have children,” he said.
Population concerns also affected Carlson. For years, he preoccupied with nameless ghouls who were disappearing whites to replace them with “new people, more docile voters from the Third Period”. The perpetrators were white women of his social class for not being productive enough. In July, Carlson told journalist Ben Smith that he was “not angry at Black people” because he devoted that energy to “a 38-year-old white female lawyer with a very difficult personal life.” “I hate you!” he shouted happily.
Vance and Carlson are deep in the extreme pool, but Musk may never fully enjoy conservatism. After all, his idea of cool kids goes beyond white kids. In a speech to the Republican Party’s fat cats in August, Musk faulted the party for its anti-immigrant stance and called for the GOP to show more compassion.
This is not as sweet as it seems. For Musk, immigrants are just a larger group of workers; he welcomes anyone who will do the grumbling long hours and low paid fabrication work. If the birth rate spikes, but new people, instead of working for him, depend on government programs, Musk – a notorious tax evader – could change his mind.
Every population ideology ultimately leans towards crime. The underpopulation opponents, just like the overpopulation opponents, enact their thunderous edicts simply to mask a terrible program of eugenics. Ehrlich wanted fewer poor people; Vance and Carlson wanted more whites of the ruling class; Musk wants more professional workers. None of them want real warm-blooded people, the weirdos we learn from, collaborate with, even fall in love with. I cannot emphasize this enough. Interest in butterflies or bots does not mean interest in humans. Mark my words.
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This article appeared in the November 2022 issue. Follow now.
