http://www.dailykos.com/... <-- This guy.</p>
Seriously, he started it, I was just going to post a comment in his diary, but it wouldn't let me post a comment (maybe it was too long of a comment).
Unlike diarist above, I have not beeng drinking beer, but rather vodka mixed with all sorts of other random things, and while I am not drunk per se, I am certainly buzzed enough to rant a little bit.
I was drunker while writing but I am definitely coming down now.
Anyway, you should really read the guy's original diary, it's good, and will give context for what I wrote.
Onwards!
"Your dim view of human nature is not supported by...
the facts.
Dude, I love that you like beer, that's great, but, wake up. 50% of people DID NOT VOTE FOR BUSH in 2004.
The elections were S-T-O-L-E-N.
Look it up.
Secondly, even if they WEREN'T stolen, 50% of the electorate hasn't turned out at the polls since, oh, about 1964. LESS THAN 50% of eligible voters in the US vote.
If anyone "elected" Bush, EVER -- and between judicial fiat and Diebold, I don't think they did -- it would by a TYRANNICAL MINORITY, NOT the Majority of the population of our fair country.
I firmly believe that most Americans, when properly educated, challenged, and given a good support network, can rise up to do GREAT things.
Hell, I believe that about most HUMANS, too.
it's an economic problem. How do you properly educate, challenge, and support 6 billion of us?
The economic ANSWER, which most people don't want to think about, is that you CAN'T. Not fucking possible. Not unless we suddenly discover how to harness the Zero Point Energy of the quantum vacuum or some shit.
So, ironically, although I think your idea of a benevolent dictatorship is utter horseshit (never, in the history of the world, has any dictatorship begun or turned out benevolent, and if you can find me one I will mail you a beer) and your dim view of human nature pathetically fatalistic, I actually AGREE with you that, for the economic good of the entire race, our numbers need to be trimmed by about 30-50%.
To which you might recoil in shock and horror. But I'm not advocating genocide. No, I think mother nature will do just fine, between global warming, collapsing fisheries, and repercussions all up and down the food chain, not to mention uber-viruses like AIDS and antibiotic-resistant WHATEVER, in winnowing the human population of earth down to a much more manageable, sustainable 2-3 billion.
So fret not, my beer-drinking friend. Mother Nature -- and despotic tyrants WHO WOULD LIKE TO BE DICTATORS, and BELIEVE with all their hearts that they would be "benevolent" / "compassionate" dictators -- will inevitably take care of that pesky problem of overpopulation.
How can I be so blithe? Simple. I am white, middle-class, and live in America. That may (but may not, but probably will) be my saving grace. I am at considerably less risk of extinction than, say, any manner of brown person living in, say, Sudan. Or any third-world "LDC", for that matter.
I have been given education, challenges, and a support network, and so I will probably, MOST LIKELY, pull through this one.
(I don't take it for granted though. And if I don't, well, I trust you all will put to good use my share of the planetary rations.)
As for the napalm. As a scientist you should know that the most important thing in life is necessity. Weapons scientists work for money, an economic necessity. They fulfill their curiosity, just like you do. They are probably a bit naive and don't go to bed at night with a full comprehension of the searing, dripping flesh sloughing off burning bones that their minds have helped bring to reality. Or, if they're really twisted, they take great delight in those mental images, because they have decided that certain classes and ideologies in people are "evil" and "other" and "not human".
And that's just lack of education and experience.
See? It all ties up in the end.
On another note, the level of elitism in the comments of your diary has put me off my breakfast. 70% of the population is worthless? What the fuck kind of talk is that? If you really believe that, why don't you put your money where your mouth is and take an AK-47 to a busy supermarket?
Seriously, I don't see any redeeming aspect to that kind of talk. At all.