Well first was this guy’s ideology really distinct or is he just a fascist who talks about environmental issues as a post-hoc justification to make his objectively deranged actions seem more reasonable? And if he’s just a fascist I don’t think he need to take his justifications seriously by giving him a newly named ideology.
But I didn’t mean there are no singular eco-fascists anywhere on earth. There are 8 billion people on the planet so I could make up a mad lib ideology and chances are it’s similar to what someone somewhere believes. But I’ve never met one to my knowledge, not even online. There’s no organized push for this or political power behind it. The vast majority of fascists don’t give a shit about the environment and the vast majority of environmentalists oppose fascism. So the only time I see it mentioned is when people get criticized for discussing the impacts of human population.
I understand why it’s a touchy subject. Past racist policies used overpopulation as a justification for crimes against humanity. But that the human impact on the earth is proportional to our population is just a fact, and it doesn’t make you a fascist to acknowledge that. You’re only a fascist if you think that fact gives you a right to brutalize people, and, as I’ve said, I just don’t hear this from any organized or popular thinkers.
I heard about this around Paul Watson, who is accused of “eco-fascism” because he claimed we should reduce our population by billions, and his close friendship with David Foreman, who is both very implicated in environmentalist actions and has harsh conservative views. Overall, i’ve heard that there are quite a few similar thinking individuals in Sea Shepherd.
In an interview, Paul Watson said that “rich people just want to get richer, and poor people just want to get rich”, implying that the over-consumption by the richest parts of populations does not mean we should focus our efforts there, because “it’s human nature to consume and destroy”. I don’t know if that’s eco-fascism, but that’s precisely what this meme denounces, and it’s held by a quite important figure.
I also heard of Edward Abbey who doesn’t promote violence directly but combines a very conservative and very environment first ideology, same as this Garrret Hardin. Both are quite influent in environmentalist activism.
Radical environmentalism, even when combined with advocacy for peacefully reducing the earth’s population, is not fascism. Fascism is a specific ideology. Most of the people you listed are anti-government activists. Some are even anarchists. Fascism requires a totalitarian state. They are also internationalist in their politics, where fascism is hyper-nationalist. I’m similarly not aware of any strong racial theory in their ideas, which is perhaps the single most important part of fascism. You can disagree with their viewpoints but it’s crazy to call them fascists when they don’t fit the definition and have deep ideological disagreements with fascism.
This is precisely why I don’t like this term. It’s just a smear against the environmental movement that doesn’t fit the actual ideology it’s criticizing. Which again, I don’t mind criticism but I do mind thought-terminating cliches in place of thoughtful critique.
Garret Hardin is probably the one person who you could argue does fit the eco-fascist label, but I would argue his influence has waned dramatically. Maybe there are a few boomers who uncritically parrot his views but there is no organized political movement from his ideas. I can’t think of any disciples of his ideas of any prominence.
Well first was this guy’s ideology really distinct or is he just a fascist who talks about environmental issues as a post-hoc justification to make his objectively deranged actions seem more reasonable? And if he’s just a fascist I don’t think he need to take his justifications seriously by giving him a newly named ideology.
But I didn’t mean there are no singular eco-fascists anywhere on earth. There are 8 billion people on the planet so I could make up a mad lib ideology and chances are it’s similar to what someone somewhere believes. But I’ve never met one to my knowledge, not even online. There’s no organized push for this or political power behind it. The vast majority of fascists don’t give a shit about the environment and the vast majority of environmentalists oppose fascism. So the only time I see it mentioned is when people get criticized for discussing the impacts of human population.
I understand why it’s a touchy subject. Past racist policies used overpopulation as a justification for crimes against humanity. But that the human impact on the earth is proportional to our population is just a fact, and it doesn’t make you a fascist to acknowledge that. You’re only a fascist if you think that fact gives you a right to brutalize people, and, as I’ve said, I just don’t hear this from any organized or popular thinkers.
I heard about this around Paul Watson, who is accused of “eco-fascism” because he claimed we should reduce our population by billions, and his close friendship with David Foreman, who is both very implicated in environmentalist actions and has harsh conservative views. Overall, i’ve heard that there are quite a few similar thinking individuals in Sea Shepherd.
In an interview, Paul Watson said that “rich people just want to get richer, and poor people just want to get rich”, implying that the over-consumption by the richest parts of populations does not mean we should focus our efforts there, because “it’s human nature to consume and destroy”. I don’t know if that’s eco-fascism, but that’s precisely what this meme denounces, and it’s held by a quite important figure.
I also heard of Edward Abbey who doesn’t promote violence directly but combines a very conservative and very environment first ideology, same as this Garrret Hardin. Both are quite influent in environmentalist activism.
Radical environmentalism, even when combined with advocacy for peacefully reducing the earth’s population, is not fascism. Fascism is a specific ideology. Most of the people you listed are anti-government activists. Some are even anarchists. Fascism requires a totalitarian state. They are also internationalist in their politics, where fascism is hyper-nationalist. I’m similarly not aware of any strong racial theory in their ideas, which is perhaps the single most important part of fascism. You can disagree with their viewpoints but it’s crazy to call them fascists when they don’t fit the definition and have deep ideological disagreements with fascism.
This is precisely why I don’t like this term. It’s just a smear against the environmental movement that doesn’t fit the actual ideology it’s criticizing. Which again, I don’t mind criticism but I do mind thought-terminating cliches in place of thoughtful critique.
Garret Hardin is probably the one person who you could argue does fit the eco-fascist label, but I would argue his influence has waned dramatically. Maybe there are a few boomers who uncritically parrot his views but there is no organized political movement from his ideas. I can’t think of any disciples of his ideas of any prominence.