It may have been one of those crappy Roger Elwood anthologies “Throw anything in the slushpile into it and give it a catchy title” that were published at the rate of like 80 per week during that period.
I think it was hardcover…but it may have been a paperback with library binding.
The premise of the story is that snivelly, sobby mom is talking to cold/dispassionate (but trying to be kind) expository-dialogue giver psychatrist type.
Mom: < snivel, snivel > My Baaaaaaaaaaby! He’s just a little boy! < sob >
Doc : You must understand ma’am that during the evil 1970s(?), we weren’t sufficiently ecological! We made species go extinct. Here, sit back while I give you about 30 paragraphs of expository background designed as a story. < gives “we weren’t eco-friendly” history >
Mom: < sob > But Johnny, he’s only 8 years old and he’s a GOOD boy < snivel >
Doc: I’m sorry madam, but you’re wrong. JOHNNY KILLED A LIVING BEING!!! HE found it and ripped it’s limbs off! It was WRONG!* WRONG I SAY!***" He will be (either “killed” or “Jailed” or “re-educated” or “have his memory flushed and his personality wiped. I don’t remember which).”
Mom: < wails! > Oh Doctor! That’s terrible! And for such a small crime!
Doc: < righteous outrage > Madam! The taking of ANY life is the ULTIMATE crime. Your sort of anti-life thinking is why we’re down to 18 species (or however many). Your son WILL be punished/reeducated/personality wiped.
Mom: (big punchline here) “BUT IT WAS ONLY A BUTTERFLY!” (or other insect–maybe an ant?)
I’ve been trying to find this story for decades, if only to see if it’s as bad as I remember. I actually flung the book to the ground when I read it.
I vaguely recall another story that I read at about the same time period that may have been from that anthology about how “Overpopulation was going to KILL US ALL (big theme in the '70s from doofs who bought Paul Erlich’s lies) and as such, a cure for cancer had been discovered and supressed–a kid(?) figures this out and…either releases the cure or is killed.”
One other story that might have been from this anthology is "Raymond F. Jone’s, “A Bowl of Biskies Makes a Growing Boy” (about a kid who discovers that his breakfast cereal has mind-control drugs in it).
The other two stories may not have been in the same anthology, with the mystery story about the butterfly, but I read them at about the same time. Note that all three stories have a “children” and “social awareness” theme.
One last clue: it was NOT in Asimov’s Tomorrow’s Children and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t in r Elwood’s The Other Side of Tomorrow.
I’d really kill (not a threat! Just hyperbole) to reread that story so any clues would help–does it ring a bell for anyone?
Well, “A Bowl of Biskies” only appeared in one source – Elwood’s The Other Side of Tomorrow. The contents of that were:
The Other Side of Tomorrow ed. Roger Elwood (Random House 0-394-82468-1, Nov ’73, 207pp, hc)
* vii · Introduction · Roger Elwood · in
* 3 · Come Sing the Moons of Moravenn · Leigh Brackett · nv *
* 26 · Examination Day · Gordon Eklund · nv *
* 50 · The Speeders · Arthur Tofte · ss *
* 70 · Let My People Go! · Joseph Green · ss *
* 89 · Night of the Millennium · Edward D. Hoch · ss *
* 106 · A Bowl of Biskies Makes a Growing Boy · Raymond F. Jones · nv *
* 134 · Final Exam · Thomas N. Scortia · ss *
* 153 · The Others · J. Hunter Holly · nv *
* 182 · Peace, Love, and Food for the Hungry · Gail Kimberly · nv *
It’s possible that “Final Exam” is something like you remember.
The specific short story in the OP sounds familiar – but maybe I’m thinking of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.
Actually, that’s true; unless we’re lucky, the population explosion is going to destroy civilization.
Does sound like a horrible anthology, though. Unfortunately, that wasn’t something that ended with the 1970s; I’ve got a simply godawful anthology from about 1990 called Full Spectrum. (Mostly new writers; some had potential, but badly needed an editor who’d actually do his job.)
Even the anthology series I remember fondly, like Orbit and New Dimensions, probably had their share of clinkers.
Full Spectrum was a series that ran five volumes. The later ones undoubtedly declined, but the first, from 1988, is a classic. It contained Norman Spinrad’s “Journal of the Plague Years,” which may be his masterpiece and was nominated for a Hugo and a Nebula, James Morrow’s “Bible Stories for Adults, Number 17: The Deluge,” which won the Nebula for Best Short Story, and three other Nebula Best Short Story nominees, “Dead Men on TV” by Pat Murphy, “Voices of the Kill” by Thomas M. Disch, and “The Fort Moxie Branch” by Jack McDevitt which was also nominated for a Hugo. Not too shabby.
I’m pretty sure that’s not it. I do think the “The eeeee-vil gum’mint is keeping a cancer cure from us” story was one of these though.
I’ve got the book on order so I’ll know for sure in a few days, but I’m fairly certain that while I read the “It was only an insect!” story at the same time as this, I don’t think it was part of the same anthology.
HUGE correction: I mentioned “Paul Erlich” with regards to this. I meant “Paul R. Ehrlich”. Paul Erlich is a real scientist who discovered (among other things) the blood/brain barrier and was a Nobel laureate).
Paul R. Ehrlich was a doctor of butterflies who wrote a totally psychotic book (that a lot of SF writers used as a springboard for a ton of early '70s, late '60s fiction) called “The Population Bomb”. While a population explosion might very well destroy civilization–this guy’s stuff is in the same category as Van Danniken and Hal Lindsey and his degree is only slightly more relevant to his books than Dr. Laura’s is. His wild-ass guesses may have been correct but every “science” prediction he ever made was disproven. Apologies for smearing the name of Dr. Erlich.