Usually, I take a cue from some newspaper or web article citing someone or other with some profound or ridiculous comment, but it turns out we have our own profound QOTW right here at WUWT.
In the thread: What really goes on at COP16 in Cancun
steven hoffer says:
Start the burner under that smoke stack, dam that river, bridge that gap. push back the night. You might wonder why these fools are trying to let the outdoors back in, when we’ve spent our entire history trying to keep the outdoors out.
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The reasons why are quite simple actually.
Some of these people are just wack jobs. There is always a certain number of these types attracted to any lunacy but these are just the fringe. As for the so called scientists, I think we all can see their motivation.
Whenever someone does not have to worry about the day to tribulations of existence i.e. food, water, shelter, they must find something else to keep them occupied. For most of us this is not so much of an issue, we are preoccupied with earning a living and paying the mortgage. There is a group of people in this country however for whom this is not true. These people need things to keep them occupied. For many of these people, that means saving the rest of us from ourselves.
Many of the idle rich harbor feelings of self loathing. They feel guilty for having what they have while so many others struggle to get by and some actually starve. Which is not to say that they don’t feel they deserve their wealth, they do. They just feel bad that everyone else has less while they have more than they truly need. Since most of these people tend to hold themselves in high regard, these feelings tend to turn to misanthropy. Not a specific dislike of any individual in particular but the belief that mankind in general is inherently bad and by extension any thing that mankind does. These are not attitudes that are derived by any deep thought on their part, rather they are just feelings, emotions that only exist on the edge of their awareness.
The list of these people is long. Great sums of wealth are not required. The range in incomes of these people varies greatly. It is not the amount that is important rather how what they have makes them feel. Some people are quite content with a small house in the suburbs while for others it takes billions. The important factors are that you don’t have to live hand to mouth and you feel you have more than you need.
Now all they need is a cause. What better cause could they find than that of saving the world from destruction by protecting it from the evils of mankind.
And there you have it, the birth of environmentalism. Essentially just a mental disorder.
What’s up with my missus? I always knew her as having a poetic streak, but today she came right down to Earth while we were discussing all those attempts to keep human progress at bay and letting Nature rule. She said,
It’d be marvelous to live in harmony with Nature.
Never in Earth’s history mankind has been in harmony with Nature. Nature has been trying to destroy any living species on Earth since eons ago. It succeeded many times. But it looks as mankind has managed to dodge nature’s efforts and it is slowly winning the game.
Nature last trick will be converting the Sun into a red dwarf. But who cares? “After me, the deluge.” 🙂
Here’s one that tickled:
“We don’t burn fossil fuels just to annoy Al Gore”
Bjorn Lomborg on ‘The Climate Connection’, BBC World Service, Fri 3 Dec ’10, commenting on the prosperity carbon has brought us.
I am proud of the Hoffer’s and their ability to put succinctly what I have been saying on this site for many years. We cannot go forward by going backwards. Many long time readers of WUWT? will know that I have spent eons in the bush ( and feared for my life on more than one occasion). I love the outdoors more than anyone ( more than any “greenpeacer” I have met, and whom I’ve found wanting in the survival instinct department). When you can hear the pack of wolves howling as they make a wide circle around your camp, sleeping becomes somewhat difficult. It is quite exhilarating to be in this predicament, although having to do this for the rest of ones life is less appealing (slight understatement). If civilization were to crumble, most would not survive. Let’s keep the outdoors out. Thank you Steven Hoffer.
About the food bill (S510). They passed it, but they goofed. They included taxing provisions in it, and this is prohibited for Senate-originated bills. Only the House may do that. So it all has to be done over, starting in the House. And there’s not enough time or will in the lame-duck session.
So it’s pretty much a dead letter.
@steven hoffer:
Well-said, sir, well-said. From your comment, you are a welder, which is a noble trade that is vital to our civilization. I’m an engineer and know only too well how important welding is.
As I read your quote, the Norman Rockwell image at the link below came to mind. The man who is standing appears to be a tradesman based upon his clothes, and he also appears to be confident and has an air of competence about him.
The faces of the men looking up at him show admiration and interest in what he’s saying.
Mr. Hoffer, my hat is off to you, sir. Well done!
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/R/rockwell/rockwell_speech.jpg.html