Propaganda

Education comes down to colors,

jingles, flashing lights;

the feast of stars and idols.

Strive to live within,

the tower of steel and light shuts out

archaic night.

Billboards replace blackboards, the new scribe;

teach us how to live, produce, die.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 100 million heterosexual couples engage in sexual intercourse every day resulting in one million conceptions per day. Most appalling is the fact that about 50% of these conceptions are unplanned, and over 25% are unwanted by the biological parents. This last estimate of over 250,000 unwanted conceptions per day results in over 100,000 attempted abortions, about one-third of which are illegal. These illegal often self-imposed abortions lead to the deaths of about 500 women each day^.

Extrapolating these numbers to the world population, we can estimate that nearly 40 million unwanted children are brought into the world every year. As the world population is currently increasing at a rate of between 1 and 2% per annum, this means that if unwanted births could be prevented, the world population would nearly stabilize. Because the Earth cannot continue to support a population of even 1 billion people without destruction of the atmosphere and the biosphere, we recognize that mere stabilization of our present population is an insufficient goal. It is nevertheless a first step in the right direction.

How can we bring about the sorely needed decrease in the human population? There is no one answer. Education will play a necessary but insufficient role. Why? First, because only about 1% of the world population has a college education; second, because illiteracy is still rampant in many countries of the world, and third, because even within so-called "enlightened" countries such as the U.S., where literacy is relatively high, only a small fraction of the population is aware of the disastrous consequences of overpopulation and the need to do something about it. The answer then must be: PROPAGANDA!

As stated by Carl Djerassi, the number of unwanted births is astounding in the face of an ideology that so clearly favors reproduction. What do we mean by "an ideology that favors reproduction?" There are many components. Social pressure to lead a "normal", traditional life - meaning getting married and having a family - is tremendous. This pressure comes from the parents of our young people, from our social and religious institutions, from our schools, and from advertising agencies that promote enterprises that derive economic benefit from an increasing population. These industries include the food, housing, entertainment and toy industries to mention just a few. The amount of propaganda currently produced to promote conformity to acceptable family behavior including child rearing, even against the natural preferences of many young people, is certainly a major factor in determining the paths taken by teenagers setting out on their lives.

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What I believe will be required in order to reverse current ideology, change social values, and allow greater personal growth and freedom while protecting the environment will involve what I call reverse propaganda. That is, we need to counteract the extensive body of propaganda that derives from self-serving commercial interests as well as our archaic social and religious institutions. We must propagandize a new value system that favors alternatives to traditional family and child rearing practices. Above all, we must stress our environmental responsibilities and the deleterious consequences of overpopulation. Slogans such as: "Protect the Earth, don't give birth," or "As more people appear, other species disappear" might be a step in the right direction. Regarding the options to having kids: "Get a cat, not a kid," or "Raise a puppy not a yuppie!" Addressing young men's responsibility to avoid conception: "Dear laddie, don't become a daddy!" And the same for the young women: "Dear lass, guard your ass!" Or simply for anyone: "Maybe no baby!" To promote creative lifestyles: "Create art, not a beating heart" or simply "Create, don't procreate." To promote personal freedom: "Free yourselves, no more elves." To promote leadership qualities: "Be a leader, not a breeder." Putting our self-serving religious leaders in an appropriately bad light: "Lord, save us from your followers." Stressing relationships with responsibility: "Date him, but don't mate him" or "You may need her, but don't breed her." To promote alternative sexual lifestyles, it should be pointed out that masturbation is probably the most common, absolutely safe and self-enriching alternative to heterosexual sex. Woody Allen once said, "Masturbation is having sex with someone I love." In a sense, he was also a pioneer in promoting bisexuality when he noted "bisexuals have a two-fold advantage over most people when looking for a date on a Saturday night." But bisexuals also participate in the heterosexual act and can therefore contribute to the population explosion. Why not go all the way towards a gay lifestyle if one has any propensity in that direction at all? Appropriate slogans might be: "Just say ‘bye' to that guy" or "Ditch the bitch, make the switch." We may need to shock the public by suggesting an ideology opposite to the current one: "Make war, not love."

Propaganda will also be effective in convincing people of their responsibilities regarding all kinds of pollution. This includes the production of CO₂ and other greenhouse gases that are causing global warming and the loss of our glaciers and polar ice caps. We can consider slogans such as "Be resolute; don't pollute", or "We need a solution to pollution." Regarding the role of the United States as the major contributor to CO₂ production and global warming, we could use a slogan such as: "the U.S. is number one in making CO₂ by the ton." In addressing the issue of individual responsibility, we might choose: "More CO₂? Yike! Let's bike and hike!" As a major fraction of the U.S. population is unaware, or at best, marginally aware of the problems we are creating for future generations, such simple slogans, printed on the front pages of newspapers, and possibly leading the reader to more in-depth treatments of specific environmental problems could be highly effective.

The "slogan" approach may prove more effective than an educational approach because it has emotional appeal and requires no intellectual effort on the part of the recipient. Based on observations of the American political scene, where candidates with personal appeal but very little education or competence are preferentially elected over those well qualified for the position, sometimes overwhelmingly, lead to the belief that if public attitudes are to change, a combination of intellectual and non-intellectual emotional approaches will be required.

If we are to protect the beautiful planet that we have by chance inherited, our social attitudes and practices must change. If they don't, our children and grandchildren, and indeed all citizens of planet Earth will suffer immeasurably. It's doubtful that the human race will persist for more than a few hundred years without such changes. Is it possible that we can avoid the self-inflicted disasters that our numbers are bringing upon us? Maybe, but every possible approach that can yield positive results must be taken, and there is precious little time left. We must act decisively, and the time is now!

Further Reading