The ecofascism of Pentti Linkola: this is how far the ecologists of Gretin are likely to lead us
Portrait of a radical "deep ecologist", inspired by extreme forms of social Darwinism and anti-natalism. Useful to understand where certain conceptual drifts and passwords can lead when it is decided to make a very abstract 'environment' prevail over the human. The denial of human life, seen as parasitic with respect to the environment …
Theodore John Kaczynski, Unabomber , in 2014 tried to contact him to establish a philosophical correspondence with him. But in the cold of his North, scattered among lakes, winds and a dark and unfathomable sea like that of the pages of a novel by Knut Hamsun, the Finnish philosopher, fisherman and ornithologist Pentti Linkola, born in 1932 and died in 2020, son of the Rector historian of the University of Helsinki, decided that the letter did not deserve an answer. Linkola simply did not reply to any letter that was written in English.
When the Finnish high school Jokela was shocked by a massacre in 2007, with eight students killed by rifle and pistol shots, in a tragic reiteration of those massacres in schools that from Columbine to Virginia Tech have punctuated recent American history and the debate on the possession of firearms, the murderer pointed to Linkola as one of his main sources of conceptual inspiration.
"Humanity is overrated" . Humanity is overrated , can be read on the shirt worn by the killer who in martial pose, with two guns in his hands, recorded a video before the massacre in which he ended up dying himself.
Interviewed by the Finnish mass media , about how it felt to have been considered the moral inspirer of such a striking and atrocious act and in general about what he thought of the carnage, Linkola, seraphic and unperturbed, replied, as Joseph Christian Greer recalls from the pages of “Environmental ethics” , that the dead were too few and that it would have been necessary, on the contrary, to create a movement to propose wider forms of de-population.
Chances are excellent that the ecologist protesters from Cop26 and Fridays for Future enthusiastically following Greta and even the more radical Extinction / Rebellion Linkola have never even heard of him. An indigestible meal even for many apologists of ' deep ecology' , despite some common concepts.
Risen to some celebrity in the American counter-cultural underground precisely because of his being repeatedly associated with massacres in schools, for his spartan and solitary lifestyle, having retired to be a fisherman, and for his corrosive thought articulated in various books and articles, Linkola began to overflow from the limited perimeter of Finland, with some initially sparse English translations of his texts.
In the Anglosphere, Linkola ended up there due to the crazy initiative of the late editor Adam Parfrey, owner of the Feral House , who decided to include his article, "Human Deluge" , in the second volume of "Apocalypse Culture" , authentic samizdat of unacceptable thought and radical.
Later, his book "Can life prevail?" , by Arktos Media in 2009, and the re-edition of the volume, expanded and revised, is planned for the end of 2021. Moreover, Arktos hosts two writings in English by the Finnish philosopher on its website.
Conceptually, and unlike Unabomber who also wanted to contact him and discuss with him, Linkola proves to be a radical deep ecologist , inspired by extreme forms of social Darwinism and anti-natalism.
His philosophy could be summarized using the metaphor of the sinking of a ship, very dear to Linkola; in those moments, life proves to be cruel, brutal and completely outside any canon of civilization, solidarity and love for others.
The aversion to humanitarianism, according to Linkola, is the only antidote that can save the ship at the mercy of the waves and the sea, because if to survive it will be necessary to trample or cut the arms of those who insist on clinging to the keel or occupying in excess of the lifeboats, then it will be necessary to do so.
Unlike Unabomber who in his infamous Manifesto tends to be concerned about the social impact of technology, Linkola opposes the etching of technology on the ecosystem and the environment.
But the most radical difference lies in the consideration of individual freedoms: while Kaczynski proves to a certain extent a typically American 'constitutional patriot', i.e. anti-government and against the restrictions imposed by the state on individual freedoms of any kind, Linkola argues any form of coercion and government, albeit tyrannical, that shows that it wants to put its 'eco-fascist' philosophy into practice.
Generally, the derogatory term 'ecofascist' is used to describe deep ecology . But Linkola was one of the few who thought it almost… flattering. Precisely because of his aversion to any form of, for him, degrading and decadent democracy which, according to Linkola, would end up generating further pollution and overpopulation.
Clearly Linkola is not a 'fascist' in a historical or political sense, given that in his writings we often find the unleashed apology of Stalin, Pol Pot and Mao and of anyone who, once in power, left behind a huge trail of blood. In short, he is not interested in social policy, reformism or the preservation of a given political order but the denial of human life, seen as parasitic with respect to the environment.
In his opinion, the drastic reduction of the population is the only solution to bring about a radical change to the degradation of the environment and to the increasingly massive pollution. He supports eugenics, contraception, abortion, and for this he has asked for the criminalization of all those religions that oppose him on the contrary.
And speaking of religions, there is a tasty curiosity: in 2016, Irja Ascola, female bishop of the Finnish Lutheran Church, on a visit to the Vatican, gave Pope Francis a few hectares of pristine Finnish forest, donated by the Foundation created years earlier by … Linkola.
Naturally, the philosopher also dwells in a precise and analytical way, and extremely articulated, on more classic environmental issues, such as the foundations of pollution, animal rights, environmental protection, the worse role in his opinion of ecological associations. .
Consistent with his thinking, and more coherent than anarcho-primitivist John Zerzan who, while criticizing any technological progress, travels by plane to give his lectures, Linkola retired, until his death, to live in a hut in a wood, writing in ink only, without any computer or Internet access, and riding a horse.
Linkola undoubtedly represents the insurmountable limit of 'ecological' thought, the Pillars of Hercules of a fanaticism completely located outside humanity.
A warning, in its own way, to understand where certain conceptual drifts and certain passwords, initially perhaps persuasive, can lead when it is decided to make a very abstract 'environment' prevail over the human. Keep that in mind, certain ecologists with easy shouting.
The post The ecofascism of Pentti Linkola: this is how far the ecologists of Greta are likely to lead us appeared first on Atlantico Quotidiano .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Atlantico Quotidiano at the URL http://www.atlanticoquotidiano.it/quotidiano/lecofascismo-di-pentti-linkola-ecco-fino-a-dove-rischiano-di-portarci-gli-ecologisti-gretini/ on Wed, 17 Nov 2021 03:47:00 +0000.