[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Atanu Dey's Funny Takes on Things.
On 30 Nov 1996 04:38:53 GMT, atanu@are.Berkeley.EDU (Atanu Dey) wrote:
>Joan Shields (joan@med.unc.edu) wrote:
>
>: I guess now wouldn't be a good time to note that it's been observed time
>: and time again that when women of a country gain social, economic, and
>: political power that birth rates tend to decline. As a matter of fact,
>: birth rates in third world countries are at present declining.
>
> So the question is whether in fact women will have social, economic
> and political power in the third world? Not at the rate at which
> they are kept opressed, pregnant and uneducated. Restrict the birth
> rate and people will be valued in the third world and whether man,
> woman or child, they will have a decent shot at living like a human.
Atanu Dey's posts strike me as slightly twisted at every point.
Clearly he comes from a culture different from mine, though in some
cases it's only a matter of his being a culture where it is allowable
to say things that are only thought in mine.
However we seem to agree on one thing: since the price of labour is
rising throughout the world, it is clear that there is no surplus of
people.
Let me add that while Dey's posts seem to be shot through with
intelligence and sometimes wit, nevertheless they often show a broad
and deep ignorance, both of facts and of the way things work. Just to
give an example here, "restricting" birth rates neither lessens births
nor population growth; both are reduced by unconstricted family life
in the presence of hope.
-dlj.
Follow-Ups:
References: