This article was first published at familyinamerica.org on January 10, 2012.
Unnatural Selection:Choosing Boys over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men
Mara Hvistendahl
Public Affairs, 2011; 314 pages, $26.99
This brave and timely book has many strengths and one glaring, but understandable, weakness. The strength of this book is the reporting. Mara Hvistendahl, a liberal, pro-choice feminist, painstakingly documents the catastrophic consequences of the worldwide “choice” for male babies: gender imbalance leading to prostitution, sex slavery, and male frustration and aggression. The weakness of this book is the political analysis. She doesn’t understand how deeply Roe v. Wade changed American political culture, particularly within the conservative movement broadly conceived. But both these strengths and weaknesses work together to yield an honest and courageous book that should be read by anyone who considers himself (or herself) well informed. Read more…
Our lesson today comes from the Gospel according to Luke. No, no, not the manger, the shepherds, the wise men, any of that stuff, but the other birth: “But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.” Read more…
Former Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson says ‘we were not allowed to talk about it’
WND
A stunning Planned Parenthood document that includes radical ideas such as compulsory abortion and sterilization; special “permits” to have children; penalizing parents; and encouraging homosexuality dovetails with some Obamacare mandates, according to a former Planned Parenthood director. Read more…
A few weeks ago Marcus commented on Russia’s enthusiasm for the coming of what is believed to be the belt of the Virgin Mary. Normally situated at the Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos in Greece, the relic made of camel wool is believed to have the power to boost fertility. The National Post reports yesterday that the Russian people really have come out in force! Braving cold and snow, Moscow residents were willing to stand in a 5km line just to touch the belt: Read more…
Think overpopulation, poverty, climate change, and abortion can all be solved by more birth control? Think again.
Who knew that the intractable global problems of “overpopulation,” poverty, carbon emissions, climate change, deforestation, civil wars, unplanned pregnancies, and abortions could all be solved by the simple expedient of more birth control? Nicholas Kristof, for one. Read more…
The world’s population recently passed the 7 billion mark, and, of course, the news was greeted with hysteria and consternation in the media. “It’s not hard to be alarmed,” intoned National Geographic. “We should all be afraid, very afraid,” warned the Guardian. Read more…
It is mainly religious people who raise children, and more women in America are religious.
First, the context: Modern political science — which readily understands imperialism, resistance, and clash of competing interests — does not similarly understand “the wasting away of nations.” That, says David Goldman, author of How Civilizations Die: (and why Islam is dying too), is because political scientists tend to assume that people will follow their rational self-interest. In fact, they often don’t. Read more…
Demographic denialists are ignoring the perils of an ageing population.
Like many others, the US-based Center for Biological Diversity was aghast at the arrival of the 7 billionth person today. “Overpopulation and overconsumption are the root causes of environmental destruction. They’re driving species extinct, destroying wildlife habitat, and undermining the basic needs of all life at an unprecedented rate. It has to stop.” Read more…
One of the common concerns that is about our expanding world population : is that our planet will not be able to feed this growing population. (As an aside, here is an interesting and visually appealing video on the continuing rise in the world’s population despite the slowing growth rate): Read more…
Have you read the latest on the Greek bailout? Last I heard people who were lucky enough to have government jobs are on strike because they are about to lose them, thanks to austerity measures being forced on the country by the EU and the IMF. Read more…
A couple of related pieces today that both underline a theme that has been commonplace at Demography is Destiny over the past few months. If you have to ask what that theme is then you obviously have not been reading with the necessary assiduity and I am not going to help you. Read more…
Over the years, I have been asked many times to estimate how many lives have been lost in China as a result of the one-child policy. Given that the policy has been in place for 30 years, I respond, and given that each year the government aborts between 10 to 15 million women, the total number of unborn children whose lives have been sacrificed is somewhere between 300 and 450 million. It is impossible to be more precise, I add, because of the Chinese Communist party’s penchant for secrecy about such sensitive matters. Read more…
I’m sure that you, dear reader, are far too mature and sensible to ever watch the satirical (and far too crass) cartoon programme, South Park. I was not always as sensible and mature as I am now, and so in my younger years I often enjoyed watching an episode or two. Two of South Park’s characters were a pair of redneck hunters called Jimbo and Ned who hosted a TV show called Hunting an’ Killing. The state of Colorado (where South Park is set) kept on passing more and more restrictive hunting laws to stop Jimbo and Ned killing the state’s fauna. In the end hunters are only allowed to cull wildlife if the species is overpopulated and overburdening the ecosystem. This leads the two hunters to go out into the wild to “thin out the numbers” of the local deer population. Once they have done this – with a flame thrower of course – Jimbo surveys the charred skeletons and proudly states that “we saved those deer from extinction.” Read more…
Bosnia and Herzegovina has another 650 years or so. Macau has about the same. Germany has just over 1500 years and Brazil another 3000 years. Until what? Until their populations disappear entirely! Read more…
Recently the UK newspaper, the Independent, has published an article about the Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan in India, where there is a statewide target to sterilise 1% of the population.
Of course the state officials cannot do so through coercion – that would be too much like eugenics! And last time that India tried forced sterilisation it proved to be “deeply controversial”: Read more…
We have discussed recently on this blog the effect of demography on a country’s economy and the potential link between fertility rates and the recession. Today I would like to draw your attention to an article from USAToday which suggests that the link runs both ways. Read more…
Low fertility threatens the world’s economic future, but a new report ignores the danger.
In 2004, the United Nations published demographic projections suggesting that the world in general, and the West in particular, was in real trouble: Persistently low fertility meant that the population of most industrialized nations would shrink in the coming decades. The U.N. report seemed to crystallize decades of increasingly gloomy predictions. Read more…
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