Two hundred years after he lived
Thomas Malthus is still quoted,
where ever anyone worries in public
that there too many human beings
on their part of the planet for comfort.
His theory ran that when populations
grow far faster than food supplies can meet,
then mass tragedy will be the net result.
Better for the poorest (whose labour is cheap)
to breed far far less, lest 'the market for death'
claim the best part of them before they were done.
Never mind the loss of future
of the value of their labour
to an economy that keeps the few in wealth
by supporting mass poverty in the first place.
I can't mind him theorizing from a position
of wealth, as long as nobody calls it morality.
But as a C of E clergyman should he have been
more interested in how Want and Grinding Poverty
would increase personal immorality exponentially?
Thomas Malthus is still quoted,
where ever anyone worries in public
that there too many human beings
on their part of the planet for comfort.
His theory ran that when populations
grow far faster than food supplies can meet,
then mass tragedy will be the net result.
Better for the poorest (whose labour is cheap)
to breed far far less, lest 'the market for death'
claim the best part of them before they were done.
Never mind the loss of future
of the value of their labour
to an economy that keeps the few in wealth
by supporting mass poverty in the first place.
I can't mind him theorizing from a position
of wealth, as long as nobody calls it morality.
But as a C of E clergyman should he have been
more interested in how Want and Grinding Poverty
would increase personal immorality exponentially?
No comments:
Post a Comment