Posted on 04/05/2006 10:33:33 PM PDT by Lurker
Professor's population speeches unnerve some He says he's issuing warning, but others see talk of pandemics as a threat.
By Laura Heinauer
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
University of Texas professor Eric Pianka's enemies say he advocates wiping out 90 percent of the population and that his seemingly giddy obsession with death and disease coupled with power over young minds is dangerous and disturbing.
His supporters say while his rhetoric may be shocking at times, he's just trying to get people to think about the consequences of uncontrolled population growth.
Laura Skelding
AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Eric Pianka, a UT professor since 1968, has given recent speeches where he says disease pandemics could wipe out 90 percent of the world's population. Some critics say he's promoting such a disaster.
"I've found that it takes courage to tell people what they don't want to know," Pianka, 67, said Tuesday, two days after a newspaper story in Seguin's Gazette-Enterprise ignited a firestorm that has resulted in e-mail threats on Pianka's life.
The controversy surrounds comments made during two recent speeches in which Pianka discussed the need for population control and the impending disease pandemic that might well just take care of it. Some heard the comments as simply a warning. To others, however, it sounded like Pianka was advocating the use of deadly viruses to kill off millions of people.
Pianka, who calls the latter interpretation nonsense, says the whole thing has blown out of proportion. Many, however, seem to be taking his critics seriously. Pianka said he is scheduled to meet with FBI officials today.
"Someone has reported me as a terrorist," he said. "They think I'm forming a cadre of people to release the airborne Ebola virus into the air. That I'm the leader and my students are the followers."
There's no denying that Pianka, even at first glace, seems a little eccentric.
His office, which he has inhabited for 38 years, is cluttered with books, stacks of paper, bones and even a few beers. There's a photo of him dressed like British naturalist Charles Darwin. Scattered pictures of lizards and a copy of his semi-autobiography, "The Lizard Man Speaks," reveal his area of expertise — lizards and evolutionary ecology. On his desk, he keeps a stuffed likeness of the Ebola virus that was sent to him by students who enjoyed his speeches.
He is particularly troubled by the recent explosion in the human population. He says we now take up about 50 percent of all livable space on Earth and that people should have no more than two children. Humans, and the way they've multiplied, are "no better than bacteria," he says.
Such talk makes Forrest Mims' skin crawl.
Mims, an author and amateur scientist who heard Pianka speak in early March before the Texas Academy of Science, said Pianka's remarks were degrading and that he was deeply disturbed by Pianka's comments comparing different diseases and their potential to decimate the human race. He's one of dozens of bloggers who have expressed displeasure with Pianka's point of view.
A Gazette-Enterprise reporter who heard Pianka speak Friday on the same topic quoted him saying disease "will control the scourge of humanity. We're looking forward to a huge collapse."
"It was 'Twilight Zone' material. It was like sitting in a science-fiction movie," Mims said Tuesday, adding that he is worried young doctors and scientists with access to deadly diseases might take literally what he claims is a call by Pianka to control population growth through the spread of disease. "The big concern is this professor is instilling this in the minds of students."
Pianka said only meant to warn about the potential for epidemics in the face of uncontrolled population growth. No recording or transcript of either that speech or another delivered last Friday at St. Edward's University in Austin was available. Pianka, who said his daughters are now worried about his and their safety, says his life has been turned upside-down by "right-wing fools."
Those roaming the corridors at Patterson Hall on the UT campus were very supportive of their teacher and colleague.
Fellow professor David Hillis said most people were sympathetic of the nationally renowned professor's plight. "There's a strong anti-science sentiment in the country right now," Hillis said. Pianka "has such a passion for life and diversity. How anyone could paint him as pro-death is unbelievable."
Tracy Heath, a doctoral student who has taken classes taught by Pianka, said he's known for living on a ranch, driving a Toyota Prius and raising bison. "He likes to captivate students with interesting pictures and stories," she said. "He's just trying to make waves to get people to think."
Pianka hopes this experience does just that. "We could be gods," he said. "We could be such great stewards of the Earth."
Oh, and one other thing — "Maybe it will help me sell a few books."
lheinauer@statesman.com; 445-3694
Eric R. Pianka
Born: Jan. 23, 1939, in Yreka, Calif. Now lives in Blanco County.
Education: Bachelors in biology, Carleton College 1960; doctorate in zoology, University of Washington, 1965; doctorate in ecology, University of Western Australia, 1990
Career: University of Texas, 1968 to present.
Family: Two brothers, a sister, two daughters, two granddaughters, two ex-wives and a small herd of American bison.
Publications: Several papers and more than a dozen books, including 'Varanoid Lizards of the World', 2004, and 'Lizards: Windows to the Evolution of Diversity', 2003, which won a Robert W. Hamilton Book award in 2005.
Hobbies: Chess, falconry
Worth noting: Guggenheim Fellow, 1978-79; Fulbright Senior Research Scholar, 1990-91; Denton A. Cooley Centennial Professorship in Zoology, 1986; Herpetologists League's 'Distinguished Herpetologist,' 2004; Texas Academy of Science 'Distinguished Scientist,' 2006
L
OK. Start with the professor.
Like other folks, my first reaction was to call for starting with the professor. Then I began to wonder if what the professor is doing isn't insitement. Sooner or later some dumb bass is going to find his suggestions appealing, and then we're in a heap of trouble.
Why do we allow this? And folks, don't quote the first ammendment. I refuse to believe the founding fathers wanted to protect the right of someone to suggest 90% of U.S. Citizens needed to be destroyed.
If we allow this to continue, we are one very very sick nation.
Makes me think of that crazy scientist in the old movie
"Twelve Monkees" .. he started a worldwide pandemic.
Isn't the old excuse, "He's just trying to encourage people to think about (fill in the blank for whatever crackpot topic a moonbat prof gets caught proclaiming)" wearing a little thin?
"""There's a strong anti-science sentiment in the country right now," Hillis said""
How about the strong anti-human sentiment of Pianka?
Good grief.
The objection does not require any political, religious or any other sort of identification except the one most of us have with our own species.
The same species that affords this man the protection that allows him to play with reptiles for a living.
Uh huh..and another serpent..another Eve..and another "b$tch set me up!" excuse to the Maker..
Sigh.
No different than CFR thinking.
The secret (now declassified) paper NSSM 200, "Implications of Worldwide Population Growth For U.S. Security and Overseas Interests," also known as the Scowcroft Document (authored by the CFR's Brent Scowcroft), gives insight into U.S. government plans for population reduction internationally, linking these plans to goals that have very little to do with alleviating human suffering, and everything to do with the maximization of profit.
Prepared in 1974 for the National Security Council (and remember, this is a government document, although one not likely to be offered for free in late night Public Service Announcements) NSSm 200 proposes means for the reduction of worldwide population by "concentration on key [i.e. Third World] countries," with the stated goal of reduction of population growth rate from an annual 2 percent growth to 1.7 percent.
Also, this lady of the left agrees with him.
“Those least fit to carry on the race are increasing most rapidly ... Funds that should be used to raise the standard of our civilization are diverted to maintenance of those who should never have been born.”
- From The Pivot of Civilization quoted in Margaret Sanger (founder of Planned Parenthood), by Elsah Droghin.
This clown has been taken in by one of the oldest Lies in history. He thinks we can be Gods. Well the only problem with that is that God has to pick who lives and who dies.
Well it appears this monster has made his choice. Well, sort of anyway. I'm sure he doesn't want his kids to be among the 90%.
But, what makes him a monster is that he doesn't mind of you and your kids are among the 90%. Apparently that doesn't bother him in the least.
Where have we heard this kind of talk before?
And ye shall be as Gods..
And this asshat thinks those of us in the 'right wing' are radical. Hey, there's nothing radical about wishing 90% of humanity dead from a hideous disease that literally makes one bleed out from every pore in their body while screaming in pain. Nope...nothing radical there.
I'm telling you DO, I really need to limit my time amongst my fellow human beings because one of these days soon somebody is going to start spouting this crap in front of me.
And if I hear somebody say that they want my entire family dead to 'save the Earth' I'm going to personally put them at the front of the line.
L
"Someone has reported me as a terrorist"
Humans, and the way they've multiplied, are "no better than bacteria," he says.
"We could be gods," he said. "We could be such great stewards of the Earth."
"Maybe it will help me sell a few books."
Passion for life? Maybefore HIS life. He hopes to get thru his by the time bad things happen. Idiot.
"Sooner or later some dumb bass is going to find his suggeestions appealing, and then we're in a heap of trouble."
Oh, and you don't think that Osama and his buddies aren't already trying to figure out how to weaponize bad bugs and send them to us COD? I am not worried about the dumb basses, it's the smart ones that will do the damage.
The big question is will we be prepared if/when it happens? What kind of drills are we conducting? How much food, water, and other essentials do we have on hand to shelter in place and avoid infected places? A month's supply should be a bare minimum. You saw how prepared the people of New Orleans were to feed and water themselves.
There are times when I think back on my early years and wish that I had applied myself more in school. It's sortof like spilled milk at this point. I don't beat myself up over it.
When I consider what passes for intellect on our nation's university campuses these days, it puts these thoughts to rest.
I spent 26 years working side by side with people who had doctorates. If you met them in a restaurant and carried on a conversation with them, you wouldn't be able to tell. In their specific field they are very knowledgable. Venture off that topic and they're no different than anyone else.
One such person and I had a running verbal pseudo slug fest going that was pretty good natured considering our opposing views. During one of our conversations he admitted that he thought it would be best if a large part of humanity would die.
I've known this guy since I was in my early twenties. By any other measure, this guy is one of the nicest people you'd want to meet. When it comes to the environment he has no connection whatsoever to reality.
I respect folks who've put their nose to the grindstone and have obtained a degree. More impressive than anything else to me is that they set a goal and stuck with it over a long period of time. That's impressive.
The problem is, that many of these folks think they're God's gift to humanity on every subject. Rational arguements mean nothing to them. "Hey I've got a degree!"
Well so much for that premise. If a guy can get his doctorate and still not understand that we don't need to kill off most of humanity, that pretty well makes my case.
She came over so we could pay her for watching our son for a couple of hours one afternoon. She, our son, and a few neighborhood kids were going to catch fireflies once the sun went down. I told her to put on some mosquito repellent so she didn't get all bit up.
She looked at me and (I swear to God she said this): "That's ok. It would be better for the Earth if I got West Nile and died. Our science teacher says there are too many people anyway."
I was horrified. Here was this lovely young lady whose mind has already been poisoned with the thought that the planet would be better of if she contracted a fatal disease.
I wanted to find out which of her teachers had planted this evil thought in her head and then go stomp the living crap out of him or her. What kind of sick human being would plant such a terrible thought in a young childs mind? What kind of depravity exists in a f****** teacher of young children that makes them think it's good to instill this want of death in them?
We had a little chat this young lady and I. I asked her if she thought her parents felt the world would be better off if she died. I asked her if she thought the world would be better off if her younger sister was dead. I asked her if she thought the same thing about my son, her parents, her grandparents, or her friends.
She was nearly in tears when I was finished. She had never really thought the whole thing through apparently. (No shock there, what 13 year old thinks anything through.) Then I had a nice little chat with her dad over a couple of beers. By the time we got done talking I think Leo was ready to rip her science teacher into tiny pieces. I know he scheduled a meeting with her after we spoke.
I'll have to ask him how that went.
Anyway my point is this kind of evil filth isn't just being spouted by nutball college professors. It's made it into High School science classes.
We're going to have a long, hard slog cleaning this kind of crap up. It ain't gonnna be easy and it ain't gonna be pretty.
L
While I understand your point and don't disagree in full, I reflect back on the unibomber and realize we're just one kook away from millions of people dying.
I completely agree in amazement at the people in New Orleans that didn't have anything set aside for a disaster.
I do think that is somewhat shallow though (myself included) in that many homes had water up to the top, or had been destroyed to the point that emergency supplies would have gone up with the home.
Let me say this about that though. You won't catch me setting up a home under sea level. You won't catch me setting up a home in a flood plane. You won't catch me setting up a home under a dirt hillside with out a granite base.
People are pretty strange.
I'm learning a lot. It's interesting and when we have an incident it's pretty exciting.
But what that doesn't make me qualified to do is be some sort of expert on everything.
I put this professors history at the end of the article for a reason. This guy is a herpetologist. That makes him an expert on lizards. That's it. He studies lizards.
I'm sure he's eminently qualified to talk about geckos, skinks, monitors, iguanas, and gila monsters. I would listen to him speak on those subjects if I had any interest in them. What he isn't an expert on is the relative 'health' of the entire planet. I don't believe there's any such course of study. I doubt any serious scholar would allow that any one person could become expert on such a thing anyway. Planetary systems are simply too complex.
But that doesn't stop a guy who studies lizards from saying publicly that he wants several billions of human beings to die from a disease that literally makes ones body melt away from massive bleeding.
This guy needs a plain old fashioned Texas sized ass kicking. He certainly shouldn't be teaching kids on any subject other than lizards.
L
My heart goes out to kids like this. You sometimes ask yourself why the child suicide rate is so high... and then this.
I consider this to be child abuse. This teacher has shown such bad judgement that I'd want to see his/her credentials yanked, and them barred from taking on a job that involved working with anyone below the age of 25.
As you intimated, our schools are melting down and I don't see a fix short of shutting the whole thing down and rebooting.
There should be a national database with the names of every current school administrator, and they should be barred from working in the school systems when things start up again.
I'm a hard nose on this subject. I expect more and I'm tired of half measures.
Our thoughts run along the same lines. I appreciate the comments. Good luck to you with regard to your Emergency Management degree. I've been exposed to that environment superficially, and it is interesting.
There are tons of resources out there. Ready.gov is a pretty good place to start. You can also check the Red Cross website for some good info. Every thing you see will tell you to plan for at least 72 hours without assistance. My personal recommendation is that you double that. Have at least 6 days worth of supplies on hand.
It's not hard and it's not that expensive. You don't have to do it all at once. But, you do have to do it if you don't want to end up in some shelter some place completely dependent upon the kindness of strangers.
Having 'stuff' around the house is important. But it's far more important to have a plan. Once you hit those websites talk to your local officials. Start with your city, town, or village. Ask them about their Emergency Operations Plans. Then do the same at your County. Find out what the evacuation routes are from your area.
Talk to your friends, coworkers, and family out of state if you have any. Make a communications plan for your family locally and have ways to contact folks who will be out of the danger zone.
Anyway that's a start. Good luck to you.
L
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