Why so Many People on Earth? The Ideology of Natalism
A few years ago I was invited at a reunion of citizens concerned about social issues. When I was there, I was startled to discover that only concern of the group was the evils of abortion. It was a fascinating experience: one of the persons speaking reported a calculation of how many “babies” had been killed by abortions over the past 15 years and concluded with “do you realize that, were it not for abortions, we could have today one million more people in Italy?” (I may remember the numbers incorrectly). But don’t make me say that they were bad people, not at all. It is just that if you start – as they did – from the assumption that the more people there are, the better the world is, then the consequence is that you want as many children born as possible: it is the position called “natalism.” I wonder how the people I met at that reunion would judge the kind of discussion that we are normally having at the “Cassandra’s Legacy” blog.
In the following post, Natan Feltrin and Eleonora Vecchi examine natalism as an ideology. About the proposition, “the more we are, the better it is,” see also my post titled “If Switzerland had a Sahara Desert, it Would be a Small Africa” (U.B.)
Brief manifest of ethical-political anti-natalism
Guest post by Natan Feltrin & Eleonora Vecchi
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to point out the problematic relationship between demographic trends and the ideology called “natalism”. With a point by point analysis, the authors highlight how, worldwide, there has always been a biopolitical approach to control the human biomass.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
