You know, I'll be the first to admit I'm an environmentalist. I believe protecting the planet, especially animals, is one of the most important issues facing the world today. However, I'm not blind to the fact that my own side has its share of lolcows. You've got hippy-dippy types like James Lovelock, who believes the planet Earth is a living organism presently trying to kill us pesky humans. There's John Watson, the genius behind Whale Wars and essentially the green movement's equivalent of an Internet Tough Guy. And who could forget our own beloved horrorcow Pentti Linkola, an apologist for every genocide that's ever been genocided, including the Holocaust, in the name of reducing population. In my opinion, though, none of these match the pure, distilled funny of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement.
The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (who abbreviate themselves "VHEMT," I guess because it looks like "vehement") began as an offshoot of Zero Population Growth, who believe human births should ideally equal deaths and promotes the use of contraception in achieving this goal. VHEMT takes the idea one further: humans should choose not to give birth at all, eventually succumbing to extinction. This is because, in the words of founder Les U. Knight, Homo sapiens is "fundamentally incompatible" with the planet Earth (didn't we evolve here?). He is also opposed to humans changing their lifestyles to be eco-friendly, as apparently our mere existence harms the planet. He believes that the mere act of having children in today's world is child abuse, follows Lovelock in believing the planet is "alive," and believes that no achievement made by humans is comparable to those made by animals. He has stated that should his group succeed, the last humans would likely be proud of what they had done.
That's not to say they advocate mass suicide or anything; that'd just be insane! In fact, they claim they want humans to be able to easily live past 100, and that their way is the preferred means of doing so. they just want everyone to stop having sex. Everyone. Forever. As well, like a lot of quacky organizations, they engage in "astroturfing" to make themselves seem more credible. They claim over 1,000,000 members, stating that everyone who agrees with them is a member.
Check out their extremely neutral (it's even featured!) Wikipedia page here, and their not-so-neutral ED page here.
The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (who abbreviate themselves "VHEMT," I guess because it looks like "vehement") began as an offshoot of Zero Population Growth, who believe human births should ideally equal deaths and promotes the use of contraception in achieving this goal. VHEMT takes the idea one further: humans should choose not to give birth at all, eventually succumbing to extinction. This is because, in the words of founder Les U. Knight, Homo sapiens is "fundamentally incompatible" with the planet Earth (didn't we evolve here?). He is also opposed to humans changing their lifestyles to be eco-friendly, as apparently our mere existence harms the planet. He believes that the mere act of having children in today's world is child abuse, follows Lovelock in believing the planet is "alive," and believes that no achievement made by humans is comparable to those made by animals. He has stated that should his group succeed, the last humans would likely be proud of what they had done.
That's not to say they advocate mass suicide or anything; that'd just be insane! In fact, they claim they want humans to be able to easily live past 100, and that their way is the preferred means of doing so. they just want everyone to stop having sex. Everyone. Forever. As well, like a lot of quacky organizations, they engage in "astroturfing" to make themselves seem more credible. They claim over 1,000,000 members, stating that everyone who agrees with them is a member.
Check out their extremely neutral (it's even featured!) Wikipedia page here, and their not-so-neutral ED page here.
