
There are over six and a half billion human beings on earth, with Americans, at last count, being the most conspicuous and voracious consumers of natural resources. Every American uses the equivalent resources of between ten and twenty third worlders. So eight new Americans is the equivalent of between eighty and one hundred and sixty humans, slowly but inexorably gnawing the world to pieces. Think that analogy is tenuous at best? Then you simply haven't been paying attention to the facts. the human population is grossly overburdening the planet. We live like we do today, Americans in particular, by mortgaging out future: our habits are completely unsustainable. Global warming, species extinction, mass starvation, water shortages, genocide; all spring from the bottom line problem that there are too many of us. The conflict in Darfur? Too many people, not enough water or land. The 'war' in Gaza? Too many people, not enough land (or compassion). The ridiculous pollution levels of China? Too many people, not enough readily available clean energy or transportation. The baseline problems are all unified by this one ineluctable truth, that there are too many Homo sapiens living on earth, and the situation is growing exponentially worse. Of course, scientists and theorists who identify this issue and try to approach it constructively are treated like the fat kids at the dance...no one wants any part of that mess.
The western world seemed to give a collective shudder years ago when China implemented its one child policy; it was almost anathema to our democratic, Judeo-christian sensibilities. I never thought I'd hear myself saying this, but China was absolutely right. If people the world over limited themselves to one offspring, our population would be in remission in a few generations. Even two children per couple is a zero sum game, two producing two. I'm not saying that the urge to keep breeding isn't a biological imperative, but shouldn't we start counting ourselves as more than the sum of our instincts? The post industrial world in particular has no need of large families anymore, parents don't require a steady stream of cheap farm labor like they did once upon a time.
And children aren't a consequence any longer, either. With the advent of modern contraception, people can have their cake, and have sex with it too. So we have a ready made solution available for over population, should we accept it. Which, of course, we don't. Even here in America, Obama just rescinded a part of his stimulus package that funded the distribution of contraceptives to low income individuals, because of conservative objections(boy, those republicans must really love having more wellfare kids running around, huh?). But Sub-Saharan Africa is really the prime example of a region in dire, dire need of readily available birth control, both to stem the spread of AIDS, and limit the famine and conflict arising in areas of scant resources. More than anything else, education is required; people need to understand what's at stake, and people need to be more intelligent about their own reproduction rights. Of course there is the traditional enemy of intelligent thought to contend with: religion. But that's another can of worms for another day...
So you can begin to see why, when a family has eight children, at one go, in America no less, I shudder. This is not heroic, it's borderline criminal. The situation in clearly the result of fertility drugs; humans are not built to carry or birth eight young under ordinary circumstances. Now, ignoring for the moment the money spent by the researchers and the couple themselves, I'm not unsympathetic to the parental urge. But what about adoption? What about doing some good for some poor child? For that matter, what about the well being of the octuplets themselves? Though these kids all survived birth and are stable thus far, the odds were not with them. As I said, humans are not supposed to have eight children at a time, it's an unhealthy and unsafe prospect. Why are these not called to task for endangering their progeny? We frown upon mothers who smoke or drink during pregnancy, why not on those who 'try' to bring unsafe numbers of fetuses to term? It's an ugly question, on an ugly topic, but it's not going away any time soon.
I don't reserve all my vitriol for the octuplets, clearly; they aren't symptomatic of the greater issues of overpopulation, just a small tip of the iceberg. Talking about the issues of reproduction are touchy, and we have an innate, sentimental, and evolutionary attachment to the miracle of birth. But sometimes, we need to look at the bigger picture. And we need to make difficult choices. For my part, I've started with the issue of these octuplets, and I think I have a solution. I call it 'baby Thunderdome': eight tots, one playpen, one bottle of formula, one prison-grade shiv. Darwin handles the rest.
Hey Truelove I think you should market baby thunderdome to Mattel. It could be next holiday's hottest gift.
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Tom, Bravo for telling it like it is! We shall all pay for the octuplets. Glad my payment calendar will be shorter than yours. Ha Ha Jeannie
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