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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/oct/20/degrowth-image-problem-solve-planet-climate
Larry Elliott over at The Guardian is out here peddling what can only be described as degrowth with a smiley face—like trying to market tofu as the next T-bone. In his article, Degrowth needs to solve its image problem for the sake of the planet, Elliott makes the case that the degrowth movement just needs a little PR refresh to be more palatable. As if convincing people to embrace economic collapse is just a matter of better slogans. Sure, Larry, that’s exactly what degrowth needs: a...
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Two general comments.
I’ve always hesitated to quote the Bible in answer to general comments because The Bible is about spiritual matters.
But I’m making an exception here. These deal with the natural man and how he thinks.
KJV Proverbs 26:4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.
5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.
Sounds contradictory.
But this communicates the sense better.
NAS 4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, Lest you also be like him.
5 Answer a fool as his folly deserves, Lest he be wise in his own eyes.
In other words, don’t jump in with the pig. Show him the way out.
If he decides to stay in the pit, you did your best. 😎
Yep.
Like don’t argue with a moron –
you’ll have to argue at their level of intelligence, then they’ll beat you with experience.
Mark Twain I believe?
Idea already preoccupied. Still they be hopeful, but don’t have enough lipstick, as some might call data. Rose, K. A. 2012. End-to-end models for marine ecosystems: Are we on the precipice of a significant advance or just putting lipstick on a pig? Scientia Marina 76(1):195-201. doi: 10.3989/scimar.03574.20B Need “Component submodels, end to end”
Suggested slogan:
Dying for the cult will make you happy. We promise.
Degrowth must be known well by its full name: Degrowth Communism (as espoused by Kohei Saito). Even without the lipstick on this pig, the full horror of Degrowth Communism is obscured by the deliberate omission of its full name.
Degrowth means reductions in population, industry, wealth/ person (unless I’m missing something)
Some version of Communism might espouse that but, to my understanding, it is not a common tenant. Communism is bad enough without degrowth (if possible) but major reductions in population, industry, wealth/ person can come about from natural disasters, warfare, tyranical governments of different persuasions, and probably other causes not occurring to me at the moment.
common tenet.
(pedantry is like Tourette Syndrome. We sufferers just can’t help it 🙁 )
I just invented ‘Tourette’s by proxy’ A condition that makes people swear at you. Famous sufferers Michael Mann Keir Starmer Kamala Harris
Fellow sufferer, although in remission. 😇
P.S. Are brackets required? Does ‘syndrome’ require a capital S? Shouldn’t there be a full stop at the end of your statement?
Noooooo…..I have regressed. I need to book an appointment with my therapist. 🤣
The Marxist influences of the Degrowth movement are quite well documented.
Take Saito’s most famous book: Marx in the Anthropocene for instance.
https://www.cambridge.org/au/universitypress/subjects/sociology/social-theory/marx-anthropocene-towards-idea-degrowth-communism?format=PB
Ironically, degrowth is probably the only thing that Communism is actually good at. It’s achieved this aim practically every time it’s tried, resulting in starvation, destitution and death for tens if not hundreds of millions.
Kind of sounds like telling people they can pick up a turd by the clean end.
The trick is to label one end “safe and effective”.
97% of people will grab for it and not even notice they have shit under their nails.
Works every time.
Well, no, it only works 97% of the time by your own data.
Yay! Another pedant. I’m not alone any more 🙂
So funny that I am glad I was not drinking anything when I read that.
Take a candy bar, like a Snickers. Mash it up a bit and hide it when out with the kiddies or city-folks. Then call their attention to it and tell them it is bear scat. Pick it up “by the clean end” and eat it.
I heard some funny draft dodging stories back in the day. My favorite was mixing some dark food coloring in a bunch of peanut butter and smearing it up your backside before going in for the physical. When the doc sees it and gets grossed out, take a sample with your finger, taste it, and say how good it tastes.
No idea if it would work, but a good story.
and then say –
“lucky we didn’t step in this hey?”
I am reminded of Caddyshack. DOOBIE!
The late, great Barry Humphries pulled off his “Russian Salad” gag while coming to the UK on a Qantas flight. Surreptitiously having filled a sickbag with said comestible beforehand, he stood up in front of the other passengers and ostentatiously made to vomit into the bag. He then proceeded to eat its contents. Apparently, the result was pandemonium on the plane.
Brilliant!
Here is my suggestion Elliott might like to consider as a de-growth slogan.
“Lead by example”
Never engage in a battle of wits with the unarmed. They never know that they lost.