[lit-ideas] Re: Talk about really, really scary
- From: "Veronica Caley" <vcaley@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 4 Jul 2004 21:16:51 -0400
Fifty years ago, or thereabouts, there were people writing about population
explosion that no one paid much attention to. There was also a historian
who wrote an explanation of why North America was so much wealthier than
South America. His answer was that North Americans, being predominantly
Protestant, limited their numbers. His view was that with fewer people to
share the economic pie, each was able to have more.
I am not sure that this is accurate. All religions restricted access to
birth control, but wealthier people found a way. In Catholic doctrine,
birth control is forbidden, even though lately a lot of people are ignoring
it in Western countries. None of this explains why fundamentalist
Christians believe that they are wealthy because of God's grace. Re the
Muslim countries, having four wives at a time can produce an incredibly
large family. Osama bin Ladin is one of 54 children of his father. And if
all of a sudden by some miracle, a lot of wealth would pour into these
countries, then what? More cars, more pollution, more environmental
degradation, etc.
Re the availability of weapons, this is the result of fifty years of
playing politics with arms control, limiting WMDs, and all major western
countries have been selling them. And the American Congress seems about
ready to lift the ban on the production of assault weapons for domestic
use.
The thing that is not accounted for is that a lot of the people that flew
the planes into the WTC were educated and privileged. One of them, in
England, wore Armani suits, had an expensive car, and was a puzzle even to
his parents.
Veronica
> [Original Message]
> From: John McCreery <mccreery@xxxxxxx>
> To: Anthro-L <ANTHRO-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: 7/4/2004 6:20:41 PM
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Talk about really, really scary
>
> While our eyes are focused on the US Presidential race and the battle
> to return the Resident to Crawford, Texas, we may, too easily, lose
> sight of what is going on in the rest of the world, in particular those
> parts of the rest of the world where the overwhelming majority of human
> beings now struggle to survive. They are young, they are hungry, they
> have every reason to be angry and turn to the simple but compelling
> ideas of fundamentalist religions to explain why they find themselves
> in Hell. (To which, I find myself adding, apparently unlimited access
> to AK-47s, RPGs, explosives, and even nastier toys.)
>
> Read all about it in Mike Davis' Planet of
> Slums(http://www.newleftreview.net/NLR26001.shtml). This is, I kid you
> not, the scariest thing I've ever read.
>
>
> John L. McCreery
> The Word Works, Ltd.
> 55-13-202 Miyagaya, Nishi-ku
> Yokohama, Japan 220-0006
>
> Tel 81-45-314-9324
> Email mccreery@xxxxxxx
>
> "Making Symbols is Our Business"
>
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