Customer Reviews

Demographic Winter & Demographic Bomb

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The first one of the set, "Demographic Winter: the decline of the human family" is certainly thought provoking and challenges some of the received wisdom with respect to the human population on earth. Whereas most people on earth seem to think human beings are causing climate change, this video makes a good case for the prospect that the real issue in the future will be whether there are enough people to keep the economies of the world going. The ageing population is a real issue.
The sequel to the first DVD is not as good in my opinion, although this may be oweing to the fact that it is "more of the same" type information. In my country, Australia, they are thinking of putting Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" on the school curriculum. I would suggest that if they do, then they should put these two on the curriculum also, for a bit of balance.

This is very inspiring and instructing documentary. The delivery was timely, and the packing was excellent. I would recommend, without any hesitation, to purchase this documentary, not only for social workers and politics, but also for families.

Demographic Winter throws a lot of charts and numbers at the viewer. They tell a bleak story of a declining human population (particularly in the West), and explains that this is bad because it hurts the economy. So far, so good.

But the producers go beyond explaining the crisis to explaining what is to be done. The problems are, it seems, women's rights, high degrees of wealth, the decline of the traditional family, and the secularization of society. In no uncertain terms, the viewer is told that such developments are bad and even unnatural. My jaw dropped to hear one of the talking heads explain that the solution is a return to patriarchy - "properly understood". I'm conservative and religious, but the assertion that the only way to save humanity is to undo women's liberation and reinforce (by law? not sure) heterosexual marriage seems well beyond any data that has been collected. Yes, some studies have demonstrated that long marriages are happy marriages, but many of the claims thrown around at the end of the film lack the pretty charts that cluttered its uncontested first half. Why?

The reason for all of this is simple: it's Mormon propaganda. The two production companies are based in Utah. The director's earliest films were biopics about early LDS heroes. The Latvian MP interviewed has a lengthy, religion-infused article up on a website of a traditional-family advocacy group - with Mormon Elders on its board of trustees. I can't confirm with the interwebs that she herself is a Mormon, but I'd wager she is.

I have no problem with the data, and I really have no problem with the opinion, the cry for a return to traditional values. But it is disingenuous for this group to make these pleas for wealthy Western people to return to traditional, patriarchal, fertile, religious households without making plain that the film is spearheaded and likely underwritten by those whose religious views are identical to the film's intimations. If you were going to watch a biopic about The Real Osama Bin Laden, you'd want to know if the documentarian was a fundamentalist Islamist. If you are going to watch a documentary about how Science Proves We Must Have Twelve Children and Not Divorce, you'd want to know that the producers are Mormon.

And, on a lesser note, where is the obviously missing counterargument that WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF EARTH TO PUT OUR KIDS IN? Somebody has to stop having kids. I guess we just hope that enough people go atheist that it balances out...

JUST FINISHED THE 2nd DVD. I LOVE HAVING NEW INTELLIGENT INFORMATION LAID OUT LIKE THIS SHOW DOES. I LEARNED MORE NEW THINGS, IT GAVE ME MORE KNOWLEDGE WITH WHICH TO WORK. NOW I WILL SPEND MANY HOURS AND TRY AND LEARN AS MUCH AS I CAN ABOUT THIS SUBJECT. LIKE GLENN BECK SAYS, NEVER TRUST ANYTHING - DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK! BECAUSE OF HIM I HAVE READ MORE BOOKS AND RESEARCHED MORE INFO THESE PAST 2 YRS THAN EVER BEFORE IN MY LIFE!! A VERY INFORMATIVE AND THOUGHT PROVOKING DVD.

Like all documentaries of this genre, you have to be cautious of the fear factor. When placed in its proper perspective, the initial premise is well supported by arguments posed by educated and informed people. The information gives you an opportunity to build upon your own interpretations of the activities happening around us, in our ever changing world. If the aging population interests you, I would recommend this be one of a group of resources you use to investigate what is happening and what the potential consequences may look like. They may not look anything like this; but, at least this input is more credible than some of the ideas posed by my buddies around the card table one night a week.