Population Control: Not a Straightforward Issue
This is the third blog in a series of blogs dealing with major and minor themes in my debut science fiction novel. The topic of this blog is population control and the different factors that can make it necessary in some cases yet sinister to some degree in all cases.
The concept of population control has been explored numerous times in fiction, usually with sinister ulterior motives attached. This is especially the case in many works of science fiction. However, despite traditional fictional portrayals of population control as an immoral act of evil perpetrated by some devious entity, there are some convenient justifications for implementing such measures. But before getting to any of them, it is necessary to point out the inherent negative aspects of population control. For this blog, whenever I reference" the government" I mean all governments worldwide. And I know that the concept of population control can include a wide range of topics from viruses to eugenics to tampering with food & water supplies, and everything in between. However, I will keep this particular blog relatively simply, and perhaps, I may revisit this topic more in depth at a later date.
The source for the most sinister potential aspect is that the government is not genuinely looking out for the interests of its constituents but rather for that of the elite. To expound further on that notion, the government has shown a history of being willing to use the population as expendable tools to serve the needs of an elite class of institutions, individuals, and corporations. This has been proven true in real-life examples: soldiers being put into harm's way in wars for nefarious reasons that benefit corporations, corporate stockholders, and the military-industrial complex; implementing economic sanctions that block food and medicine to various countries to pressure sovereign nations into succumbing to demands the government is ultimately making on behalf of corporations; or numerous other acts that reduce people into expendable pawns. Of course, population control in this sense does not fall within the traditional meaning of intentional human population reduction. Still, it does highlight the underlying intent to eliminate large portions of a population primarily for the benefit of the government and the elite class.
A slightly less sinister but abhorrent form of population control is known as human population planning. This is a proactive tactic of incorporating means of slowing down the growth rate of a population. The most famous of these was the Chinese government's two-child policy and the subsequent one-child policy.
To give a brief background, in the early 1970s, China's population was climbing close to one billion residents. Such a population growth brought about concerns of the strain on governmental and environmental resources, rising poverty rate, and overpopulation. As a measure to curb the development of the population, the Chinese government implemented the two-child policy under which the citizens were encouraged to limit their offspring to two children [1]. From 1979 - 2015, the more stringent one-child policy was implemented, under which Their government heavily inspired Chinese citizens to limit their offspring to one child [2]. Although this policy was somewhat successful in slowing down the population growth, it ultimately did not stop it from growing to 1.4 billion as of 2021. During implementing those policies, many ethical dilemmas were presented: growth in unwanted or abandoned children to disability or "wrong gender"; less value placed on girls; etc.
In addition to the above effects of the one-child and two-child policies, another more troubling effect is the authoritarian precedent it set for the Chinese government and all modern governments. Although those policies have some merit for being implemented, the underbelly of these policies is the erosion of personal freedoms for the everyday citizens, mainly intentional or not. But let's be honest, the government's decline of citizens' rights is almost always intentional to some degree). In these situations, when personal freedoms are sacrificed for proactive population control policies, such as those mentioned above, the nefarious intentions can be hidden behind legitimate well-intentioned goals. To further highlight this notion, another example of such a population control policy would be compulsory sterilization [3]. Various governments perpetuate this practice worldwide to address legitimate problems that fit into the categories mentioned near the beginning of this blog. However, in many of those countries, the application of such policies is questionable, at best. At worst, they are terrifying. And by menacing, I mean these compelled sterilizations target specific sections of these societies. It could be along socio-economic lines, ethnic lines, gender, religious lines, etc. If you find yourself on the" wrong side" of the line for these societal divides in certain countries, you run a high risk of being targeted by the government.
To give another perspective, various governments institute programs that do a relatively good job in incorporating population control policies without trampling on fundamental human rights. One particular program is the Philippine Population Management Program (PPMP). This program was developed in 1993 to foster comprehensive education and shared responsibility for population control, family planning, and quality of life for the citizens. Some of the specific issues it has sought to address included but were not limited to rapid population growth rate, spatial population distribution, reduction in premarital sex, and increased mobility among the population [4]. Although the Philippines have seen some success with this program as of 2021, it still has a ways to go [5]. However, what can be considered a definite success is the Philippine government's refrain from implementing this program in an authoritarian manner. Hopefully, from now on, the Philippine government will not feel that it has to result in such implementation to yield the desired results.
With that said, it is fair to say that concept and implementation of population control can be both good and terrifying. It can be used as a vital tool in ensuring the long-term health of a population. But there is a fragile line that, if crossed, could trample the so-called freedoms of that population and trigger a hostile tension between the government and its constituents.
CITATIONS
Zeng, Yi, and Therese Hesketh. “The Effects of CHINA'S UNIVERSAL Two-Child Policy.â€Â Lancet (London, England), U.S. National Library of Medicine, 15 Oct. 2016, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5944611/.
Ibid.
Stern, Alexandra. “Forced Sterilization Policies in the US Targeted Minorities and Those with Disabilities – and Lasted into the 21st Century.â€Â University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, University of Michigan, 23 Sept. 2020, ihpi.umich.edu/news/forced-sterilization-policies-us-targeted-minorities-and-those-disabilities-and-lasted-21st.
https://doh.gov.ph/book/export/html/1320
https://dirp3.pids.gov.ph/ris/dps/pidsdps0318.pdf