this post was submitted on 12 May 2026
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Malthus didn't put up a particular date for his prediction.

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[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

You seem to think that it's possible to use language to communicate objective truths. This is why Malthusian analysis is fascistic despite having several accurate premises.

[–] eleitl@lemmy.zip 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I don't understand what you're saying, then.

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 4 points 5 days ago (2 children)

I am saying one cannot speak seriously about how technological advances will drive immiseration by overpopulation while being a completely integrated part of the most technological and most genocidal civilization on the planet. There is no way for it to be an objective sober analysis of systems because it is inherently a narrative that will be used by that system to continue its centuries-long genocidal program.

It would be like saying that measuring the volume of skulls and correlating it with intelligence is just sober objective biological analysis in the middle of the transatlantic slave trade. Which is among the things we were doing and saying in the sciences during that time.

This can essentially only be responsibly analyzed and communicated by and with the global subaltern as part of their program of resistance and liberation. It can never be a part of the administration and maintenance of empire because it will always lead to the same fascistic outcome regardless of intent.

First we must end the greatest source of human suffering in the world - genocidal white supremacist capitalist patriarchy, responsible for a nearly million deaths of deprivation per year through trade policy alone, and the constant instigator of the overwhelming majority of kinetic conflict - and THEN we can talk about how the liberated people can choose to assess and adapt to carrying ecosystem capacity limits.

[–] Anarchitect@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 days ago (2 children)

If you had to rewrite that as would you be able to?

Claim: The main thesis or assertion you want the audience to accept. It answers the question: "What is the point I am trying to prove?".

Evidence / Grounds / Data: The foundation of hard facts, statistics, or primary source material that supports the claim. It answers the question: "What factual information do I have to go on?".

Warrant / Reasoning: The logical bridge or unspoken assumption that explains how and why the evidence directly leads to the claim. It answers the question: "How does this data connect to and prove my thesis?".

[–] Wakmrow@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago

I found it easy enough to read

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 0 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Claim: it is impossible for this article, and many like it, to be objective. Instead, it is fundamentally supportive of an ecofascistic program even if it doesn't explicitly say it is and even if it attempts to deny.

Evidence/Grounds: The article is titled "Malthus was right" and then in the article attempts to say Malthus was just doing objective systems analysis. The history of Malthusianism is ecofascistic. Malthus was an economist and demographer in Britain in a time when economics and demography were being used to justify brutal genocidal colonialism all over the world by Western Europe and their settler colonists on every populated continent on the planet. It wasn't possible for anything Malthus said or did to be objective, even if he applied super-human rigor because he knew that the crown would use any such analysis to justify fascistic genocidal policies on the global oppressed.

The same is true today. The author claims to be Sarah Connor, of the Terminator movie franchise, and provide no evidence for her real identity. We are left to assume she is a native English speaker living in the Western European sphere (like America but could easily be Canadian, Australian, or British), and therefore part of a society that is fundamentally organized around structural racism, a global class divide, patriarchy, global genocidal wealth accumulation, monocultural hegemony, expansionist Christianity, and the oppression of indigenous populations around the world.

Warrant: No possible systems analysis done at a blog level, or indeed even at the academic level, could possibly resist the application of its conclusions for fascistic purposes in this context. This claim is not new, it has been levied against Malthus for decades. We don't need to rehash it. The overarching social context determines not just what gets studied but how it gets studied and how those studies are interpreted and applied. It has been this way since the university system emerged in Europe. Not a single attempt at objectivity has escaped the university without somehow fueling the mass murdering globe spanning Eurocentric patriarchy. It never has and it never will until that hegemonic system is dismantled, and it will only be dismantled through the struggle of the subaltern against both the systems that it comprises and the reaction such a struggle will inevitably trigger.

Until then, attempts at redeeming Malthus and analysis of overpopulation mechanics are inextricable from the oppression that such logic will necessarily participate in.

[–] Anarchitect@lemmy.zip 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Your argument is a masterclass in Critical Theory , but from a formal logic perspective, it relies heavily on attacking the origin and context of ideas rather than the ideas themselves. Here is a systematic breakdown of the logical fallacies and factual errors in the text.

1. The Genetic Fallacy & Anachronism

Quote: "It wasn’t possible for anything Malthus said or did to be objective... because he knew that the crown would use any such analysis to justify fascistic genocidal policies..."

  • Refutation: This is a Genetic Fallacy, which occurs when someone judges an idea based on its history or origin rather than its current merit. Even if Malthus had personal biases, those biases do not automatically invalidate the mathematical concept of resource scarcity (arithmetic vs. exponential growth).
  • Factual Error: It is an anachronism to claim Malthus "knew" his work would justify "fascistic" policies. Fascism as a political ideology did not exist until the 20th century, over 100 years after Malthus’s death.

2. Ad Hominem (Circumstantial)

Quote: "We are left to assume she is a native English speaker living in the Western European sphere... and therefore part of a society that is fundamentally organized around structural racism... and the oppression of indigenous populations..."

  • Refutation: This is a classic Ad Hominem (Circumstantial) fallacy. Instead of addressing the article’s data or logic, the argument attacks the author’s presumed identity and location. It assumes that an individual’s geographic location or language makes their work "fundamentally" incapable of objectivity, which is a logical leap that ignores the specific content of their writing.

3. Guilt by Association

Quote: "The history of Malthusianism is ecofascistic... attempts at redeeming Malthus and analysis of overpopulation mechanics are inextricable from the oppression..."

  • Refutation: This is Guilt by Association. It asserts that because bad actors have historically misused Malthusian concepts to justify cruelty, any modern use of those concepts—even purely scientific or ecological ones—is "inextricable" from that cruelty. By this logic, the study of genetics is "inextricable" from eugenics, and the study of physics is "inextricable" from nuclear war.

4. Hasty Generalization / Sweeping Generalization

Quote: "Not a single attempt at objectivity has escaped the university without somehow fueling the mass murdering globe spanning Eurocentric patriarchy."

  • Refutation: This is a Hasty Generalization. It makes an absolute, all-encompassing claim about every single piece of objective research produced by the university system over centuries. It ignores countless advancements in medicine, human rights, environmental protection, and technology that have saved lives or challenged the "patriarchy" within that same system.

5. False Dilemma (Bifurcation)

Quote: "It never has and it never will until that hegemonic system is dismantled, and it will only be dismantled through the struggle of the subaltern..."

  • Refutation: This presents a False Dilemma. It suggests there are only two possibilities: either the entire global hegemonic system is dismantled, or no objective analysis is possible. This excludes a vast "middle ground" where incremental progress, objective scientific discovery, and internal reform can and do occur within existing systems.

6. Begging the Question (Circular Reasoning)

Quote: "The overarching social context determines not just what gets studied but how it gets studied and how those studies are interpreted and applied."

  • Refutation: This is Circular Reasoning. The argument assumes its conclusion (that the system is fundamentally oppressive) to prove that anything produced within the system (the study) must also be oppressive. If you start with the premise that objectivity is impossible, you will always conclude that a specific article isn't objective, regardless of its data.

7. Category Error

Quote: "analysis of overpopulation mechanics are inextricable from the oppression that such logic will necessarily participate in."

  • Refutation: This is a Category Error. It conflates a descriptive observation (the study of carrying capacity and population dynamics) with a prescriptive policy (genocide or oppression). A scientist observing that a petri dish has a maximum capacity for bacteria is not "participating in oppression"; they are describing a physical limit. The logic of a "limit" is distinct from the ethics of how humans respond to that limit.
[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Your a.i. slop is pretty weak sauce

[–] Anarchitect@lemmy.zip -1 points 4 days ago

Strong sauce compared to your broken argumentation.

[–] iocase@lemmy.zip 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Brb. Ascending to Nirvana and detaching from my mortal coil so I can have an opinion about society

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It's easier to imagine the end of reality than it is to imagine the end of patriarchy. This is a problem of imagination, not of reality.

[–] iocase@lemmy.zip -2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Opinion that formed from within capitalist white supremacy detected.

Rejecting.

Only opinions formed outside of capitalist white supremacy are candidates for consideration

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Aww someone's feefees got hurt

[–] iocase@lemmy.zip -1 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 days ago

No, I got it. I just assumed you were serious