# Die with IRONY, Voluntary Human Extinction Movement **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 25, 2002, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/die-with-irony-voluntary-human-extinction-movement/125528 "2002-08-25T22:11:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Liften\_Schwaltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Liften\_Schwaltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liften_Schwaltz)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/die-with-irony-voluntary-human-extinction-movement/125528/1 "2002-08-25T22:11:54Z")
Well, fuck me. I didn’t think there was anything left on the gat-damn Internet that could disturb and irritate me, what after having accidentally stumbled upon some Invader Zim movement, but this, kids, this takes the fuckin’ Internet cake. [HERE IS YOUR LINK OF SATAN](http://www.vhemt.org/), Dopers. I’m sorry about this, but, I didn’t want to expose you to the evil on only my, what, 5th post? But I -had- to rant to someone, and, hell, y’all were in the vicinity. I can’t exactly tell you, at this point in time, [why](http://www.vhemt.org/graphics/gauge.gif) this website makes me want to KILL ALL HUMANS (and that’s in a jovial, selective, Futurama way of GREAT JUSTICE, not in a smug, sanctimonius, guilt-erasin’ motherfucker way), though, I think I have a pretty good idea. God damn you, environment. God damn you for making me, for the first time in my life, as a person who can just grin idiotically at the uniformed shit Peter Sing says, ashamed to be an environmentalist. Curse your black hearts, [http://www.vhemt.org/](http://www.vhemt.org/). Worst of all, curse you for making me break character after 5 posts. I had a pretty righteous **taggert** thing going on, too, you know? _Liften Schwaltz will reply to his own frickin’ post in the near future. MAYBE. He is just too pissed off right now._ ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/die-with-irony-voluntary-human-extinction-movement/125528/2 "2002-08-25T22:17:11Z")
Can you say satire? I kew you could. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/die-with-irony-voluntary-human-extinction-movement/125528/3 "2002-08-25T22:21:26Z")
:smack: Can you sat, “DDUUUUUuuhh”? I knew you could. :wally ---
**Author:** ![Liften\_Schwaltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Liften\_Schwaltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liften_Schwaltz)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/die-with-irony-voluntary-human-extinction-movement/125528/4 "2002-08-25T22:25:42Z")
That’s really cute, Reeder. Even for an irony-impaired spanner such as myself, I checked the website very thoroughly for a hint, a small taste, a sliver of the slightest trace of a ‘ha ha, joke’s on you you naive websufer’. I found none, needless to say. I think that it was the Reasons for Having Children Chart (Go to [http://www.vhemt.org/biobreed.htm#instinct](http://www.vhemt.org/biobreed.htm#instinct) and scroll down until you get to the question ‘Aren’t there good reasons for human breeding?’) that really convinced me that this was a put on. And like I said in an essay of Swift’s Proposal, satire doesn’t mean jack if there isn’t a contrasting truth or viewpoint on the satirist’s part to show that you were funnin’. ---
**Author:** ![Liften\_Schwaltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Liften\_Schwaltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liften_Schwaltz)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/die-with-irony-voluntary-human-extinction-movement/125528/5 "2002-08-25T22:29:33Z")
And even if it -is- satire, which I truly doubt, it nonetheless made me mad. Good job, whoever that was. Ironically enough, I started to deny such small concepts such as ‘just joking’ or ‘verbal irony’ after going to Free Republic and seeing that there are people who actually think like [Patriot Bob](http://www.democraticunderground.com/bob/index.html). So, who knows. (Damn you dopers, you made my sabbatical last all of… 3 seconds!) ---
**Author:** ![JDeMobray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@JDeMobray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JDeMobray)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/die-with-irony-voluntary-human-extinction-movement/125528/6 "2002-08-25T22:33:06Z")
So. . . it’s the authors fault your brain doesn’t work. Ho-kay then. :wally ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/die-with-irony-voluntary-human-extinction-movement/125528/7 "2002-08-25T22:35:02Z")
What the fuck? Let’s assume they’re on the level. Why on earth would this piss you off? What about the word “voluntary” do you not understand? ---
**Author:** ![Liften\_Schwaltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Liften\_Schwaltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liften_Schwaltz)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/die-with-irony-voluntary-human-extinction-movement/125528/8 "2002-08-25T22:39:57Z")
If I could somehow give the impression of being embarrassed through dialouge, I would type that right now. Well, WHAT DO YOU KNOW. It was satire, all along. All I had to do was look at the links section. Go down to Google. I just do not know what to say, other than that I must have been suffering through some Indignant phase that my family seems to get. I retract everything I said. 😃 And whoever created the ‘Putz’ emoticon is a frickin’ genius. It was like a breath of… **Victory**. … or something. ---
**Author:** ![Journeyman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/779978/32.png) [@Journeyman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Journeyman)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/die-with-irony-voluntary-human-extinction-movement/125528/9 "2002-08-25T22:45:26Z")
The Reasons for Having Children Chart is quite funny, I think. I don’t know if it’s a joke or not, but it’s quite good for a laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Liften\_Schwaltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Liften\_Schwaltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liften_Schwaltz)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/die-with-irony-voluntary-human-extinction-movement/125528/10 "2002-08-25T22:45:59Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by **andros** > Why on earth would this piss you off? What about the word “voluntary” do you not understand? You know, I just do not know. I suppose I could make some stupid analogy like, ‘You know what, **Liften Schwaltz**? Even though I am not going to make you, you are a lazy bum and you are shaming our entire family by not going to Texas A&M and wasting your life at the Houston Art Institute instead’. And even though I was under no compulsion to do a thing contrary to my nature (despite how personally repulsive it is), the suggestion that I am a WORSE PERSON FOR DOING SO just… feh. I dunno. Get me another beer. ---
**Author:** ![Journeyman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/779978/32.png) [@Journeyman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Journeyman)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/die-with-irony-voluntary-human-extinction-movement/125528/11 "2002-08-25T22:46:37Z")
Oh, boy, do I feel stupid now or what? _blush_ ---
**Author:** ![Liften\_Schwaltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Liften\_Schwaltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liften_Schwaltz)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/die-with-irony-voluntary-human-extinction-movement/125528/12 "2002-08-25T22:50:02Z")
On a side note, do you think that it’s entirely possible to be so dense that you wooooosh yourself? Because I think I just did that. In a space of 10 minutes, no less. Gosh, this brings back memories of my very first post. It was on a website dealing with pornography, and I did the _exact same thing_ on the Prodigy BB, right before its end days. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/die-with-irony-voluntary-human-extinction-movement/125528/13 "2002-08-25T22:55:19Z")
Okaaaay…I don’t see the obvious irony either. \*\*Reeder \*\* and **Bosda** , can you please point out what part of the site would indicate that this Les bloke is anything other than serious? Like, sure, I think the guy is a complete whacko, but there are a lot of loons out there who sincerely believe in their own deluded schemes. What makes you think he is taking the piss? ---
**Author:** ![Genseric](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Genseric](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genseric)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/die-with-irony-voluntary-human-extinction-movement/125528/14 "2002-08-26T00:27:39Z")
Oh man, I ran across this thing several years ago, and it cracked me up. By the way, at least to me, satire is not as funny if it has **SATIRE** written all over it. Subtle is best. It helps to be a bit of a misanthrope as well. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/die-with-irony-voluntary-human-extinction-movement/125528/15 "2002-08-26T02:06:04Z")
Actually, I’ve read about these guys elsewhere. VHEM isn’t satire, they’re a serious bunch of nutjobs. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/die-with-irony-voluntary-human-extinction-movement/125528/16 "2002-08-26T02:26:52Z")
Considering you have [nutjobs like John Gray](http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/00000006D9EF.htm) running around, I can see that the line between parody and reality is getting mighty thin these days. (Gray, BTW, is a professor in England whose latest book is full of Deep Thoughts like ‘Genocide is as human as art or prayer,’ ‘Progress and mass murder run in tandem’ and ‘The internet is as natural as a spider’s web.’ He also wrote that humans “is only one of very many species, and not obviously worth preserving. Later or sooner, it will become extinct. When it is gone the Earth will recover.” I agree, John. You first. ---
**Author:** ![Sparc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Sparc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparc)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/die-with-irony-voluntary-human-extinction-movement/125528/17 "2002-08-26T02:40:43Z")
These guys are deadly (should I say suicidally) serious. I swear! I read it on the FAQ of their homepage. > [@](#): > > **Q: Are you really serious?** > > We’re really vehement. > > Many see humor in The Movement and think we can’t be serious about voluntary human extinction, but in spite of the seriousness of both situation and movement, there’s room for humor. In fact, without humor, Earth’s condition gets unbearably depressing – a little levity eases the gravity. > > True, wildlife rapidly going extinct and 40,000 children dying each day are not laughing matters, but neither laughing nor bemoaningwill change what’s happening. We may as well have some fun as we work and play toward a better world. > > Besides, returning Earth to its natural splendor and ending needless suffering of humanity are happy thoughts – no sense moping around in gloom and doom. See! Not a grain of irony and sarcasm as far as the most gullible eye can see. Sparc ---
**Author:** ![Genseric](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Genseric](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genseric)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/die-with-irony-voluntary-human-extinction-movement/125528/18 "2002-08-26T02:57:35Z")
I love it. I’m such a fan of bitterness and cynicism. It’s right up there with the aforementioned Swift, and such luminaries as Ambrose Bierce, Mark Twain, Groucho Marx, Bill Hicks, George Carlin, et al. Plus, it makes a point by comic exaggeration. There are too many people on earth. Bill Hicks made a good point when he said, “Why don’t you stop rutting, for one day? So we can work out this food-air deal, m’kay? How about having a nice world for kids to be born into?” ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/die-with-irony-voluntary-human-extinction-movement/125528/19 "2002-08-26T04:08:52Z")
Off topic: While I’m not in any way a John Gray fan, I wonder about his statement: > [@](#): > > Later or sooner, [the human species] will become extinct. When it is gone the Earth will recover. What do you find in that to disagree with, **pesch**? ---
**Author:** ![Genseric](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Genseric](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genseric)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/die-with-irony-voluntary-human-extinction-movement/125528/20 "2002-08-26T04:42:41Z")
Wait, are we talking about the \*Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" John Gray? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/die-with-irony-voluntary-human-extinction-movement/125528.md?page=2)