African woman journalist takes Sir David Attenborough to task for his ‘condescension’, ‘blatant inaccuracies’ and ‘common stereotypes’

Television celebrity Sir David Attenborough (pictured) has come under fire for blaming famine in Africa on population growth and the Catholic Church in a controversial interview reported in the Daily Telegraph.

These latest comments follow the broadcaster’s descriptionof human beings earlier this year as ‘a plague on the Earth that needs to be controlled by limiting population growth’.

Sir David, who is a patron of the Population Matters, has spoken out previously about what he sees as the ‘frightening explosion in human numbers’.

This week in an articleposted on Culture of Life Africa, and republishedon Life Site News, African woman journalist Obianuju Ekeocha takes the presenter to task for his ‘condescension towards the people of Africa’, his ‘lack of understanding of the African reality’ and for predicating his comments on ‘blatant inaccuracies’ and ‘common  stereotypes’.  

The article is well worth reading in full but here are some highlights:

1. Sir David exhibits the exact alarmist mindset and philosophy that set the Chinese government on the painful path of extreme population control , a path now paved with the blood of millions of innocent unborn babies and soaked with the tears of millions of women coercively deprived of the joy of motherhood (See my previous blog on 160 million Asian women missing as a result of ultrasound and second trimester abortion).

2. The undeniable decline in population, which is now occurring in many western countries where the fertility rate has dropped below replacement rate, is creating all sorts of complex fiscal and economic difficulties associated with population aging, labour shortage, loss of tax revenues, collapse of social welfare systems and general economic decline. This has real consequences that are now slowly but surely paralyzing some of the most powerful countries in the world: growing elderly population, shrinking workforce, increasing health needs and the move into the ‘lonely world of the nursing home’ (See this articleand my previous blogon Japan).

3. By contrast in the developing world there are enough children and grandchildren to care for their elderly parents in warm and loving multigenerational households.   A child is not just a mouth to feed, but a specially unique individual with incredible potentials to learn, love and live a life of service to the family and community. Africans encourage marriage, celebrate motherhood and welcome babies because they are a sign of hope for the future. 

4. With more than three times the population density of Ethiopia, there is still abundant food to feed the vast numbers of people living in Great Britain, so how can anyone living therein point an accusing finger to the Ethiopians to control their wildly reproducing population or forever face the scourge of famine? (Famine is Africa is due not to population but to a variety of factors including deforestation, poor farming, climate change and also war, often fought with weapons supplied by the West!)

Ekeocha concludes with an appeal to all the ‘population control minded elite of the western world, who are propagating and pushing their philosophy to the ends of the earth, to please respect the African people in their quest for sustainable authentic growth and development that is consistent and compatible with their Culture of Life.’ Strong words indeed!

Some previous blogs on population

Britain’s growing elderly population is a massive challenge which requires a radical solution

Peter Singer backs abortion for curbing population growth

Population control lobby seeks to impose its agenda rather than addressing the real causes of poverty

The false prophets of the population control lobby and their appalling track record

The economic challenge of a greying population: An alternative to the Sunday Times chilling 'final solution'

Is seven billion people too many? More nonsense from the population control lobby

Global warming is much more about per capita consumption than population

Seven billion - BBC brings some welcome balance to the population debate

The demographic time bomb and euthanasia

Saying that too many babies are being born to poor people in developing countries is a new form of global racism

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Britain’s growing elderly population is a massive challenge which requires a radical solution

The UK is ‘woefully under-prepared  for the social and economic challenges presented by an ageing society, a House of Lords committee has warned this week.

The committee predicts ‘a series of crises’ in public service provision and says that big changes in pensions, health care and employment practices are needed to help people ‘sustain a good quality of life’ as they age.

The committee is calling on the government to set out its thinking on the issue before the next election and for all parties to consider the implications for public spending, in their next election manifestos.

A leading think tank, the International Longevity Centre UK, said the report should be a wake-up call for government and society as a whole and that individuals would have to take more responsibility for their health and income in retirement.

I consider this to be a massive understatement.

The demographic winter, whereby shrinking birth rates and increasing longevity, contribute to a falling population and distorted age structure is most marked in Japan. The bar graphs above (from theEconomist) show the structure of Japan’s population in 1950, 2012 and 2055 (more detail here).

For about 50 years after the second world war the combination of Japan's fast-growing labour force and the rising productivity of its famously industrious workers created a growth miracle. Within two generations the number of people of working age increased by 37m and Japan went from ruins to the world's second-largest economy.

In the next 40 years however that process will go into reverse. The working-age population will shrink so quickly that by 2050 it will be smaller than it was in 1950, and four out of ten Japanese will be over 65. Unless Japan's productivity rises faster than its workforce declines, which seems unlikely, its economy will shrink.

The changes in the UK’s age structure are not as dramatic as those in Japan but follow a similar pattern. The graph (right) shows the change between 1901 and 2010. 

The UK’s population is both larger and older than it was a hundred years ago, and most of the difference in size is due to an increase in the older population.

Between 1901 and 2010, the population under 40 increased only modestly, from 28.5m to 31.5m. But over the same period, the number of people aged 40 and older has more than trebled, from 9.7m to 30.8m.

Among the over 65s, the increase has been still more dramatic. Around 5% of the population was aged 65 and older in 1901, compared with 17% in 2010. The proportion of the population in this age group is projected to rise to 23% by 2035.

More than 320,000 of the 400,000 people living in care homes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland now have dementia or severe memory problems.

Around one in three people over the age of 65 will develop dementia in their lifetime and the number of people with dementia is increasing - 800,000 now will become 950,000 by 2021 and is estimated to double in the next 40 years. So will the current costs of care.

The £23bn figure being quoted for dementia care today is nearly double the figure spent on cancer and three times the sum for heart disease. And all this is in the face of £20bn ’efficiency savings’ needed in NHS spending over the next few years.

Given that 50% of healthcare costs go on people in the last six months of life, and that people are more likely to die the older they get (see chart left) an age structure such as a the UK's is becoming generates massive healthcare costs. 

We have a growing elderly population supported by a smaller and smaller working population – fuelled by elderly people living longer and an epidemic of abortion, infertility and small families.

These demographic changes, together with economic pressure from growing public and personal debt, and increasing pressure for a change in the law to allow euthanasia, produce a toxic cocktail indeed.

Some European politician and economists have been chillingly open about the economic necessity of euthanasia. Jacques Attali, the former president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, said in 1981 in an article in L’Avenir de la vie :

‘As soon as he gets beyond 60-65 years of age, man lives beyond his capacity to produce, and he costs society a lot of money... euthanasia will be one of the essential instruments of our future societies.’ 

Sunday Times journalist Minette Marin in 2011 in an even more apocalyptic analysis called the demographic timebomb ‘an enormous grey elephant in the room’ and argued that euthanasia will become an economic necessity.

'In 1950 there were 7.2 people of working age (20-64) in the OECD member states for every person more than 64 years old. By 1980 the ratio had fallen to 5.1; now it is about 4.1 and by 2050 it will be 2.1….’  

It is abundantly clear that unless something is done to reverse demographic trends, ‘economic necessity’, together with the ‘culture of death’ ideology which is becoming more openly accepted, may well mean that the generation that killed its children through abortion will in turn be killed by its own children through euthanasia.

But the answer is not euthanasia and this makes it even more imperative that we fight hard to combat the two British bills and court cases which threaten to legalise it this year.

The real answer to Britain’s crisis is in our grasp, but it requires a completely different mind-set to that which has led us as a nation, in our reckless pursuit of affluence and personal peace to mortgage our present, bankrupt our futures, and see those who rely on us as a burden rather than a privileged responsibility.

The demographic time-bomb is a challenge but as Christians it should lead us to live more simply, give more, save more, serve more, love more, value those who are dependent, both old and young, more deeply, have more children younger and earlier to reverse the demographic trends and replenish the workforce, and work harder to provide good care for all. 

Over all it should lead us to preach the Gospel more.

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The demographic time bomb is most marked in Japan

The demographic time bomb – whereby the elderly population assumes a greater and greater proportion of the total population - is no more marked than in Japan.

Falling birth rates (as a result of abortion, contraception and delaying childbirth) and increasing longevity as a result of better medical care have created this situation.

If we look at the population age structure in Japan (see graph above) we can see how dramatically its shape has changed since 1950 and how much more it will change by 2050.

The same trends are spelt out numerically in the table below where different countries are compared.

The population pyramid of 1950 shows that Japan had a standard-shaped pyramid marked by a broad base. The shape of the pyramid, however, has changed dramatically as both the birth rate and death rate have declined.

In 1950 the population of elderly citizens (65 years and over) accounted for just 4.9% of the total population. This had risen to 21.5% by 2007 and will rise to 39.6% by 2050.

This growth in numbers of older people has been matched by a shrinking of the younger population. In 1950 those under 15 made up 35.4% of the total population but this had fallen to 13.5% by 2007 and will fall further to 8.6% by 2050.

Note also that those of working age (15-65) constituted 65% of the population in 2007 (two thirds) but will account for only 51% (half) by 2050.

They could well account for much less given that many of those in the 15-65 age group, as of now, might be in education, or alternatively not in education, employment or training.

The speed of aging of Japan's population is much faster than in advanced Western European countries or the USA but the trends are similar throughout the industrialised world.

Add in increasing debt and rising unemployment and you have a very toxic cocktail indeed.

Unless something is done to reverse the demographic trends, ‘economic necessity’, together with the ‘culture of death’ ideology which is becoming more openly accepted, may well mean that the generation that killed its children through abortion will in turn be killed by its own children through euthanasia.

Some European politicians and economists have been chillingly open about the economic incentives for euthanasia.

Jacques Attali, the former president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, said in 1981 in an article in L’Avenir de la vie:

‘As soon as he gets beyond 60-65 years of age, man lives beyond his capacity to produce, and he costs society a lot of money... euthanasia will be one of the essential instruments of our future societies.’

The real answer is not euthanasia. The real answer is in our grasp, but it requires a completely different mind-set to that which has led us, in our reckless pursuit of affluence and personal peace to mortgage our present, bankrupt our futures, and see those who rely on us as a burden rather than a privileged responsibility.

We need instead, as a society, to stop killing our children, build up our families, live more simply, give more generously and focus our priorities on providing for our dependents, especially the older generation which fought for our freedom in two world wars, provided for our health, education and welfare, and left us the legacy of wealth, comfort, peace and security which we have squandered and taken for granted.

Data on Japan obtained from online ‘Statistical Handbook of Japan’

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The demographic time bomb and euthanasia

I have previously warned that unless something is done to reverse current demographic trends, economic necessity, together with the ‘culture of death’ ideology which is becoming more openly accepted, may well mean that the generation that killed its children will in turn be killed by its own children.

In other words legalised abortion will lead to legalised euthanasia as a cost-saving and population-control measure.

The Political blog ‘Turtle Bay and Beyond’ reported last week on an interview with CFAM’s Susan Yoshihara on the population crisis in China.

‘Demographic trends are poised to spoil Beijing’s plans for a Chinese century,’ said Yoshihara, co-editor (along with Douglas A. Sylvia) of the book, ‘Population Decline and the Remaking of Great Power Politics.’

‘The country is aging rapidly and it is facing a contraction in its workforce sooner than anticipated. More than a quarter of the Chinese population will be older than 65 by 2050, up from 8 percent today. And the very old — those over 80 — will increase more than five times. China will see absolute population decline by the end of the next decade.’

I have previously highlighted Sunday Times columnist Minette Marin’s proposed final solution(£) for Britain’s growing number of elderly people and another article in the same paper linking euthanasia with demographic trends.

Lois Rogers (£), reporting on a joint suicide of a British couple in Australia, wrote that ‘Assisted dying is becoming more commonplace with the rise in the number of elderly people. Projections by the government suggest 11m Britons alive today can expect to reach 100.’

In the West we have a growing elderly population supported by a smaller and smaller working population – fuelled by elderly people living longer and an epidemic of abortion, infertility and small families.

These demographic changes, together with economic pressure from growing public and personal debt, and increasing pressure for a change in the law to allow euthanasia, produce a toxic cocktail indeed.

Marin’s solution is euthanasia – ie. continue with our consumptive lifestyles and small families and kill off the elderly.

But there is an alternative.

Britain’s problem is debt. And we are in debt because as a nation and as individuals we have lived beyond our means. Our personal debt is £1,500 billion and our public debt will reach that figure by 2014 (yes its getting bigger in spite of the Coalition’s plan to ‘cut the deficit’. All we are doing is borrowing less each year than we did in the previous one)

So our total debt will be around £3,000 billion (£3 trillion) in just three years’ time.

Let’s put that figure in a global context.

The world’s poorest billion people earn less than £1 per day (£360 per year) and the next poorest two billion earn less than £2 (£720) so the total income for the poorest half of the world’s population is £1,800 billion per year – just over half our nation’s debt.

And yet ironically, it is rich people in the affluent West, rather than the poor in the Global South, who say they can’t afford to look after their dependents and are clamouring for euthanasia.

The real answer is not euthanasia. The real answer is in our grasp, but it requires a completely different mindset to that which has led us, in our reckless pursuit of affluence and personal peace to mortgage our present, bankrupt our futures, and see those who rely on us as a burden rather than a privileged responsibility.

We need instead, as a society, to stop killing our children, build up our families, live more simply, give more generously and focus our priorities on providing for our dependents, especially the older generation which fought for our freedom in two world wars, provided for our health, education and welfare, and left us the legacy of wealth, comfort, peace and security which we have squandered and taken for granted.

We are at a crossroads surveying two possible future societies.

In the first, the independence and autonomy of the individual rule absolute and the weak elderly take an ‘honorable exit’ so as not to burden the young and virile.

The other, by contrast, is an inter-dependent world, where each person, regardless of their level of infirmity or disability is loved, cherished, valued and given the very best level of care that money can buy; one where the strong make sacrifices for the weak, where resources are spent on those who most need them, where what I have is yours if you need it, and vice versa.

Which society would you prefer to live in?

The demographic time-bomb is a challenge but it does not lead me to despair.

Rather it makes me want to live more simply, give more, save more, serve more, love more, value those who are dependent, both old and young, more deeply and work harder to provide good care for all.

The solution is easily within our grasp, but we must have the will to embrace it.

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