Saturday, August 27, 2005
Hell, a handbasket, and you
It seems like it's been a while since we've been up on current events here at YTE, but I thought I'd bring it back with a tried and true look at the state of the globe.
Right now I'm reading Collapse by Jared Diamond. I can't say that I've finished it, but the basic premise is that societies and civilizations have historically collapsed because of environmental pressures combined with other pressures, such as war and politics. This agrees with what I've said about environmental damage- that we're doing possibly irreparable harm to the environment, and by the time we feel the effects it may be too late to fix them, much like what happened on Easter Island.
Although I'm not sure the metaphor holds up to modern society, I still appreciate Diamond's attempt and his scientific approach to the problem, and I appreciate his environmental stand. To me, he's the best kind of environmentalist- the kind that is in it to help humanity, not because nature is holy, or because we need a place in Montana to get away from the city, so it better have some trees and rivers there that are pretty for me to look at.
I consider myself an environmentalist- I'm a card-owning member of the Sierra Club, but I have the sneaking suspicion that I probably don't agree with most of the other members. I gave them money mainly so that I could stand up and be counted among the "Environmentalists". So that politicians can say "Oh, the Sierra Club gained 150,000 new members this year. (I just made that number up, please don't use it) Maybe we oughta take this environmental stuff seriously."
So, where does this all fit into the world? Well, couple the fact that America is getting stupider, and the fact that we're the largest economy in the world, and I think that spells a recipe for collapse.
Ok, so maybe we're not in for a real Malthusian catastrophe, but the facts are clear. The intelligent design debacle is proof positive that Americans are morons. As I've said before: being pro-life is not a stupid opinion, nor is believing in God. But teaching intelligent design as an alternative to evolution is just misinformed religious nonsense (and one reason why being religious IS stupid... ok now I've gone too far). Having faith in a creator is one thing, but using it to undermine science is another. And why attack evolution? How come they aren't attacking Newtonian gravity, which is shown to be incomplete? How come they aren't attacking the uncertainty principle, which would make it seem like God wasn't in control of the universe?
Well, I'll tell you why. Because the people behind ID are morons. They couldn't wrap their pea-sized brains around nuclear or astronomical physics if their pathetic lives depended on it. (ok I've gone too far again) But they CAN look at human eye and say "No way man! I'm sure God created that!" Never mind that if God existed, he would have created evolution and could have even... and please don't kill me for this... intelligently designed the evolution process so that it WOULD create humans. No, let's just say that evolution is incomplete. And let's definitely not point out that any good scientific theory should be incomplete.
And let's also point out that the war in Iraq is going poorly, which is to be expected. But now everyone wants out, and many liberals are trying to have Cindy Sheehan be their shining knight to lead the charge out of Iraq. But the thing is, just because you didn't want to go into Iraq (most liberals) doesn't mean you have to get out as soon as possible. We're in there, and it's done, so we DO have to make sure we didn't make it worse. Of course you know I am in trouble when I'm agreeing with the President. And the other thing is, just because you DID want to go into Iraq and did "support the troops" by putting a sticker on your car (many conservatives), doesn't mean that you can pull out now because it's turning into a quagmire. Of course most conservatives are sticking to the president's side.
I'm sure people would accuse me of ivory tower madness, sitting here comfortably at a desk while I say that American troops must die across the world to finish a mission that never should have started. But the thing I would say to them is that
1) Signing up for the armed forces means that you decided to follow the President's orders no matter whether he was right or wrong. And just because he was wrong then, and is right now, doesn't matter.
2) I would accuse those other people of nationalist racism, because by saving the lives of another 1000 American soldiers, they're almost certainly condemning thousands of more Iraqi civilians to death. And the notion that American lives, that American jobs are worth more than others is a kind of idea that needs to be put to death as soon as possible.
So in a way, I applaud the soldiers of the US for doing what they're doing. In one sense they are being as selfless as can be. But in another way I feel truly, deeply sorry for them, for having to follow the President who got them into this mess.
So does this really mean we're all doomed? I don't know. I think that clearly, the US is increasingly an unsustainable mess, and that the reason we're in Iraq in the first place is to make sure that instability in the middle east doesn't destabilize our oil-based economy. And that oil-based economy is increasingly strained by environmental pressures, and it's increasingly strained by our crazy irrational nationwide behavior. But that discussion has to be relegated to part 2, since this one is running long.
Right now I'm reading Collapse by Jared Diamond. I can't say that I've finished it, but the basic premise is that societies and civilizations have historically collapsed because of environmental pressures combined with other pressures, such as war and politics. This agrees with what I've said about environmental damage- that we're doing possibly irreparable harm to the environment, and by the time we feel the effects it may be too late to fix them, much like what happened on Easter Island.
Although I'm not sure the metaphor holds up to modern society, I still appreciate Diamond's attempt and his scientific approach to the problem, and I appreciate his environmental stand. To me, he's the best kind of environmentalist- the kind that is in it to help humanity, not because nature is holy, or because we need a place in Montana to get away from the city, so it better have some trees and rivers there that are pretty for me to look at.
I consider myself an environmentalist- I'm a card-owning member of the Sierra Club, but I have the sneaking suspicion that I probably don't agree with most of the other members. I gave them money mainly so that I could stand up and be counted among the "Environmentalists". So that politicians can say "Oh, the Sierra Club gained 150,000 new members this year. (I just made that number up, please don't use it) Maybe we oughta take this environmental stuff seriously."
So, where does this all fit into the world? Well, couple the fact that America is getting stupider, and the fact that we're the largest economy in the world, and I think that spells a recipe for collapse.
Ok, so maybe we're not in for a real Malthusian catastrophe, but the facts are clear. The intelligent design debacle is proof positive that Americans are morons. As I've said before: being pro-life is not a stupid opinion, nor is believing in God. But teaching intelligent design as an alternative to evolution is just misinformed religious nonsense (and one reason why being religious IS stupid... ok now I've gone too far). Having faith in a creator is one thing, but using it to undermine science is another. And why attack evolution? How come they aren't attacking Newtonian gravity, which is shown to be incomplete? How come they aren't attacking the uncertainty principle, which would make it seem like God wasn't in control of the universe?
Well, I'll tell you why. Because the people behind ID are morons. They couldn't wrap their pea-sized brains around nuclear or astronomical physics if their pathetic lives depended on it. (ok I've gone too far again) But they CAN look at human eye and say "No way man! I'm sure God created that!" Never mind that if God existed, he would have created evolution and could have even... and please don't kill me for this... intelligently designed the evolution process so that it WOULD create humans. No, let's just say that evolution is incomplete. And let's definitely not point out that any good scientific theory should be incomplete.
And let's also point out that the war in Iraq is going poorly, which is to be expected. But now everyone wants out, and many liberals are trying to have Cindy Sheehan be their shining knight to lead the charge out of Iraq. But the thing is, just because you didn't want to go into Iraq (most liberals) doesn't mean you have to get out as soon as possible. We're in there, and it's done, so we DO have to make sure we didn't make it worse. Of course you know I am in trouble when I'm agreeing with the President. And the other thing is, just because you DID want to go into Iraq and did "support the troops" by putting a sticker on your car (many conservatives), doesn't mean that you can pull out now because it's turning into a quagmire. Of course most conservatives are sticking to the president's side.
I'm sure people would accuse me of ivory tower madness, sitting here comfortably at a desk while I say that American troops must die across the world to finish a mission that never should have started. But the thing I would say to them is that
1) Signing up for the armed forces means that you decided to follow the President's orders no matter whether he was right or wrong. And just because he was wrong then, and is right now, doesn't matter.
2) I would accuse those other people of nationalist racism, because by saving the lives of another 1000 American soldiers, they're almost certainly condemning thousands of more Iraqi civilians to death. And the notion that American lives, that American jobs are worth more than others is a kind of idea that needs to be put to death as soon as possible.
So in a way, I applaud the soldiers of the US for doing what they're doing. In one sense they are being as selfless as can be. But in another way I feel truly, deeply sorry for them, for having to follow the President who got them into this mess.
So does this really mean we're all doomed? I don't know. I think that clearly, the US is increasingly an unsustainable mess, and that the reason we're in Iraq in the first place is to make sure that instability in the middle east doesn't destabilize our oil-based economy. And that oil-based economy is increasingly strained by environmental pressures, and it's increasingly strained by our crazy irrational nationwide behavior. But that discussion has to be relegated to part 2, since this one is running long.
# posted by Stuart @ 12:14 PM 
