A friend of mine recently affixed this to his truck. "Hydrocarbon powered Eco Vehicle" well duh, all internal combustion engines burn hydrocarbons. His response was that only chemists will know the truth and he'll fool all the silly hippies. I like this guy, I really do, we've been friends for a while, but sometimes the unapolagetic unabashed elitism grinds my gears.
Or the people who vow to eat twice as much meat to make up for my vegetarianism.
Is one person's uncloseted environmentalism as much an invitation to backlash so as to provide yet another example of Jeavon's paradox?
The phrase "South Park Republicans" has come and gone, their ilk mostly concerned with libertarian issues of non-interference. I think the effect remains though, we are now a "South Park Nation" a country full of people who will deride anyone who cares about anything. Now Mr's Parker and Stone (south park creators) and Mr. Beck (who's smarmy storefront provied my friend with his adhesive clad vinyl statement) would say they don't mind people having opinions, so long as they keep them to themselves. (And God forbid perhaps make you rethink your position) But isn't speaking your mind part of having an opinion? If there is a fire in a crowded theater, please excuse me if I dare to open my mouth and let people know. If I'm wrong, and there is no fire, then I'll suffer the jibes for the inconvenience I caused. But I would be morally remiss if I said nothing.
I used to think that once I started caring about one thing, I will have to start caring about everything. I was right. Its made me neurotic, angry, and depressed at times, but in seeing the world for what it is and not just how I wanted to see it, I also see hope. I see people who are slowly remembering what it means to live, what is necessary and what is distraction or destructive, people who are learning to innovate again, people who are breaking dependency on a system that exploits them.
I can't help but keep referring back to the works of Frank Herbert. I'm reading Heretics of Dune right now. Herbert's analogy of hydraulic despotism, humanity's dependence on a single commodity leading to stagnation and possible demise, is so prescient.
But maybe I'm the elitist one.
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1 comment:
I love it. I feel the same way when I got a few "Anonymous" comments about my participation in Earth Hour, and that it was an egotist movement anyway? WTF?
Anyway, I get the sense that there is a backlash with living more simply because people are scared and jealous of our awesomeness, and that's the only way they know how to react.
But maybe we're the elistist ones... so true. You seemed to capture exactly how I'm feeling at the moment.
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