Selling doom and gloom

 John Stossel:

Have you heard? The world is about to end!

"60 Minutes" recently featured Paul Ehrlich, author of the bestseller, "The Population Bomb." "Humanity is not sustainable," he said.


Why would "60 Minutes" interview Ehrlich?

For years, Ehrlich said, "We are very close to a famine" and, "In the next 15 years, the end will come." He's been wrong again and again.

Yet, "60 Minutes" takes him seriously. "Paul Ehrlich may have lived long enough to see some of his dire prophecies come true," intoned reporter Scott Pelley. Now, "60 Minutes" says, "scientists say" the earth is in the midst of a "mass extinction"!

Doom sells.

Ehrlich's book sold an amazing 3 million copies. It claimed the Earth's rising population would lead to worldwide famine.

The opposite happened.

The world's population more than doubled. But today there is less famine!

"60 Minutes" did mention that Ehrlich was wrong about widespread starvation, but they ignored his many other silly predictions. One was that by the year 2000 (because of climate change), England will not exist.

Ehrlich won't talk to me now, but seven years ago, when my producer asked him about his nonsense, Ehrlich said, "When you predict the future, you get things wrong."

The media should ignore doomsayers like Ehrlich, and pay more attention to people like Marian Tupy, editor of HumanProgress.org.

In my new video, Tupy points out that "life is getting better." The modern era has brought much longer lives and the greatest decline in poverty ever.
...

There is more.

I am among those who are glad Ehrich has been wrong in his prediction.  Not only have I survived, but so have my children and grandchildren. 

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