Notes from Evil Bender

Amanda Marcotte over at Pandagon has weighed in on the issue of “race suicide”: the fashionable position among the right wing that says we need to have more babies to keep brown people from taking over. As usual, she does an excellent job, and you should check out what she has to say. Go ahead. I’ll still be here when you get back.

Okay, now that you’ve returned, I have a couple things to add on this point. The “plan” the right outlines, besides being extremely fucking racist, is also the equivalent of the mutually assured destruction position on nuclear armament. The only difference between the two is that while it’s at least theoretically possible that we may never nuke each other to death, a breeding war between various races definitely results in a future with too many people and not enough resources.

But as Marcotte points out, that’s half the point. These people can’t imagine a world where we might not be willing to rush to use up our limited resources in order to advance a racist agenda. No, it’s better that we “win” than that we find actual solutions to our problems, right?

What no one one the right wants to admit is that the best way to deal with terrorists and extremists is to create a world where people have their basic needs met. When people don’t need to worry where their next meal is coming from, when they have access to medical care and education, is a world where extremists will find precious few friends.

It’s not an easy solution, of course, and there are lots of geopolitical complications. But if we actually give a damn about the future of this planet, it’s the only workable solution. Fascism, unrestrained reproduction, and eye-for-an-eye violence will only continue to destabilize the planet and put everyone at risk.