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Should This Be the Last Generation? (asks Peter Singer)
New York Times ^ | June 6, 2010 | Peter Singer

Posted on 06/07/2010 5:18:02 AM PDT by reaganaut1

...

Most thoughtful people are extremely concerned about climate change. Some stop eating meat, or flying abroad on vacation, in order to reduce their carbon footprint. But the people who will be most severely harmed by climate change have not yet been conceived. If there were to be no future generations, there would be much less for us to feel to guilty about.

So why don’t we make ourselves the Last Generation on Earth? If we would all agree to have ourselves sterilized then no sacrifices would be required — we could party our way into extinction!

Of course, it would be impossible to get agreement on universal sterilization, but just imagine that we could. Then is there anything wrong with this scenario? Even if we take a less pessimistic view of human existence than Benatar, we could still defend it, because it makes us better off — for one thing, we can get rid of all that guilt about what we are doing to future generations — and it doesn’t make anyone worse off, because there won’t be anyone else to be worse off.

Is a world with people in it better than one without? Put aside what we do to other species — that’s a different issue. Let’s assume that the choice is between a world like ours and one with no sentient beings in it at all. And assume, too — here we have to get fictitious, as philosophers often do — that if we choose to bring about the world with no sentient beings at all, everyone will agree to do that. No one’s rights will be violated — at least, not the rights of any existing people. Can non-existent people have a right to come into existence?

(Excerpt) Read more at opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: 2sterilizelefties; 4liberalsyes; abortions; antinatalism; benatar; davidbenatar; deathcultivation; genocide; homosexualagenda; lastoneoutplease; moralabsolutes; petersinger; prolife; singer; sterilization; turnoffthelights
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Peter Singer is a Princeton professor who has advocated the infanticide of disabled infants. Now he advocates the extinction of mankind.

Reading about American "higher education" often enrages me. My wife and I have the bizarre notion that universities should help students appreciate Western civilization and prepare students for rewarding (financially, and if possible, intellectually) careers. Our lives revolve around providing for and educating our children. We're supposed to pay $50K a year to Princeton to subsidize a professor who would demoralize our children, trying to persuade them that there is something wrong with the basic human desire to marry and procreate? Go to hell, Princeton, and take Singer with you.

1 posted on 06/07/2010 5:18:02 AM PDT by reaganaut1
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To: reaganaut1

Liberals first.....


2 posted on 06/07/2010 5:19:26 AM PDT by silverleaf (Every time history repeats itself the price goes up)
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To: wagglebee

Ping.


3 posted on 06/07/2010 5:20:04 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: silverleaf

I’ve got a better idea Professor. Why don’t you just make yourself the last generation of your line. Like tomorrow...or better yet, today.


4 posted on 06/07/2010 5:20:42 AM PDT by pgkdan (I Miss Ronald Reagan!)
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To: reaganaut1; All
You know what I always say to these types?

"You first..."

5 posted on 06/07/2010 5:23:27 AM PDT by backhoe (Just an Old Keyboard Cowboy, ridin' the trakball into America's Twilight...)
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To: reaganaut1

why is it that those who think this

fly and drive cars?


6 posted on 06/07/2010 5:23:36 AM PDT by ken21 (i am not voting for a rino-progressive.)
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To: reaganaut1

Liberals hate humanity and they hate God. All of their philosophy comes from these two points.


7 posted on 06/07/2010 5:24:16 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy
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To: reaganaut1; 185JHP; 230FMJ; Albion Wilde; Aleighanne; Alexander Rubin; An American In Dairyland; ...
Moral Absolutes Ping!

Freepmail wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.

FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
[ Add keyword moral absolutes to flag FR articles to this ping list ]


8 posted on 06/07/2010 5:25:03 AM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: reaganaut1

Something labeled from the NYT and written by Singer is just too much socialist stupidity for me to stomach this morning. Ugh.


9 posted on 06/07/2010 5:25:24 AM PDT by Kieri (The Conservatrarian)
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To: reaganaut1

Peter Singer.... too much LSD


10 posted on 06/07/2010 5:26:21 AM PDT by caver (Obama: Home of the Whopper)
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To: reaganaut1

“Most thoughtful people are extremely concerned about climate change.”

The Earth is not thoughtful, and is unconcerned about climate change.


11 posted on 06/07/2010 5:27:36 AM PDT by ctdonath2 (+)
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To: reaganaut1
Most thoughtful people are extremely concerned about climate change.

Couldn't get past that sentence. It's 59F at my hacienda in SE Tennessee this morning. Ordinarily, it would be in the low 70's. Our high temps for the next three weeks aren't supposed to go above the upper 80's. High temps this time of year would ordinarily be in the low to mid 90's. 'Scuse me, Mr. Singer, but where is that Globull Warming you nitwits keep talking about?

12 posted on 06/07/2010 5:27:44 AM PDT by Thermalseeker (Stop the insanity - Flush Congress!)
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To: reaganaut1

Lead the way, Pete. You first, mmmkay?


13 posted on 06/07/2010 5:28:22 AM PDT by Ol' Sox
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To: reaganaut1

“If so, what factors entered into your decision? Was it whether having children would be good for you, your partner and others close to the possible child, such as children you may already have, or perhaps your parents? “
Not only is this Singer fellow a nihilist and psychopath, he is a terrible writer as evidenced by the above sentence. How any family could send their kid to Princeton is beyond me. It seems nearly every Ivy League school has maniacal professors whose atheism and deceitfulness serve to influence young minds for evil purposes.


14 posted on 06/07/2010 5:28:37 AM PDT by sueuprising
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To: reaganaut1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Singer Singer's parents were Viennese Jews who escaped the German annexation of Austria and fled to Australia in 1938. They settled in Melbourne, where Singer was born. His grandparents were less fortunate: his paternal grandparents were taken by the Nazis to Łódź, and were never heard from again; his maternal grandfather died in Theresienstadt.[2] He has a sister, Joan (now Joan Dwyer). Singer's father imported tea and coffee, while his mother practiced medicine. ________________________________________________________ No mention of wife or kids...his psyche is surely damaged goods.
15 posted on 06/07/2010 5:28:51 AM PDT by sodpoodle (Despair - Man's surrender. Laughter - God's redemption)
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To: reaganaut1

OK, I puked on the first sentence.

This tripe is getting annoying. Isn’t it time for these idiots to move on to their next scam?


16 posted on 06/07/2010 5:30:14 AM PDT by reagan_fanatic (Never trust anyone who points their rear end at God while praying.)
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To: reaganaut1
Most thoughtful people are extremely concerned about climate change....

Obviously this statement would be completely false if the word "thoughtful" were left out. However, I'm sure that the definition of "thoughtful" in Singer's view is quite different than what you'd find in your copy of Webster's. It obviously refers to the few percent of the population that shares Singer's "enlightened" views.

17 posted on 06/07/2010 5:30:27 AM PDT by NewHampshireDuo
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To: sodpoodle

Please! Someone near this fool take his dissertation (assuming he wrote one) and smack him alongside the head several times. This anti-intellectual freak needs a check-up-from-the-neck-up.


18 posted on 06/07/2010 5:31:22 AM PDT by hal ogen ($10 (I think) amounts through the internet from all over the world.)
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To: reaganaut1

You first, bucko.


19 posted on 06/07/2010 5:31:46 AM PDT by RockinRight (I can see November from here!)
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To: reaganaut1

This is the kind of shit that leads to the gulags and gas chambers, and we are getting a torrent of it lately. The tyrants-in-waiting are being emboldened enough to come out in the light. There is a huge evil starting to awaken in this country.


20 posted on 06/07/2010 5:32:15 AM PDT by thecabal (Destroy Progressivism)
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