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Joy in the Present
      

22nd June 2008 | Draft

Institutionalized Shunning of Overpopulation Challenge

incommunicability of fundamentally inconvenient truth

- / -

Introduction
Learnings from variants of shunning
-- Political shunning | Public shunning | Media shunning | Moral shunning | Economic shunning
-- Experience of shunning | Shunning pain and suffering | Discrimination
Learnings from denial
-- Socio-political denial (and taboo) | Academic denial | Individual denial
Sustaining a consensual reality
-- Faith communities | Academic peer review | Dynamically-gated communities | Premature closure and groupthink
Illustrative metaphors
-- Emperor's new clothes | Stone soup | Carp pond | Elephant in the living room
-- Seeking the key | Prudery | Airline weight reduction
-- Countermeasures: camouflage and decoys | Not seeing the forest for the trees
-- Taxation on the psyche | Mortgage financing | Non-proliferation treaty
The "unsayable" and the "unsaid"
Question avoidance
Systematic analysis of incommunicability
Intellectual dishonesty
Overpopulation
Strategic "cloaking" by surrogate problems: weapons of mass distraction
Religious terror
Transformative pressures: emergence of "new thinking"?
"Sustaining growth" as a Ponzi scheme?
Emergent psycho-cultural mirroring?
References

Introduction

This is an exploration of the possibility that the phenomenon of shunning, historically of great significance to the integrity of religious faiths, has effectively become omnipresent and fundamental to the maintenance of the integrity of the dominant socio-political worldview. However, rather than being focused on individuals and their behaviour from the perspective of religion, is it now to be found as a dynamic vigorously sustained with respect to conceptual analysis of the global problematique and any remedial possibilities? As such it might be expected to be inhibiting any effective coherent response to the latter.

The question is how cognition can be "ordered" -- in both senses of the term -- so as to avoid individual and collective exposure to that which is intuitively sensed to be threatening. How can cognition be "ordered" such as not to see? Specifically what can be learnt with respect to recognition of the challenge of overpopulation?

Learnings from variants of shunning

Shunning by religious groups: Shunning may be described as the act of deliberately avoiding association with, and habitually keeping away from, an individual or group. There is a well-documented array of techniques employed within various faiths, sects and secret societies, that can be related in some way to the process of shunning:

Shunning, possibly associated with physical exclusion or threat, has notably been applied against those deemed to be "unbelievers" in the preferred worldview. For the Bah'ai, this is framed in terms of covenant breaking. The treatment of oath breakers divulging secrets, as in the case of Freemasonry, is frequently cited.

Of relevance to the following exploration, the associated formal declaration of anathema pertains to the necessary avoidance of views held by those who may or may not be shunned. The Islamic equivalent is haraam and that in Judaism is cherem -- both may lead to some form of shunning.

Whilst these processes were more widely recognized in the past, they continue to play a very significant role within modern faith communities and are considered significant to their integrity and identity (see Alexandra Alter, Banned From Church, Wall Street Journal, 18 January 2008; Committee on Religious Shunning). Curiously however, the backlash from sexual misconduct by clergy has resulted in parishioners being dewcribed as shunning the Catholic Church (Robert Anglen, Shaken, Catholics shunning church, The Cincinnati Enquirer, 30 August 2003).

The question here is how are these processes are applied in relation to secular worldviews and collective identities -- especially as they impact on recognition of strategic priorities and options?

Political shunning: The formal secular equivalent is of course the declaration of persona non grata as commonly defined in diplomatic practice -- an equivalent of anathema. In the current context the question is whether a fundamental challenge like overpopulation has been effectively declared to be problema non grata by a process of which few are aware. Appropriately one of the rare uses of this term is with respect to the problem of the unconsious, as analyzed by John Fizer (The Problem of the Unconscious in the Creative Process as Treated by Soviet Aesthetics, 1963), citing W. B. Yeats: The more unconscious the creation, the more powerful.

Top European leaders, including the bulk of Europe's royals, will not attend the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing. The human rights controversies have caused many leaders to keep their distance. (European Royalty, Politicians Shunning Olympic Games Ceremony, Deutsche Welle, 2 July 2008).

At the time of writing, an editorial in The Economist (How to get him out, 28 June 2008) suggests with respect to the problematic president of Zimbabwe:

How to finish him off: The first and easiest act is to refuse to recognise any administration led by Mr Mugabe. The European Union, the United States and much of the rich world will ostracise him. Now is the time for Africa, especially the influential regional club of 14 countries known as the Southern African Development Community (SADC), to follow suit.

Is ostracism of this form effectively taken by such bodies with respect to problematic issues like overpopulation ? What other issues are ostracized in this way -- those that are "classified"?

On the other hand concern is expressed that voters are increasingly shunning politics itself, as argued by Gill Hoffman (Shunning politics, Jerusalem Post, 12 June 2008):

When politicians are unpopular that's their problem, but when polls show that the public is increasingly estranged from the political system itself, it's everyone's problem. Think of "the system" as including all the variables associated with political life - institutions, players, even values. Yet no matter how serious the dissatisfaction, a political system's legitimacy is best judged by its ability to respond to citizen frustration. When too many people feel it doesn't deliver the goods and doesn't have the capacity to repair what's broken, legitimacy is at risk.

Public shunning: In the light of the previous comment, the manner in which public opinion shuns inconveneint truths -- like overpopulation -- is well illustrated by the following quote regarding the shunning of the embarrassment of 9/11.

A great communal act of wishful thinking and purposeful amnesia?
(Jonathan Raban, How US politics got personal, The Guardian, 14 July 2008)

Deep into 2007, people still lived in the "post-9/11" world. Now, by a great communal act of wishful thinking and purposeful amnesia, we seem to have willed ourselves into the period of post-post-9/11....

The stream of bad news about the sub-prime mortgage mess, job layoffs everywhere from Starbucks to General Motors, the crumbling dollar, the plummeting Dow Jones index, and the inflationary effect of the oil-price crisis on just about everything on the shelves of the local supermarket, holds our attention. Yet, whatever their political colours, Americans appear weirdly reluctant to talk about the most traumatic national event in living memory and the chain of world-altering actions that flowed from it -- actions that have hugely contributed to the rocketing price of oil and the grim state of the economy.

As the networks pull their correspondents from Kabul and Baghdad, the news from that part of the world is growing faint, almost to the point of inaudibility. You have to keep your eyes and ears peeled in order to pick out of the static the whispery information about suicide bombers killing scores at a time, assassinations, political stalemate, the insolent resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the interminable resurrections of al-Qaida in Mesopotamia, despite successive announcements of its final defeat.

Media shunning: Attention in the media to a shunning process in relation to population has focused on immigration policies. One example is that articlated by Tim Murray (The Shunning of Immigration Critics by the BBC, ABC and CBC, The Voice, 28 February 2008) who asks:

Is there something endemic in state broadcasting in the Anglophone world which makes the population question taboo and the pro-immigration stance the default position? Is there an intrinsic bias, and if so, where is it coming from? The journalists, the presenters, the researchers, the producers or the higher-ups? Is state media more captive of political correctness than the private media?

What might be said about the process whereby the overpopulation challenge is shunned? What issues is it sought to shun through asserting state control of media, even in countries that pride themselves on their democratic principles -- as with France in 2008?

The case is made with respect to the factors inhibiting response to the current food crisis by William Blum (Food Riots, Spies, Duopoly, and Media Shunning of a “Third Party”, Dissident Voice, 2 May 2008).

Moral shunning: Concern has been expressed in the USA regarding "sexual fascism" (Scapegoats and Shunning, Counterpunch, 4-5 March 2006):

By the early 2000s, pedophile had become morphed with the still broader "sex offender," with even mainstream media free to refer to the feared and hated class as "pervs" and "perps" and "deviants." This scapegoating also requires public exposure and shunning, even of those who dare defend the civil liberties of pedophiles and sex offenders or challenge attacks on them... Nowhere is censorship and shunning greater than against those who would describe or depict childhood or adolescent sexuality, or mere nudity...The full force of this shunning and scapegoating is aimed at those who can be labeled pedophiles.

On the other hand, the extent of shunning is raised from a contrasting perspective by Jonathan Falwell (Society Shunning Morality, Newsmax, 1 February 2008).

Economic shunning: The transformation of religious ethical principles into human rights has been one factor in promoting a form of shunning against offenders. As noted by Patrick Keenan (Financial Globalization and Human Rights, Columbia Journal of Transnational Law):

This reputational approach, often referred to as naming and shaming, has long been the primary mechanism of enforcing human rights norms. Shaming was sometimes accompanied by a form of economic shunning, with countries who violated human rights norms finding it more difficult to find trading partners in the developed world.

Experience of shunning: Beyond formal description of the shunning process, of great interest is the actual experience of that process from both sides:

  • how one engages in "not seeing", whether in the case of someone declared by one's community as to be shunned, a person of a "lower" class (or a servant), someone of an unrecognized ethnic group, or a person visibly challenged by a disability -- or "losers" of all kinds
  • how one experiences "not being seen", as in any of those cases -- of being "invisible" and merely "part of the scenery" -- as exemplified by the experience of women down the centuries (cf Elise Boulding. The Underside of History: a view of women through time, 1976).

Shunning pain and suffering: There are many examples of failure to recognize the pain of others, whether deliberately or inadvertently (see Algosphere). These include those suffering physically, socio-economically, and psychologically. It is most obvious in the indifference to the "collateral damage" of military intervention and the acceptance of collective violence under certain circumstances ("just war" etc). Violence is shunned from an early age in attitudes towards bullying, domestic violence, rape and street violence. The implications of violence are notably shunned in the case of the institutionalized, especially where this is known to involve torture or execution. Structural violence evokes the subtlest forms of shunning -- effectively dissociating observers from any need to empathize with those who suffer -- or to act out of that experience.

Shunning pain extends to that associated with hunting and slaughter of animals for food or pleasure. It might be understood as a culturally cultivated indifference. The phenomon is the focus of a study by Stanley Cohen (States of Denial: knowing about atrocities and suffering, 2001). The most general assessment of its nature is to be found in the understanding of ahimsa by Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, as discussed elsewhwere (Varieties of Terrorism -- extended to the experience of the terrorized, 2004).

Their lofty souls have telescopic eyes
Which see the smallest speck of distant pain,
While at their feet, a world of agonies
Unseen, unheard, unheeded, writhes in vain
(from The Ranter, 1830, by Ebenezer Elliot, aka Corn Law Rhymer)

Discrimination: These examples highlight the extent to which some form of shunning is fundamental to the "art" and practice of discrimination -- and to the pain it may engender. It is indicative of the manner in which issues, rather than people, may be rendered "invisible" and widely treated as such -- a motivation for the problem profiling in the Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential. Of particular interest is the "visibility" associated with VIPs -- in contrast with the "invisibility" of others when "nobody" is declared to be present.

Many of these processes are addressed in concerns regarding "discrimination". Unfortunately efforts to alleviate "discrimination" do little to address the challenges of "discernment" with which they may be associated. In fact measures against discrimination may distract from efforts to increase discernment and the critical thinking required to elicit new thinking in response to the challenges of the times (Web resources: Critical thinking vs. Specious arguments, 2001).

Learnings from denial

Denial has been much discussed in recent years in relation to global warming. What can be learnt from this in relation to the challenge of overpopulation -- for which the degree of denial is rarely discussed?

Socio-political denial (and taboo): Whether from a more secular perspective, or as cultural norms strongly influenced by faith-based communities, people and behaviours may be declared or treated as taboo.

In overtly secular societies, denial may be institutionalized through censorship -- whether as moral censorship, military censorship, political censorship or corporate censorship. Typically this is done to ensure that there is no public exposure or consideration of issues deemed destabilizing to the collective worldview. In this sense it is a direct analogue to the practices adopted by faith-based groups. These may of course also develop distinct practices of religious censorship, as with the Index Librorum Prohibitorum maintained until 1965 by the Catholic Church.

Whether or not there is any explicit or formal articulation of such taboo, the challenge to society is evident in the ongoing debates relating to blasphemy and pornography.

Especially relevant to the current exploration is the socio-political significance of "extremism" and recent efforts to conflate it with "terrorism" (Norms in the Global Struggle against Extremism: "rooting for" normalization vs. "rooting out" extremism? 2005). Perhaps even more challenging are the forms of denial in which those of the pro-environmental movements engage in condemning any dissent from their perspective -- in a mode and language almost identical to those they oppose (Brendan O'Neill, Greens are the enemies of liberty, The Guardian, 15 July 2008).

Academic denial: This phenomenon is evident in debate regarding what disciplines or fields of study are to be considered acceptable and "serious" in contrast to those deemed to be "outside the mainstream" as necessarily dubious "fringe" preoccupations and disciplines. This is evident in debates regarding the potential dangers of alternative and complementary medicines. The process is notably to be seen in relation to creationism and intelligent design.

The phenomenon is fundamental to the challenge of interdisciplinarity -- when many disciplines view other disciplines as "marginal" and problematic in some way. It is as characteristic of the encounters between representatives of different schools of thought as it is between those of different faiths.

Individual denial: This is a phenomenon widely documented by the psychotherapeutic professions whereby an individual systematically avoids consideration or acceptance of realities recognized by others in their community.

Sustaining a consensual reality

Is shunning the challenge of overpopulation essential to sustaining the consensual reality of the current global civilization? The following cases are indicative of ways of considering this possibility.

Faith communities: Despite decades of effort in relation to inter-faith dialogue, it is difficult to detect any alleviation of the attitudes that continue to sustain the many conflicts between religions in support of the integrity and identity of their belief communities. As is evident with respect to the symbolism of the hijab and its use in secular societies, the problematic dimensions of acceptable and unacceptable behaviours are central to modern society (Politicization of Evidence in the Plastic Turkey Era al-Qaida, Saddam, Assassination and the Hijab, 2003).

Academic peer review: The process of sustaining an academic consensual reality is highlighted by the gatekeeping function performed by peer review, notably with respect to funding applications and journal publication. In the context of an open world wide web, the significance of the process has notably been challenged by a debate recently instigated by the Financial Times:

Clive Cookson and Andrew Jack, Science Stifled?: why peer review is under pressure,
Financial Times, 12 June 2008
Drummond Rennie, Journal of the American Medical Association, 1986, November, 256(27), pp. 2391-92
(cited by Cookson and Jack) 		Surendra Kelwala, Peer review is sadism at its best,
Financial Times, 17 June 2008
(arguing that Rennie "had it backwards")
There seems to be no study too fragmented, no hypothesis too trivial, no literature too biased or too egotistical, no design too warped, no methodology too bungled, no presentation of results too inaccurate, too obscure, and too contradictory, no analysis too self-serving, no argument too circular, no conclusions too trifling or too unjustified, and no grammar and syntax too offensive for a paper to end up in print. There is no study too exquisite, no hypothesis too brilliant, no literature citation too exhaustive, no design too elegant, no methodology too pristine, no presentation of results too accurate, no analysis too clear, no discussion too magnificent, no conclusions too straightforward, no language too simple for the peer reviewers to attack it with total savagery if the paper happens to be from a third world writer with limited command of the English language, or if the paper threatens to shift fundamentally the prevailing self-serving approaches in doing science in that particular field

The question this debate raises, after many decades of science, is to what extent emergent themes and insights (potentially vital to any appropriate response to the urgent challenges of the times) are subject to both the problematic processes (highlighted by scientific peer review) and by any subtle analogue -- of which the latter provide such a striking model.

The institutionalized "shunning" of emergent insights, ironically of such concern to the Financial Times, is exacerbated by the well documented phenomena of: product-promoting research (characteristic of the medical sciences), politicized research (characteristic of post-9/11 American academia), defence research priorities, and faith-based research (characterized by creationism and intelligent design).

In the USA, the challenge has been highlighted by controversies associated with the American Council of Trustees and Alumni originally co-founded by Lynne Cheney, wife of the Vice President. This notably undertook an aggressive attack on academic freedom seeking the elimination of ideas and activities that placed 9/11 in a historical context, or critical of the so-called war on terrorism (Roberto J. Gonzalez, Lynne Cheney-Joe Lieberman Group Puts Out a Blacklist, San Jose Mercury News. 13 December 2001). Many of those blacklisted are top scholars in their fields, and it appears that the report represents a kind of academic terrorism designed to strike fear into other academics by making examples of respected professors. As noted by Gary Younge (Silence in class, The Guardian, 4 April 4, 2006), university professors are denounced for anti-Americanism; schoolteachers suspended for their politics; and students encouraged to report on their tutors.

To what extent does this contribute directly to shunning of the population issue?

Dynamically-gated communities: As discussed elsewhere (Dynamically Gated Conceptual Communities: emergent patterns of isolation within knowledge society, 2004), increasingly social groups, typical of the diversity of civil society, might be usefully understood as forming into psycho-social analogues of the "gated communities" that are now emerging in affluent suburbs. Whilst in the latter case it is for security reasons to sustain a particular lifestyle, in the psycho-social case it would appear to be a question of sustaining a particular belief system or worldview. The process is being reinforced by the rapid commercialization of the web and the creation of exclusion zones -- gated communities in cyberspace -- accessible only to those who can afford access to them and therefore explored as viable business models.

Premature closure and groupthink: The problematic relevance of such gated-communities is well-illustrated by the "groupthink" associated with the intelligence disaster that gave rise to the duplicitous arguments in support of military intervention in Iraq, as argued elsewhere (Groupthink: the Search for Archaeoraptor as a Metaphoric Tale -- missing the link between "freedom fighters" and "terrorists", 2002).

In this exploration there is case for considering a complementary process that might be termed "group nonthink" -- to highlight the extent to which a group invests in non-consideration of an issue or a phenomenon. Of great interest is how group nonthink can be deliberately induced -- possibly by media processes such as "dumbing down".

Illustrative metaphors

As explored below, it is fruitful to assume that there may be issues that are so fundamental that they have been subject to an unsuspected form of shunning and denial. The question is how to begin to think about what cannot -- of necessity -- be adequately described. Of great interest is the reaction of anyone presented with a topic or situation which habitually triggers a "shunning response" of denial. Metaphorically it might be argued that "their eyes glaze over". Conceptually they "slide around" the issue, accompanied by appropriate social behaviours.

Is this how the response to overpopulation should be understood?

The challenge of the above processes is how best to give a sense of them in order to raise the question of what may be subject to institutionalized shunning without any individual capacity to recognize it. The following metaphors may be helpful.

Emperor's new clothes: The much-cited, classic fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen (The Emperor's New Clothes, 1837), together with its various adaptations, offers an illustration of the extent to which socio-cultural systems "buy into" a developing consensual reality that is totally disassociated from that which is perceptible to innocent "unbelievers".

Are the various world governance initiatives to be understood as forming the court of the Emperor in the last days of the current human civilization? Are they each to be seen as competing to acclaim the quality of the cloth with which the Emperor is variously clothed at major events in response to the challenges of the times -- courteously offering for consideration other designs and models of even higher quality (and even less substantial)? Clothed in an invisible tissue of half-truths, the Emperor proceeds blithely on with the greatest of dignity and gravitas -- despite the total disconnection with the processes engendering the problematique the court collectively and arrogantly claims as its responsibility.

Stone soup: In contrast to the tale of the Emperor's clothes -- where "something" is revealed to be "nothing" -- the tale of the Brothers Grimm regarding "stone soup" concerns the process whereby "nothing" is revealed to be "something", after all.

Does this metaphor point to the poverty of insight -- essentially an unnourishing stone carried in an empty vessel -- that is brought to world governance gatherings? The skill of the bearers of such a vessel, as initiators of the gathering, is in being able to induce participants each to contribute a modicum of their own insight to the pot to ensure, through such "cooperation", the nourishment of the bearers. Despite satisfying the immediate needs of the initiators and ensuring a "feel good" factor for the participants, the question raised by this metaphor is whether such nourishment is sustainable and adequate to the longer-term challenge. The answer is indicated by the quality of the vows, pledges, promises and commitments made in such gatherings -- as durable as the solemn marital vows ("until death do us part") promoted as the appropriate framework for engendering children that exacerbate population overshoot.

The implication of both tales may be further explored in the light of the challenge of sustainability understood as an elusive condition where time stops and nothing matters (Where There is No Time and Nothing Matters: cognitive challenges at the Edge of the World, 2008).

Carp pond: It has been reported that traditional Chinese farms usually had a small carp pond, often for a single carp. The problem is that a single carp in a small pond positions itself in the middle of the pond and seldom moves. Without any exercise its condition rapidly deteriorates. The simple traditional solution is to place a rock in the middle of the pond. The carp then has the visual illusion that it is in a stream and that by swimming (between the rock "wall" and the other visible "stream bank"), it is continually advancing towards some fruitful goal. This suggests that by identifying a suitable "rock" and positioning it appropriately in an otherwise static environment, an individual can be encouraged to engage in what is perpetual, and therefore sustainable, movement for her/his own health. In so doing the individual (or a group) will be sustained by the illusion that he/she is moving towards some fruitful goal. It is not obvious that this pattern need be consciously used.

As discussed earlier (Metaphoric Entrapment in Time: avoiding the trap of Project Logic, 2000), it is consistent with a feeling of frustration experienced by many, without being able to articulate it. There is a sense that the socio-political system has conned them into a pattern of activity that is essentially going nowhere -- although offering insubstantial promises that things will get better. The analysis discussed below offers a systematic understanding of how such a "rock" functions in terms of communication within complex institutions.

Elephant in the living room: Use of the expression an "elephant in the living room" refers to an obvious truth that is being ignored or goes unaddressed by a gathering or community of any kind. The expression helpfully illustrates the possible dimensions of the challenge of overpopulation -- that it is so easy to ignore in common discourse.

The political implications of such a challenge in the USA have been variously explored. As a cognitive scientist, George Lakoff (Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate: the essential guide for progressives, 2004) argues that much of the success of the Republican Party could be attributed to a persistent ability to control the language of key issues and thus position itself in favorable terms to voters. He outlines in detail the traditional American values that progressives hold, but are often unable to articulate. Columnist Ryan Sager (The Elephant in the Room: Evangelicals, Libertarians and the Battle to Control the Republican Party, 2006) uses the metaphor to discuss the conflict for control of that party.

The metaphor has been differently used by Paul Bailey (Think of an Elephant: combining science and spirituality for a better life, 2007) to show that individual perception has its own potency, namely that individual consciousness has its own charge, and such awareness has its own power of connection. In this sense observation actually does have its own power, its own energetic influence.

Seeking the key: There is a well-known tale regarding the person who searched at night for a lost key -- under a lamp light, because it was convenient to look where they could be seen -- even though the person knew that the key had been lost beyond the lighted area. Technically this approach may be associated with forms of "tunnel vision" and "silo thinking".

As a metaphor this tale illustrates the tendency to focus on seeking solutions to global problems in those areas where a solution may be readily envisaged, even though the key to the solution of the problem is known, unconsciously perhaps, to be found only beyond what may be conventionally envisaged -- in the shadows. The focus on "carbon emissions" as a solution for climate change is of precisely this nature. The challenge of overpopulation, which will continue to aggravate that problem, lies beyond what is conveniently envisaged. Being in the shadow, it cannot be "seen" -- and anyway it is inconvenient to attempt to look there.

The metaphor is especially relevant in the case of climate change, because the convenient focus is on solutions in the short-term (in the "lighted area"), when the implications of the challenge are far greater in the longer-term (the "unlit area"). It is in the "unlit" longer-term -- in which population increases undermine any short-term solutions -- that sustainable solutions need to be sought. This is equally true of other resource-related problems for which short-term solutions are essentially temporary palliatives.

Prudery: Diplomatic consideration of overpopulation may be seen as governed, to a significant degree by prudery -- through its overt concern with decorum and propriety and the consequent discomfort with sexuality, nudity, alcohol, drug use and the like. As a result the sexual processes through which the population increases can never be placed meaningfully on the negotisating table -- although most probably a prime focus of recreational activity during the course of conferences on "climate change" and other crises. Such "under the table" processes are assisted by the provision of "adult movies" to conference hotel rooms in addition to various forms of "collective entertainment". The situation is even more curious in that one of the religions primarily responsible for blocking any consideration of overpopulation has been been recently devastated by the degree to which sexual abuse over decades by its clergy (as symbols of decorum and propriety) has been systematically denied and covered up.

It is perhaps most tragic to recognize the incapacity of eminent scientists and politicians to address the issue of overpopulation other than through the use of euphemisms such as "demographics" and "demographic change" -- as though the topic was conceptually radioactive.

Metaphorically this highlights the manner in which the underlying process whereby a fundamental problem is "engendered" cannot be considered within conventional processes -- however much it is a prime daily preoccupation by those who collectively avoid its recognition. Ironically, in an era of faith-based governance blithely ignoring the manner in which Freudian metaphors are implicit in its discourse and actions, it is perhaps to be expected that the remedy promoted for population growth is yet more "drilling" and "pumping" -- especially "off-shore". Is it appropriate to compare the shunning of overpopulation with the manner in which authorities have shunned the issue of sexual abuse by clergy, or the extent of covert homosexuality amongst those debating overpopulation? Is there a case for "outing" those who covertly recognize the challenge of overpopulation -- but fail to do so in their official capacities?

Airline weight reduction: As a direct response to rising fuel costs, and partially presented as a means of reducing carbon emissions, airlines over the past year have engaged in radical initiatives to reduce excess weight. These range from reducing, if not eliminating, newspapers and brochures, to replacement of glassware. to Aircraft construction is being reviewed to eliminate the smallest dead weight items, including redundant wing lights, as well as using lighter materials in contruction and seat design. Some airlines now charge customers for a second bag. "The pressure is immense" to cut weight, said John Heimlich, chief economist for the Air Transport Association of America, an industry trade group. "Every penny more per gallon adds $195 million to the industry's expenses per year".

This intense effort with regard to minutiae offers a striking insight into shunning. There has never been the slightest suggestion by airlines that passengers themselves should pay by personal weight according to some formula -- even though airlines have for some time required exceedingly large passengers to purchase two seat tickets, against much public outcry. The attitude towards overpopulation can then be seen in terms of refusal to even discuss the cost in non-renewable resources of the "collective obesity" of humanity.

Countermeasures: camouflage and decoys: A more proactive approach to shunning is by camouflaging that which is to be avoided -- or by the use of decoys or distractants of some kind. In wartime decoys have played a significant role -- whether to mislead enemy observers or the automated guidance system of their missiles -- by simulating some physical properties of a real target. Chaff has notably been used as a radar countermeasure which either appears as a cluster of secondary targets on radar screens or swamps the screen with multiple returns. Currently use is extensively made of flare and infraread countermeasures to mislead missile heat-seeking homing devices. Electronic countermeasures (ECM) are also used to trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems.

As a metaphor, such techniques point to the possibility of designing strategic decoys to prevent appropriate detection of information regarding a priority crisis. It might be asked to what extent the priorities accorded to the "global warming crisis", the "food crisis", the "energy crisis" and "terrorism" are designed to function as "flares" or decoys -- with the complicity of those who find them to be technically (and therefore profitably) soluble challenges (Destructive Weapons of Mass Distraction vs Distractive Weapons of Mass Destruction, 2003; Promoting a Singular Global Threat -- Terrorism: strategy of choice for world governance, 2002). Shinned issues may therefore be imagined as effectively hidden from awareness, whether deliberately or inadvertently, by a constant spray of secondary initiatives that become the intense focus of acclaimed vigorous action -- as is the case with the many worthy responses to carbon emissions.

This metaphor accords with the unchecked explosion in the use of "chaff" (as in e-mail spam) and in the tendency to generate "flares" to disguise investigative efforts in response to the information "heat"of genuine crises. In the specific case of "overpopulation", one approach combining both techniques is to ensure the population of cyberspace with articles on topics such as "overpopulation of pets" so as to ensure that they are highly ranked by search engines.

The more sophisticated development of such technology, and presumably the metaphor, is to be found in so-called stealth technology, whereby aircraft are rendered invisible to