NY Times Opinion: Human extinction might be a good thing

[mystery-ak]

NY Times Opinion: Human extinction might be a good thing

John SextonPosted at 7:23 pm on December 17, 2018

I swear the NY Times is just trolling us all at this point. Today the paper published an opinion piece by a professor of philosophy from Clemson University who hashes out an argument over the continued existence of humanity and concludes, at least provisionally, that our extinction might be a good thing. The author bases this argument on three premises which he says are “uncontroversial.”

Human beings are destroying large parts of the inhabitable earth and causing unimaginable suffering to many of the animals that inhabit it. This is happening through at least three means. First, human contribution to climate change is devastating ecosystems, as the recent article on Yellowstone Park in The Times exemplifies. Second, increasing human population is encroaching on ecosystems that would otherwise be intact. Third, factory farming fosters the creation of millions upon millions of animals for whom it offers nothing but suffering and misery before slaughtering them in often barbaric ways. There is no reason to think that those practices are going to diminish any time soon.

Let’s just pause here to note that this argument is about as subtle as a hammer and twice as dense. First of all, if you want to make the case that people create incredible suffering, maybe at least mention Rwanda or the Holocaust as examples in your favor. But the author doesn’t even mention human suffering and instead focuses on the harm done to cows and chickens. I’m just guessing but I suspect the reason man’s inhumanity to man doesn’t get a mention is that it undercuts the thrust of the author’s argument a bit. After all, once you start thinking about genocide and the horror it represents, the idea of a planetary species-cide seems rather repugnant. In any case, the author moves on to argue that if we just think of the animals, our mass destruction is an easy call.

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https://hotair.com/archives/2018/12/17/ny-times-opinion-human-extinction-might-good-thing/

[Fishrrman]

I'm waitin' for the day the New York Times "goes extinct" by going out of business...

[rustynail]

'Elites' first.

[andy58-in-nh]

Every now and then, one comes across a revealing text that proves what many of us have long suspected: Progressives love "humanity" only as an effete abstraction, but hate actual human beings, unto willing their demise.   

[EasyAce]

Every now and then, one comes across a revealing text that proves what many of us have long suspected: Progressives love "humanity" only as an effete abstraction, but hate actual human beings, unto willing their demise.

@andy58-in-nh
They love the people but despise people.

At least until they realise that if they have their way there may not be anyone left willing to buy and read The New York Times. On that day, rest assured the Times will thunder on behalf of human survival.

[sneakypete]

I think there should be a test before they take it nationwide. Maybe start in NYC,Hollywood,and Chicago and see how it works first?

[DB]

Nature is the cruelest of masters.

These journalists have no clue of which they speak.

Nature is survival of the fittest period. The weak are prey and/or starve to death.

Only humans on this planet have risen above nature.

[Night Hides Not]

Nature is the cruelest of masters.

These journalists have no clue of which they speak.

Nature is survival of the fittest period. The weak are prey and/or starve to death.

Only humans on this planet have risen above nature.

Until the next ELE...Extinction Level Event. My money's on ELE.

[Oceander]

Dear NY Times:  you go first.  We promise we’ll follow after we’ve buried your remains.  Promise!

[DB]

Until the next ELE...Extinction Level Event. My money's on ELE.

We have the option of getting off this rock.