posted September 18, 2004 04:48 PM              

I don't believe that anyone- teenager or adult- should condemn anyone's ideas as "ridiculous" or "naive" or the like. Often times when I am involved in tense disussions I find it best to "walk away" or discontinue the exchange if I believe it to be unproductive. I do try very hard not to volley insults.

Let's all of us try to demonstrate exemplary behavior to the best of our abilities in this regard. We are all capable of this and should seek whenever possible to live by the highest ideals where this is concerned.

~Thank You

posted September 18, 2004 05:16 PM              

Western European countries themselves have low birth rates. England already has reached ZPG (zero population growth), and Italy is even growing negatively, if I'm remembering this right. However, Italy gets a lot of immigrants that come as migrant workers every year from countries in Northern Africa and such, so they still have a growth rate. England gets its fair share of immigrants too- so these countries are still growing a bit.

But there is a trend in most Western-influenced countries nowadays. Most young people don't care about having children. This is becoming a problem in places like Japan, where I think it is that their senior citizens outnumber their citizens under 18? I'm probably dead wrong about that, you would need a population pyramid. But I was watching an episode of Nova where they were talking about this. The fear is that when this generation of Japanese people in their twenties to fourties become seniors, they won't have enough young people to support them, or something on that line.

The US hasn't reached ZPG yet, as you guys showed, and never stops getting new immigrants, so by no means are we going to stop growing anytime soon. So I can see the fear of hive-like living. I live in Broward, a county in Florida with one of the nation's fastest growing cities- Pembroke Pines. I just read in the Miami Herald today that "... Between 2010 and 2015, Broward will become the first county in the state to run out of new land for development."

Dunno if you guys want to talk about overpopulation outside of Western society?

EDIT: Found a population pyramid for Japan if anyone's interested- there is a higher number of seniors than people under 18.
http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/ipc/idbpyr.pl?cty=JA&yr=2000&maxp=5576744&maxa=100&ymax =250

posted September 18, 2004 07:22 PM            

And, yes, even a little garden would be a start and very nice.

posted September 19, 2004 01:31 AM              

But, actually, I do have some idea what I'm talking about: I've lived in Guatemala for more than a year, and y'know, Guatemala is one of the poorer places in the Western hemisphere, and of course many people there want to come to the U.S. My father is an anthropologist who has spent his entire life working in places like that; issues such as poverty, overpopulation, and immigration are his job, and I've seen more of them than the average American.

Do prove that I'm a racist if you can. I rather doubt it, but you never know... being such a queen of political correctness, you might be able to.

But of course I mustn't annoy you further or the house might burn down. Righty-o: Are you aware of the labor program that Israel and several north-western European countries have instituted, whereby dirt-poor workers from India or wherever are allowed to live and work in the host country for a year or two, and are then sent home? The benefits and effects of the program are this: the workers are paid, something they desperately need; and the host country gets unlimited cheap labor. By sending the workers home after two years the host country makes clear that all it wants out of them is their labor, and not their citizenship. After all, there is a practically unlimited supply of poor people to provide cheap labor- why bother making them citizens?

Please understand that I do not support this practice. It cynically takes advantage of the desperate. From the point of view of greed it is sheer genius.

posted October 03, 2004 08:08 PM            

My husband spoke to our friend about land ownership and whatnot in Japan but he says he doesn't know how it works. He's also in the military and that's why he's been living here and there for so long. However, his fiance is Japanese (currently living there) and I'm thinking that maybe she might know ... my hubby didn't put two and two together and think to ask our friend to ask his fiance, but I'll remember to ask him the next time we meet up. It'll probably take a little while because my hubby's out of town for a bit and, well, I'd feel kind of odd contacting his work buddy while he's away ... military guys gossip worse than teenage girls, I swear, and I'd rather avoid the childish jokes of "ooh, you're wife called up soandso while you were away" .

Hope you don't mind.

posted October 04, 2004 01:35 PM            

Whenever you can find out is just fine with me