Profile in Cowardice

"It's just a ride. And we can change it anytime we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings of money. A choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one."
-Bill Hicks

I'm following up on the comment to my previous entry regarding "food for thought".  Most of the questions swirling in my head are directed toward myself, even though I still stand by my earlier remark that in regard to stopping Global Warming, "it's not about you".  But still, I am responsible for my thoughts, my words, my actions, so I have to ask: Am I being too cynical?  This seems to me the point around which all the issues contained within my view of The Future coalesce.  Ultimately, I believe the answer is no.  I'll explore the deepest recesses of the darkness, but always with the flashlight of my wit.  I wouldn't bother if I thought humanity lacked the capacity to change.

You want an example of real cynicism?  Read this and weep.  Or laugh with incredulity.

CNN's Brain Freeze On Climate Change

Blog ››› January 24, 2013 2:04 AM EST ››› TODD GREGORY

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Despite the clear scientific consensus that climate change is occurring and that humans are causing it, CNN's Erin Burnett treated climate change as the subject of debate.

Burnett set up a discussion on her Wednesday show with a weather report and CNN's opinion polling on climate change, rather than scientific facts.


snip

One of Burnett's guests, CNN contributor and conservative blogger Erick Erickson, rattled off a litany of debunked arguments to advocate against taking action on climate change. Erickson described climate change as "a problem we probably have to get used to," rather than one "we can cure."

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/01/24/cnns-brain-freeze-on-climate-change/192371

My problem is not so much with Erin Burnett, whose behavior is typical of all presstitutes, whether whoring for CNN, MSNBC, Fox etc., in that it is in their best interests (money always trumps ideology, which is why I lump MSNBC and Fox together) to muddy the waters so that the scientific reality is denied in the name of political "debate".  That's old hat.  My bewilderment is over the evolution of the ideological opposition to the overwhelming scientific consensus on the effect of greenhouse gasses on our global climate as asserted by Erick Erickson.  We've seen outright denial that global warming is happening evolve into acceptance that it's happening but that humans aren't causing it.  Now we're witnessing the final stage in the Kubler-Ross spectrum of grief, acceptance, but with an astounding degree of cynicism.  Yes, global warming is happening, yes, we're causing it, but no, we shouldn't do anything, it's too late, the problem's too big, so get used to it.  That's the so-called "conservative" stance on the issue.

I put "conservative" in quotes, because considering that the widely acknowledged father of conservatism, Edmund Burke is most widely attributed as saying, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing", I don't believe that most 21st century Americans who call themselves conservatives are really all that conservative.  Where the fate of humanity is concerned regarding Global Climate Change, Erickson advocates doing nothing.  That's not conservatism, that's cowardice.  Again, I have to call back the argument of my previous blog entry on wedge issues that civilization needs to move beyond the rigidity of binary logic-bound ideology and start examining ideas on their own merits in the context of an economic infrastructure that can no longer count on infinite growth.  Once you accept that as reality, that Peak Oil happened, that fracking, natural gas or electric cars can't solve Peak Oil anymore than buckets or duct tape could solve that gigantic iceberg hole in the side of the Titanic, and that Global Warming is nature's way of saying we're only in it for the money, only with that sobering moment of clarity can we address the root issues of what truly ails us as a species.  I mentioned greed in the last entry as one issue, another equally important issue is violence, which I hope to address in my next post.  You can tie both together under the big one: fear.

As overwhelming and daunting as the troubles of the world are, we should not let fear immobilize us.  While I still deride the half-assed efforts of trying vs. doing, the real crime is doing nothing.  Well, let me rephrase that.  The real crime is not doing nothing, it's doing the same thing, over and over, business as usual, ostrich head in the sand, expecting a broken system to last forever.  Trying is better than quitting.  Resistance, however great the odds, always trumps surrender.  Just understand you can't do it by yourself.  And stop acting out of fear and start acting out of love.  It's your choice.  Do the right thing.