'Post human'

-- by Dave

Mark Steyn, whose propensity for eliminationist rhetoric has been duly documented previously, provides us with an interesting iteration that fits neatly into conservatives' attacks on liberalism and its "decadent" effect on society, in a recent post at the Corner:

By the way, look at the first word of that report, from The Times of London: "Desperate" mothers. Why, in a land of socialized health care and lavish welfare, are mothers so "desperate"? Feckless boyfriends seem to play a part. But then Germany has one of the lowest marriage rates in the developed world.

It's getting harder not to conclude that parts of Europe are evolving into a kind of post-human society.

"Post-human"? The clear implication of this coinage is that these people are also sub-human, or in any event non-human -- and by extension, fully worthy of extinction or elimination.

And then Mark Noonan at Blogs for Bush picked it up and ran with it, extending the reach of these "post humans" to America as well, and concluding thus:

There are two things which can stop this slide into barbarism and death: the conquest of the west by people who believe in something, or the revival of a west which has returned to its moral and intellectual roots. Those are the choices - be conquered by Moslems (who at least believe in something higher than themselves and their personal pleasures), or become Judeo-Christian. Death or conversion, take your pick.

It isn't too hard to see the basic theme of palingenesis running through this analysis -- which, combined with the ugly eliminationism, makes this meme possibly the most definitively fascist talking point to proceed from the "mainstream" right yet.

You know how these things spread. I now look forward to hearing from the usual right-wing suspects -- Limbaugh, Coulter, Savage, Malkin -- describe their pet targets, particularly liberals, as "post-human" as well. Not to mention having it pop up among the trolls. And all points in between.

These people are treading down this path on their own inevitable momentum, and probably nothing can be said to stop that. What we have to wonder, though, is how many people are going to go along with them.

[Hat tip to Jason.]