Bathos

Abrupt, unintended transition in style from the exalted to the commonplace, producing a ludicrous effect.
An anticlimax.
Insincere or grossly sentimental pathos: “a richly textured man who... can be... sentimental to the brink of bathos” (Kenneth L. Woodward).
Banality; triteness.

BSG On the subject of population...

( the survival of the human race..  )