Bill Nye Wants to 'Penalize' You for Having 'Extra Kids'
You might want to decide which one or two kids are your favorites, because Nye is coming for the "extra ones."
M.J. Randolph
yes, really), came from the new modestly-titled Netflix series Bill Nye Saves the World. But his most recent episode is just about as bad.
In the 13th episode of the season, titled “Earth’s People Problem," Nye tackles a problem no one's been concerned about since the 1970s: overpopulation.
The 26-minute episode explained that educated women usually have fewer children than uneducated ones, that women in power have fewer children, and the fewer children there are, the more resources can be devoted to those children. All true. Then, the show posits that America’s patriarchal society means that new mothers here are really bad off. Bosworth W. Hollingsworth, IV describes the show in the Federalist:
... women in India get 16 weeks of paid maternity leave, which is “unheard of in the United States.” Never mind that here in California (home to roughly 20 percent of Americans), we have 16 weeks of guaranteed maternity leave as well. Also disregard the fact that the absence of a federal requirement for maternity leave does not mean maternity leave is nonexistent in the United States... Instructively, she approvingly lists China when she rattles off some of the countries that do have required paid maternity leave policies.
Yes, Chinese mothers have it so easy, when the government isn't forcing them to abort children that exceed their quotas.
Next, Nye hosted a panel discussion comprised of "Rachel Snow, chief of population development at the United Nations Population Fund, Dr. Travis Rieder, ethicist at the Berman Institute at Johns Hopkins University, and finally Dr. Nerys Benfield, director of Family Planning Montefiore Medical Center."
"What should we be doing?” Nye asks.
Benfield says health care and family planning are both important, and the panel nods approvingly. “We need justice and we need education," Snow said. Wait, what? Justice? For whom? The panel does not clarify what's meant by "justice," though Nye asks, "How do we create and export this justice?" Again, what's he talking about? Justice is not something you whip up in the lab: it's meted out, not concocted.
Snow says we can do this by creating “excellent education systems," and Rieder says children take up way too many of the earth's resources. That's when Nye asks, “Should we have policies that penalize people for having extra kids in the developed world?” This is when the show gets downright creepy. Hollingsworth describes the ensuing conversation:
Extra kids. These d-mn people and their existence, am I right? Nye (who, again, decided we all needed to see that abomination from Bloom) is wise enough to set limits on humanity. This whole concept and the ease with which he discusses it is so frightening and evil that I am genuinely appalled at Netflix’s decision to air it.
Rieder says we should “at least consider” a form of punishment for people who have these Extra Kids (TM). Nye impatiently responds that “consider means do it.” Snow, to her credit, jumps in and takes issue with the idea that “we do anything to incentivize fewer children or more children.” Benfield notes the history of compulsory sterilization in America, a practice that was in place as recently as the 1970s. The issue was not come at from a position of justice in the past, she adds. But this time will be different, I guess?
So, if you’re scoring at home, that leaves China’s maternity laws and their recently ended one-child policy as the key points from this half hour of science televangelism.
You might want to decide which one or two kids are your favorites, because Nye is coming for the "extra ones."
M.J. Randolph
yes, really), came from the new modestly-titled Netflix series Bill Nye Saves the World. But his most recent episode is just about as bad.
In the 13th episode of the season, titled “Earth’s People Problem," Nye tackles a problem no one's been concerned about since the 1970s: overpopulation.
The 26-minute episode explained that educated women usually have fewer children than uneducated ones, that women in power have fewer children, and the fewer children there are, the more resources can be devoted to those children. All true. Then, the show posits that America’s patriarchal society means that new mothers here are really bad off. Bosworth W. Hollingsworth, IV describes the show in the Federalist:
... women in India get 16 weeks of paid maternity leave, which is “unheard of in the United States.” Never mind that here in California (home to roughly 20 percent of Americans), we have 16 weeks of guaranteed maternity leave as well. Also disregard the fact that the absence of a federal requirement for maternity leave does not mean maternity leave is nonexistent in the United States... Instructively, she approvingly lists China when she rattles off some of the countries that do have required paid maternity leave policies.
Yes, Chinese mothers have it so easy, when the government isn't forcing them to abort children that exceed their quotas.
Next, Nye hosted a panel discussion comprised of "Rachel Snow, chief of population development at the United Nations Population Fund, Dr. Travis Rieder, ethicist at the Berman Institute at Johns Hopkins University, and finally Dr. Nerys Benfield, director of Family Planning Montefiore Medical Center."
"What should we be doing?” Nye asks.
Benfield says health care and family planning are both important, and the panel nods approvingly. “We need justice and we need education," Snow said. Wait, what? Justice? For whom? The panel does not clarify what's meant by "justice," though Nye asks, "How do we create and export this justice?" Again, what's he talking about? Justice is not something you whip up in the lab: it's meted out, not concocted.
Snow says we can do this by creating “excellent education systems," and Rieder says children take up way too many of the earth's resources. That's when Nye asks, “Should we have policies that penalize people for having extra kids in the developed world?” This is when the show gets downright creepy. Hollingsworth describes the ensuing conversation:
Extra kids. These d-mn people and their existence, am I right? Nye (who, again, decided we all needed to see that abomination from Bloom) is wise enough to set limits on humanity. This whole concept and the ease with which he discusses it is so frightening and evil that I am genuinely appalled at Netflix’s decision to air it.
Rieder says we should “at least consider” a form of punishment for people who have these Extra Kids (TM). Nye impatiently responds that “consider means do it.” Snow, to her credit, jumps in and takes issue with the idea that “we do anything to incentivize fewer children or more children.” Benfield notes the history of compulsory sterilization in America, a practice that was in place as recently as the 1970s. The issue was not come at from a position of justice in the past, she adds. But this time will be different, I guess?
So, if you’re scoring at home, that leaves China’s maternity laws and their recently ended one-child policy as the key points from this half hour of science televangelism.
