Population explosions, vaccines and tornadoes: Are we standing in nature's way?
I noticed there's a ballyhoo involving flu vaccines on campus. Kelly Allen wrote an informative article regarding the matter on Tuesday. The article said one of the two flu vaccines (Fluzone) offered at the Amelia T. Wood Health Center contains a preservative (thimerosal) that could lead to Alzheimer's disease or autism. I applaud her vigilance, and that of Ball State's Truth Movement. Everyone should be aware of these things so they can make informed decisions about their health.
But what if there were no vaccines? What if survival depended solely on the body's ability to fight off illness and the individual's ability to find food? What if Darwinism was allowed to rule in such matters?
An interesting ethical dilemma arises from all this.
Being an educated lot, I'm sure many of you are at least somewhat familiar with the Malthusian Theory. It's a theory proposed by the 18th century English scholar, Thomas Malthus. The gist of it is that population growth left unchecked will result in a greater population than can be fed.
His essays also say, among other dubious claims, that giving poor people a taste of the good life will result in less sex, which is probably a crock. I can't say for sure because I've never been rich, but I'm inclined not to believe it. Money likely isn't much of a substitute for sex, though it's often used as a means of getting it. To those who would claim otherwise, I would say it's probably the work generating the wealth that they substitute for sex, not the wealth itself.
While part of Malthus's theory is quite possibly nonsense, it's hard not to take note of the world's population problems. Anyone with open eyes can see that many nations are underdeveloped and hungry. It doesn't take Aristotle to see that populations are running wild like Paris Hilton in a sausage factory.
The biological compulsion to procreate and further our genes to new generations is one of the most powerful mechanisms built into all animals, including us. People seem to do it even though they know their children could likely die a tortuous death by starvation. The compulsion to reproduce, ironically, I think, is about survival. We know we can't live forever. To many, the only chance at immortality is furthering the family tree.
I think more thought is needed in resolving the psychology of human reproduction. I'm not in love with China's law of one child per family, but I don't agree with people having babies just to feel like they did something worth doing. There are 15-year-old girls having babies because they're lonely. It's as though society took a handful of sleeping pills and went for a nap, and the world is a toddler running with scissors.
If an equal amount of effort was put into solving the world population issue as is put into producing a better quality picture on televisions, I'd bet dollars for doughnuts that it would be taken care of before you could say United Nations World Food Program.
Energy source availability and pollution are huge issues because of populations too. Now that a billion Chinese folk have decided to drive cars, there's a lot of oil being burned and put into the air. Their increased industrialization is causing a serious pollution issue, but their attitude is that the United States did it (though it was a couple hundred years ago) so they should as well. We're still not masters of going green, but at least we're giving it a shot.
Treating a broken arm is one thing. Preventing diseases meant to thin populations is quite another. Can we even say that diseases, tornadoes, tsunamis, etc. are meant to thin populations? How do we determine which are natural and which are our own creation? Many cancers have evolved because of our continuous exposure to a variety of carcinogens and poisons we've unleashed on ourselves.
AIDS came to us on an airplane by way of a man who "somehow" caught it from a monkey. I'm sure it was a blood transfusion. The monkey was probably his type. Some people believe the government created AIDS to kill poor people. I don't know about all that, but I do believe tornadoes aren't naturally occurring like science tells us. I think they're unleashed on us by the government from giant tornado-making machines.
So, here's the question: Do we need all these vaccinations? Do we need all the extensive treatments and procedures to prevent people from ever getting sick? Do we need to save every single life, no matter the result? Feel free to comment.
Write to John at jrfrees@bsu.edu
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