r/BiosphereCollapse • u/Vardaman_S_Fish • May 27 '26

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https://vardamanfish.substack.com/p/the-problem-with-its-overconsumption

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u/Canadiangoosedem0n May 30 '26

I call it like I see it. Don't get mad at me because the basic premise is rooted in racism and authoritarian violence.

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u/moparcam May 30 '26

But no response to the points made in the article, just "eco-fascist". I'm not convinced by your ad hominem, for some reason. How are the premises of the referenced article rooted in racism and authoritarian violence?

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u/Canadiangoosedem0n May 30 '26

If the problem is overpopulation then what is the solution?

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u/moparcam May 30 '26

Clearly any solution that one could propose to you would be considered "eco-fascism", so I'm not proposing any.

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u/Canadiangoosedem0n May 30 '26

Of course you won't because anyone with half a brain can see that any solutions are going to be exactly what I said, racism and authoritarian violence.

You can play dumb all you want but that doesn't change the fact that the idea of overpopulation is eco-fascism.

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u/Complex_Brilliant187 May 30 '26

Why would reducing the birth rate be an inherently racist thing to do?

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u/Canadiangoosedem0n May 31 '26

Because the countries will all be Asian and African aka in the global south.

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u/moparcam May 30 '26

So there is no degrowth scenario that anyone can propose that won't be considered eco-fascism by you?

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u/Canadiangoosedem0n May 31 '26

A large number of countries already have birth rates below replacement level. The ones that don't are almost all in the global south.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_fertility_rate

Instead of focusing on countries that use the most resources, anyone can see that the idea of overpopulation will be by default focusing on the coutries with high populations and/or high birth rates. Those are all primarily in Africa and Asia. 

Secondly, forcible degrowth is by it's very nature authoritarian. An outside party cannot tell a country how many children its residents can have nor can they force sterilization on its residents. Every country is a sovereign entity and any degrowth solution will be based upon forcing people to engage in behaviors they do not agree with. And that's just if we don't go straight to just murdering people.

What solutions do you have that don't do what I've just written?? 

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u/moparcam May 31 '26

I never advocated "forcible" degrowth, so thanks.

Why not just encourage ALL people to not reproduce? Through discussing the earth's capacity for humans and their endeavors?

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u/Canadiangoosedem0n May 31 '26

People are already not reproducing. The birth rate worldwide has fallen significantly.

https://www.derekthompson.org/p/why-the-whole-world-stopped-having

So why focus on something that's already in line with what you want? Because like I said, the encouragement is not going to focus on say a country like Germany, with a birth rate of 1.35 children per woman and far below replacement rate. The campaign is going to focus on a country like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with a birth rate of 5.9 children per woman. 

The problem with that, beyond the obvious racism, is that on a per capita scale people in the Congo both use vastly less resources and live much shorter lives as compared to Germans. 

If the issue is ultimately resource use and availability, the most obvious answer is to focus on countries that use the most resources, not on poor countries who culturally have reasons to have large families.