175 lines
9.8 KiB
Plaintext
175 lines
9.8 KiB
Plaintext
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GAIA LIBERATION FRONT
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Statement of Purpose (A Modest Proposal)
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The Gaia Liberation Front is a concept, not an organization. You become a
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member of the GLF by joining us in carrying out our mission, which is the total
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liberation of the Earth.
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The first thing is to get our message out:
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1. Our object is not merely the continuation of life on Earth--which is,
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for all we know, the only life in the universe--but the preservation of the
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planetary ecosystem (Gaia) with as much of its integrity and variety as can be
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saved.1
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2. The Humans have been usefully compared to a cancer2 or a virus.3 But it
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seems to us that the must fruitful way of viewing the Humans is as an alien
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species (which is why we use the definite article and the capital H). The
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Humans evolved on the Earth, but have become alienated from it. They are
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conscious of their alienation, drawing a distinction between the Human and the
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natural, and proud of it.
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Like the alien invading species of science fiction, the Humans possess a
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superior technology (superior, in this case, to any of the defenses that Gaia
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can throw up against them).
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Every species tends to multiply, but while every other species stops
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multiplying when it overshoots the carrying capacity of its ecosystem, the
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Humans use their technology to keep raising the planet's carrying capacity for
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their own species (and a few other species that they exploit),4 at ever higher
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levels of consumption. They are even able to ward off infectious diseases,
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which keep every other species from attaining overly high population densities.
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3. The planet's carrying capacity for a few species can be raised only at
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the expense of other species, and, eventually, only at the risk of a general
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ecological collapse. Cumulatively, the evidence is overwhelming that we are
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rapidly approaching that stage. For all we know, we may have already passed
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the point of no return.
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The Humans' technological propensities are probably genetic, because their
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basic technologies--agriculture animal husbandry, metallurgy, writing and
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mathematics, hierarchy and bureaucracy--have all appeared independently more
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than once. The Humans come into full view, then, as a _hostile_ alien species,
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_programmed_ to kill the planet.
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4. Because of the uncertainties involved, we can ensure Gaia's survival only
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through the extinction of the Humans as a species.
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Q. But don't you believe in the interconnectedness and inherent worth of
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everything in nature?
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A. Yes, but the Humans have disconnected themselves from everything else in
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nature, so that principle no longer applies to them. Anyway, there's no way to
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preserve a species that's programmed to kill the planet. The only question is
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whether that species can become extinct before it takes the planet with it.
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Q. Wouldn't it be enough to reduce the Human population to some optimum
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level?
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A. No, because the first chance it got it would bounce right back. The
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cancer analogy is useful here: what's the optimum number of cancer cells in a
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body?
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Q. But what if the Humans went back to a paleolithic way of life?
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A. You're forgetting that the paleolithic experiment has already been
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tried, and that about ten thousand years ago it failed. Their technology,
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after all, is in their genes. The technologies that have appeared in the past
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could be expected to appear again, and this time their reappearance would be
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accelerated by any surviving knowledge of formerly existing technologies.
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But the appearance of _specific_ technologies is less predictable. In
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particular, the specific technology that now makes it possible for us
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to--assuming we still have time--head off this crisis (more on this below)
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might not be available for dealing with the next one.
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Q. Shouldn't we make an exception for tribal peoples, who are living in
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harmony with nature? (Another version: Shouldn't we make an exception for
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non-Europeans, who were corrupted by Europeans?)
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A. No, because they're all Humans. Remember that those basic technologies
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were invented independently by Humans of different races, in the new world as
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well as in the old. And remember that the Humans, Europeans included, were all
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tribal once. Anyway, there are no Humans left on the planet who are still
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totally ignorant of those technologies. Sure, some Humans picked up certain
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technologies from other Humans, but that doesn't matter to the Earth.5 If
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_any_ Humans are left, they'll start the whole thing over again. Our policy is
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to take no chances.
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That's it. You can be sure that the Humans won't like it. They'd much
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rather listen to somebody telling them how wonderful they are:
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What a piece of work is man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty!
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in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in
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apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals!
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-_Hamlet_, II, ii
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They're not only in denial about what they're doing to the planet, they firmly
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believe that the death of the planet would be a small price to pay for a few
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more years of life for their species.
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You may even lose a few friends. But somebody has to tell it like it is.
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Appendix
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Here are some of the methods that have been suggested: (But first, this
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disclaimer: We don't advocate anything illegal, because it's illegal to
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advocate anything illegal and we don't want to get busted.)
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1. Nuclear war.6 (Too much collateral damage. Definitely not
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recommended.)
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2. Sterilization. (Too slow: even if we managed to sterilize every Human
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on the planet the species would still be around for another hundred years. And
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they might figure out some way of reversing the procedure.)7
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3. _Voluntary_ Sterilization.8 (Even slower, and therefore even riskier.
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But anything is better than nothing, so this is worth working on while we're
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spreading the word and waiting for something else.)
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4. Suicide. (In theory, faster, but how do you get them to do it? so in
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practice, probably even slower. Still, you never know. If they could do it in
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Jonestown...) [We can, and we will. -Ed.]
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5. Bioengineering. Fortunately, we now have the _specific_ technology for
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doing the job right--and it's something that could be done by just one person
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with the necessary expertise and access to the necessary equipment.
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Genetically engineered viruses are already being custom-designed for use in
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"pest" control. These viruses have the advantage of attacking only the target
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species. To complicate the search for a cure or a vaccine, and as insurance
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against the possibility that some Humans might be immune to a particular virus,
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several different viruses could be released (with provision being made for the
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release of a second round after the generals and the politicians had come out
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of their shelters). Of course, natural viruses, such as the smallpox virus,
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that attack only Humans could be used as well.9 (but don't, for goodness'
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sake, go around saying that you're actually advocating any of this. We can get
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our message across just as effectively by, for example, campaigning to make it
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_legal_ to exterminate the Humans.)
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Notes
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1. In his essay "The Land Ethic" Aldo Leopold says: "A thing is right when
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it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic
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community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise." (Stability here should be
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understood as embracing such dynamic processes as succession and evolution.)
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2. See, for example, Frank Forencich, "Homo Carcinomicus: A Look at
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Planetary Oncology," _Wild Earth_, 2:4 (Winter 1992/93), pp. 72-74. But
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Forencich fails to take his argument to its logical conclusion: what does a
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surgeon do with a cancer?
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3. Even a computer virus. Stephen Hawking once remarked (he had been
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arguing that computer viruses fit the definition of living systems): "I think
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it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created
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so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image."
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4. It seems to us to make more sense to say that the Humans have raised the
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planet's carrying capacity for their own species than to say that the Human
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population has been exceeding the planet's carrying capacity at least since the
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invention of agriculture. Carrying capacity, by definition, can be exceeded
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only briefly.
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5. Any more than it mattered to the buffalo that the Indians who were
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helping to massacre them had been "corrupted" by whites.
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6. Proposed, for example, by Finnish writer Pentti Linkola-but as a way of
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only reducing the Human population, in order to _save_ the species.
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7. An even riskier variation on this method, suggested by Australian
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environmental activist Helen Caldicott, would be to put contraceptives in the
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water supply.
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8. The leading voice for this method is the Voluntary Human Extinction
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Movement (P.O.Box 86646, Portland OR 97286-0646).
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9. Our experience with AIDS suggests that these viruses should be airborne.
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AIDS, which once offered so much hope, has proved to be just too easy to avoid.
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For a tip on how to produce an airborne version of AIDS, see Jean Marx,
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"Concerns Raised about Mouse Models for AIDS," _Science_, vol. 247 (16 Feb.
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1990), p. 809.
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Winter Solstice 1994
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GLF, P.O.Box 127, Station P, Toronto, Ont. M5S 2S7
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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The Church of Euthanasia coe@netcom.com
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ftp: ftp.etext.org /pub/Zines/Snuffit
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gopher: gopher.etext.org Zines/Snuffit
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www: http://www.paranoia.com/coe/
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news: talk.euthanasia
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C.O.E., Box 261, Somerville, MA 02143
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SAVE THE PLANET! KILL YOURSELF!
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