Good points John. I agree with Chuck- this was a lot to digest. ... The Tom Nichols quote was one I resonated with.
I had seen the Ted Cruz clip you linked to ... his introduction before that was more like a rock star coming on stage than a competent, thoughtful leader. This is normal now, it seems.
I am a bit more pessimistic than you. I don’t recognize the Republican Party I heavily supported for so long—they are divisive, obstinate, and desperate for power. They seem uninterested in the “quiet competence” mentioned above.
We are at risk of war in Europe. China is yearning for Taiwan. The atmosphere is heating. (And a democrat connected to the coal industry effectively blocked us moving away to less coal-burning.) The seas are acidifying, plasticizing, and rising. Earthworms are dying. The soil is becoming dirt. The aquifers are drying up. Our infrastructure is decaying.
Our response (both as a country and a species) is to play political power games. To build and ship more weapons. To ramp up defense spending and largely gut infrastructure bills. No one seems interested in the dying planet. Times—to me—appear desperate.
I don’t believe our politicians generally can think very far past the next election cycle. Indeed, shortsightedness is part of human nature, and it takes effort to think ahead 50 years and learn from experts what await us if we don’t act, etc.
Tim Garrett, a rather well-known atmospheric physicist, said (I believe on one of his blog posts) that “Civilization is a heat engine…” That one statement smacked me in the face. Of course! What Dr. Garrett means is that civilization will produce heat no matter how we power it. The only way to produce less heat is to ramp DOWN civilization and decrease the size of the heat engine and the waste heat it will produce. And the only way to do that (barring some scientific/technological miracle) is less energy consumption, fewer children, simpler lifestyles rooted in local food production, and on and on it goes. (Can a politician run on that? I don't think so.) And even then, the planet will heat for another century...
The political class can’t save us. Indeed, they don’t appear to be even trying in any way.
I’m at peace. I am personally going to do what I can, try and minimize my worry and simply trust the Creator. I’ll do my work as best as I can one day at a time. I'll encourage those around me as best as I can. Humanity’s tenure on the planet is finite. Even the Scriptures tell us this.
Thank you for all the work you do on these essays. God bless.
I need to clarify that my call for empathy in place of "owning the others" is not likely to be reciprocated by those who disagree with my position. Here is Ted Cruz speaking at the Turning Point USA convention (shared on his own twitter feed, so he's proud of this): https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1550632616713396224?s=20&t=trZK024ZZrUQFE_qsewMNQ
Definitely not his finest moment. I personally like Jordan Peterson's perspective, not objecting to the use of pronouns but vehemently opposed to compelled speech.
I'm also very unlikely to refer to someone as a cat person or a bug person as I've seen on Tik Tok. But I am happy, or at least compelled by conscience to use "cis-" terms as opposed to the typical "normal" reference to one's sexuality because I am loathe to be a contributing factor to a trans person's depression, especially considering the trans vs cis suicide rate being a multiple of approximately 40.
This was certainly a lot to digest. Social Media has definitely continued to be a wedge driven through the middle of an already fragmented society. I see the value of consensus and meeting somewhere in the middle on some issues, but am also equally motivated to "dunk on" the most vocal progressive elements.
I guess I'd ask "what is the impact is of dunking on the most vocal progressive elements"? Do they acknowledge your response and engage back? Is it just for the thrill of pointing out what you see as the stupidity of their position? If the latter, just yell at your computer. That way you get your emotional response but stop short of feeding the social media algorithms.
I just wanted to thank you for an excellent article which really touched on some of the finer points I have been struggling to find the words to convey, even if I don't agree with your perspective entirely.
Good points John. I agree with Chuck- this was a lot to digest. ... The Tom Nichols quote was one I resonated with.
I had seen the Ted Cruz clip you linked to ... his introduction before that was more like a rock star coming on stage than a competent, thoughtful leader. This is normal now, it seems.
I am a bit more pessimistic than you. I don’t recognize the Republican Party I heavily supported for so long—they are divisive, obstinate, and desperate for power. They seem uninterested in the “quiet competence” mentioned above.
We are at risk of war in Europe. China is yearning for Taiwan. The atmosphere is heating. (And a democrat connected to the coal industry effectively blocked us moving away to less coal-burning.) The seas are acidifying, plasticizing, and rising. Earthworms are dying. The soil is becoming dirt. The aquifers are drying up. Our infrastructure is decaying.
Our response (both as a country and a species) is to play political power games. To build and ship more weapons. To ramp up defense spending and largely gut infrastructure bills. No one seems interested in the dying planet. Times—to me—appear desperate.
I don’t believe our politicians generally can think very far past the next election cycle. Indeed, shortsightedness is part of human nature, and it takes effort to think ahead 50 years and learn from experts what await us if we don’t act, etc.
Tim Garrett, a rather well-known atmospheric physicist, said (I believe on one of his blog posts) that “Civilization is a heat engine…” That one statement smacked me in the face. Of course! What Dr. Garrett means is that civilization will produce heat no matter how we power it. The only way to produce less heat is to ramp DOWN civilization and decrease the size of the heat engine and the waste heat it will produce. And the only way to do that (barring some scientific/technological miracle) is less energy consumption, fewer children, simpler lifestyles rooted in local food production, and on and on it goes. (Can a politician run on that? I don't think so.) And even then, the planet will heat for another century...
The political class can’t save us. Indeed, they don’t appear to be even trying in any way.
I’m at peace. I am personally going to do what I can, try and minimize my worry and simply trust the Creator. I’ll do my work as best as I can one day at a time. I'll encourage those around me as best as I can. Humanity’s tenure on the planet is finite. Even the Scriptures tell us this.
Thank you for all the work you do on these essays. God bless.
I need to clarify that my call for empathy in place of "owning the others" is not likely to be reciprocated by those who disagree with my position. Here is Ted Cruz speaking at the Turning Point USA convention (shared on his own twitter feed, so he's proud of this): https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1550632616713396224?s=20&t=trZK024ZZrUQFE_qsewMNQ
Definitely not his finest moment. I personally like Jordan Peterson's perspective, not objecting to the use of pronouns but vehemently opposed to compelled speech.
I'm also very unlikely to refer to someone as a cat person or a bug person as I've seen on Tik Tok. But I am happy, or at least compelled by conscience to use "cis-" terms as opposed to the typical "normal" reference to one's sexuality because I am loathe to be a contributing factor to a trans person's depression, especially considering the trans vs cis suicide rate being a multiple of approximately 40.
This was certainly a lot to digest. Social Media has definitely continued to be a wedge driven through the middle of an already fragmented society. I see the value of consensus and meeting somewhere in the middle on some issues, but am also equally motivated to "dunk on" the most vocal progressive elements.
Thanks for engaging.
I guess I'd ask "what is the impact is of dunking on the most vocal progressive elements"? Do they acknowledge your response and engage back? Is it just for the thrill of pointing out what you see as the stupidity of their position? If the latter, just yell at your computer. That way you get your emotional response but stop short of feeding the social media algorithms.
I didn't say it wasn't my White Whale. :-)
I just wanted to thank you for an excellent article which really touched on some of the finer points I have been struggling to find the words to convey, even if I don't agree with your perspective entirely.