Is anyone else fed up with having to ‘parent’ complete stranger’s rude, obnoxious, and out-of-control kids? It seems I can’t go into any public place lately without dealing with ” honey, the LADY told you not to spill that all over the floor”; or, “sweetie, please stop screaming. The people in the store are getting upset”; or even better, “the LADY asked you to stop throwing things at her. You’re going to make her mad!” Arrrrrrgg!!! Well, there’s a movement for the rest of us.
“Q: What is the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement?
VHEMT (pronounced vehement) is a movement not an organization. It’s a movement advanced by people who care about life on planet Earth. We’re not just a bunch of misanthropes and anti-social, Malthusian misfits, taking morbid delight whenever disaster strikes humans. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Voluntary human extinction is the humanitarian alternative to human disasters. We don’t carry on about how the human race has shown itself to be a greedy, amoral parasite on the once-healthy face of this planet. That type of negativity offers no solution to the inexorable horrors which human activity is causing.
Rather, The Movement presents an encouraging alternative to the callous exploitation and wholesale destruction of Earth’s ecology. As VHEMT Volunteers know, the hopeful alternative to the extinction of millions of species of plants and animals is the voluntary extinction of one species: Homo sapiens… us. Each time another one of us decides to not add another one of us to the burgeoning billions already squatting on this ravaged planet, another ray of hope shines through the gloom. When every human chooses to stop breeding, Earth’s biosphere will be allowed to return to its former glory, and all remaining creatures will be free to live, die, evolve (if they believe in evolution), and will perhaps pass away, as so many of Nature’s “experiments” have done throughout the eons.
It’s going to take all of us going.”
(Thanks to Feast of Hate and Fear for providing the link!)
October 29, 2007 at 12:25 pm
“… Was Bill Hicks in that test audience??”
So are these guys active misanthropes (like, militant?) or is it more of an evangelical thing?
I’m intrigued…
October 29, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Actually, I found it to be a little bit of both. What I believe they are actually saying (after reading the Q&A’s) was that the world is overpopulated, and in order to restore balance to the Earth it’s time we took control of that and stop reproducing. They say that even people who have kids can join once they realize that the kid(s) they have is already enough. They point out that even with all the disease and wars killing people off, it’s not making much of a dent in the population explosion at all.
The “Why Breed” section is quite a hoot as well as the rest to the site. Had me laughing for quite awhile.
http://www.vhemt.org/biobreed.htm
October 29, 2007 at 9:09 pm
Baron is a Portland friend of many years. I got my vasectomy for myself, but I’m contributing to a certain percentage of my species dying out by default.
October 29, 2007 at 10:24 pm
Kudos to you Trevor! I do my part by using birth control and yelling mercilessly at irresponsible parents who allow their kids to run rampant in public places as if it’s the goddamn playground.
I was in a store when this screaming kid started tearing things off the shelf, and started throwing them all over the floor. A store clerk politely asked the kid’s mom to keep an eye on him, and to basically to control her son. Nope. Didn’t happen.
I got so fed up that I finally suggested, very calmly and politely to the mom, that maybe ” both of you should go out in the street and play”. Her jaw dropped open, she grabbed her son and ran out of the store in a huff. I got a small round of applause for that one, lol. 😉
October 30, 2007 at 11:28 am
The unfortunate paradox here is that the people ascribing to these views might be exactly the people who should be reproducing. In the long term, will this result in anything more than the disappearance of people that think this way?
October 30, 2007 at 11:38 pm
Excellent point, Bill. I would like to think, (coming from a family where our mom’s whole life was centered around her kids) that there will be more of us to come. With childless people becoming less of a social stigma, more people are opting to be satisfied in calling their art, writing, pets, and work, their ‘babies’. As the traditional family unit deteriorates, most of us have ‘extended’ families which serve as our support system.
As an ‘outsider’ who came from fairly traditional family background, I was lucky to have an aunt and uncle who chose not to have kids (way ahead of their time), and another uncle whose business is his ‘child’ (along with his girlfriend’s 2 adopted ones who call him papa). IMHO, as long as there are those of us out there who are doing well and thriving, we will never die out completely. I’d like to think our ideas and visions will be passed on to our nieces and nephews, and friend’s children, etc.
In closing, if you don’t have a living will, get one! I had one made in my 20’s and told my family about my wishes. The last thing you want to do is have Big Pharma sucking you & your family’s savings dry. A friend sent this to me a couple of weeks ago:
MY LIVING WILL
Last night, my friend and I were sitting in the living room and I said to her,
“I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle.
If that ever happens, just pull the plug.”
She got up, unplugged the TV and threw out my wine.
She’s such a bitch……..
November 2, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Isn’t that the problem? That people with brainpower are having less children, while idiots are breading more and more? Now, if we could get idiots to breed less.. hmm..
November 2, 2007 at 10:12 pm
G.V.- Agreed. The idiots breeding more IS a problem, although, as I stated in my previous posts, I doubt that those who think ‘outside the box’ will be less of an influence. As long as those of us are out there spreading our ideas and visions, and passing them on, (whether as relatives or mentors), the ideas will never die.
IMO, if we could just make having illegitimate kids(or unwanted legit kids) and parents unwilling to pay and care for them seem ‘uncool’ instead of a cultural ‘status symbol’ (or something ‘normal’ people do, lol), then that might solve half the problem. I too believe more solutions need to be looked at and applied. It’s too bad that this takes a back seat to our economy, government and environment, when it’s really deeply connected to it all.
November 3, 2007 at 12:29 am
Here’s something to think about in the ‘loss of smart parents’ debate. If that line of reasoning is correct, it’s been correct from the dawn of our species. We are the result of that trend. Therefore either (a) our ancestors were blindingly brilliant and we’re devolved from them or (b) smart comes and goes for other reasons or (c) perhaps some of both.
There is a literature of intelligence and genetics, and it is far better documented and far more verbotten than anything ‘occult’ you will ever see in your entire life.
November 3, 2007 at 1:29 pm
There are many levels to this debate. Genetics vrs. environment, devolution vrs. evolution, ‘dumbing down of America’, etc. ad infinitum. If we really get right down to it, it’s all of that plus a much bigger underlying factor.
Apathy, indifference and constant criticism are the biggest killers of human potential. Apathy is becoming a fast spreading virus in this country. IMO, part of the reason for irresponsible parenting, is that it’s an unconscious response from some people who feel completely disempowered and apathetic. Does this play a part with intelligence and genetics? Absolutely.
November 3, 2007 at 3:44 pm
I remember reading an essay in The Book of Lies from Disinfo about devolution.. perhaps that has something to do with it? It would really make sense in that light.
November 3, 2007 at 9:25 pm
“Doing stuff is overrated. Like Hitler. He did a lot. But don’t we all wish he woulda just stayed home and gotten stoned?” – The Tao of Steve