The main argument of “The Wretched Refuse of Your Teeming
Shore” is that “education, knowledge, and rational thinking” are the best and
brightest solutions to the problems of overpopulation. Brian Ireland is against
“draconian” or brutal and unworkable policies like mass sterilization. Instead
he commends the spread of contraceptives. He also argues against any racial or
class-based logic, that obviously still is around, that blames immigrants or
impoverished people as “the problem”. Shirl from Make Room!Make Room! says to
Sol that “Everyone must be unthinking and selfish”; but it is implicit in the
essay that this mentality exacerbates and contributes to the ongoing problem,
when the world should be thinking of “the possible consequences of our
collective behavior.” Education and knowledge are necessary, “as many dystopias
are self-consciously warnings”; complex problems need rational thinking to
create complex solutions. Hope is still possible, but not without understanding
the warnings; otherwise people might be seduced by the logic of “draconian”
solutions. “Pessimism about [the] future is understandable”, but the gist of
the essay is that without the development of education, knowledge, and rational
thinking, as long-term solution, that aren’t cruel to those who are already unfortunate,
the problems of overpopulation cannot be solved.
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