Frank Furedi’s essay takes us to task for our ‘loss of faith in humanity’ and our ‘neo-Malthusian doom and gloom’. Furedi opines that the new misanthropy threatens to make us scared of ourselves, and that we face a choice between resigning ourselves to a ‘culture of fatalism’ or rousing ourselves toward ‘taking control of our futures’. He takes heart in the idea that the human ability to recognize and label evil “shows that we are capable of rectifying acts of injustice.”

Furedi is one of the sp!ked [and isn’t the spelling ever-so-cutesy?] crew whose purpose in life seems to be waging a front-liine battle against any upwelling of the culture of fear and whose sole modus operandi the donning of rose-colored glasses. Ironically, he does not see that the misanthropic strain he decries is the very voice of that human ability to recognize wrongs, as the first step in rectification. Being scared not only of the potential to cock things up royally but — look around — the mess we have made in actuality is necessary, and I pity those who are so hellbent on avoiding that distress that they stick their heads in the sand as deeply as these folks do. Furedi pleads for faith in human potential and belief in the advantages of civilized modernity, and he sounds like nothing so much as an apologist for the status quo — a sheep in wolves’ clothing.