Pentti Linkola

[[File:Pentti linkola.jpg|thumb|165px|[[Fun:Dalek|"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"]]]]{{enviro}}
{{cquote|If there were a button I could press, I would sacrifice myself without hesitating, if it meant millions of people would die.|||Pentti Linkola. No, he ''didn't'' accidentally leave out a word in that sentence.<ref>http://vhemt.org/death.htm#grimreaper</ref>}}
'''Pentti Linkola''' {{lived|1932|2020}}<ref name="yle">[https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11293151 Luonnonsuojelija Pentti Linkola on kuollut], ''Yle Uutiset'' 5 April 2020 (in Finnish)</ref> was a  Finnish [[Author|writer]], ornithologist, fisherman, and radical [[environmentalist]] from Helsinki [[Finland]]. The hardest of the [[hard green]]s, he believed that human population should drop to a small fraction of its current numbers to curb [[consumerism]]. His father, Kaarlo Linkola, was a botanist, phytogeographer and rector for the University of Helsinki.

==Specific views==
Linkola advocated [[eugenics]] and praised the idea of [[World War III]] as a depopulation measure, and in the same vein [[Horseshoe theory|he defended]] the [[Holocaust]]:
{{quotebox|We even have to be able to re-evaluate [[Fascism]]<ref group=note>Apparently, Linkola couldn't distinguish between Fascism and [[Nazism]].</ref> and recognize [[Psychopath|the service]] that [[Insanity|philosophy]] made 30 years ago when it [[Orwellian|freed]] the Earth from the weight of tens of millions of [[Depopulation conspiracy theory#Useless eaters|overeating]] [[Europe]]ans, [[Genocide|six million of them]] by an almost ideally [[Nature woo|environment-preserving]] means.<ref group=note>"kyettävä fasisminkin uudelleenarviointiin ja tunnustettava se palvelus, minkä tuo filosofia jo 30 vuotta sitten teki vapauttaessaan maapallon kymmenien miljoonien ylensyövien eurooppalaisten kuormituksesta, niistä kuuden miljoonan lähes ihanteellisen kivuttomalla, elinympäristöä haittaamattomalla tavalla" (Pentti Linkola: ''Toisinajattelijan päiväkirjasta''. WSOY 1979)</ref>}}

And the 2004 Madrid bombings: 
{{quotebox|Every act which disrupts the progress of Earth's [[Demonization|life destroying]] Western culture [[Two wrongs make a right|is positive]].<ref>[http://www.penttilinkola.com/pentti_linkola/ecofascism_writings/time_to_quiet_down/ A Linkola fansite]</ref>}}

Asked why he wasn't a terrorist himself, he simply admitted that he lacked the bravery and skill.<ref name="IS20201">https://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000006465014.html</ref>

Linkola opposed [[democracy]], comparing it to a free-for-all in a huge supermarket, and said that he preferred [[dictatorship]]s, as they are reigned by other values than consumption.<ref name="IS20201" /> He strictly opposed not only immigration,<ref name="IS20201" /> as it tends to increase consumption, but also education of women in developing countries, again for the same reason.<ref name="IS20202">https://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000006464903.html</ref><ref group=note>Ironically, educating women is one of the most ''effective'' ways of curtailing runaway population growth.</ref>

He did not refer to himself as "hard green", but instead he described himself as a [[Hard green#Deep ecology|"deep ecologist"]] in ''Can Life Prevail?'', the first of his books to be published in English.<ref>[http://www.prlog.org/10213967-new-deep-ecology-book-pentti-linkolas-can-life-prevail.html New Deep Ecology Book: Pentti Linkola's "Can Life Prevail?"], PRLog, 8 April 2009</ref>

Linkola was an [[atheist]] and opposed [[Lutheran]] [[Laestadianism]] in particular. Laestadianism forbids [[contraception]] and its followers usually have large families, which Linkola thought should be criminalized.<ref>https://www.city.fi/ilmiot/pentti+linkola/4756</ref> He was also supportive of [[conscientious objector]]s.<ref name="yle"/>

Linkola's fansite includes a link to an [[alt-right]] website called amerika.org, which displays radical environmentalist views of the "blut und boden" type,<ref>http://www.amerika.org/politics/why-does-the-left-hate-nature-so-much/</ref> although it seems rather dissimilar with the ideas of a man who cheered on Europeans dying in Islamist terrorist attacks and liked fascism specifically because of all the First World people who died as a result of it.

==Influence (or lack thereof)==

Pekka-Eric Auvinen, the perpetrator of the {{wpl|Jokela school shooting}} in which a total of nine people perished, was a fan of Linkola's texts and quoted him several times on his website he left behind. Linkola claimed Auvinen to not have been particularly motivated by him:

{{quotebox|In all likelihood there was no philosophical angle to [the shooting]. If it had been more planned out and more efficient, then possibly.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20200919013852/https://www.ts.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/1074239266/Ampujan+kotona+ihailtiin+Linkolan+ajatuksia</ref>}}

Linkola's international reach has thankfully been limited by the fact that he didn't know English, so his thoughts have been mainly promoted by followers and through translations instead.

===Comparison to Unabomber===

Linkola is often compared to [[Unabomber]] (Theodore J. Kaczynski), an American terrorist, who attempted to contact Linkola by letter in 2014.<ref>https://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000005327799.html</ref> (Linkola never read or replied to any correspondence sent in English and he made no exception in this case.) While the similarities in their views are obvious, they are by no means equivalent:

* Both "retired to nature" from academia, which is an obvious commonality. Kaczynski was a hermit and a recluse, who rejected society, had no family, and lived alone doing odd jobs. Although such claims are often mistakenly attached to Linkola, Linkola was gainfully employed all the time, had a wife and kids, was very sociable and fun company to be with, and even had affairs with multiple women.<ref>https://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000006465014.html</ref>
* Kaczynski got his manifesto published only by coercion, while Linkola was an accomplished author and speaker.
* Kaczynski framed his quest as a quintessentially American "struggle for freedom and individual liberties". Linkola had absolutely no problem with restricting personal freedoms and openly supported a fascist dictatorship that would enforce his Green policies.
* While both are known for their radical anti-technology stance, Kaczynski is mostly concerned with the social impact of technology, while Linkola was concerned about the environmental impact.

==See also==

* [[Kai Murros]] – another Finn with a penchant for exterminating humans, although not indiscriminately like Linkola

==External links==
*[http://www.penttilinkola.com/ Pentti Linkola fansite]

==Notes==
{{reflist|2|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Linkola, Pentti}}
[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:Environmentalism]]
[[Category:Eugenics supporters]]
[[Category:Finland]]
[[Category:Hard green]]

Categories: Authors, Environmentalism, Eugenics supporters, Finland, Hard green