Eplurb, I think you’re closer to the truth than you realize. Yes, they think the Earth is a giant bon-bon, but not because its resources are unlimited. Rather, they’re happy to be gobbling up the whole damned thing, notwithstanding that, once it’s gone, we don’t get another, because they don’t care. They’re happy to spout that jive about free energy “until the end of time” because they know it keeps the masses placid. What the masses need to know is that these right-wing Doctor Feelgoods don’t believe any of their own crap, because they don’t care. Why not? Why should they? A lot of them apparently do believe that, once the Earth is all used up, pious Republican wastrels will be assumed into Heaven, forever after driving upon God’s golden streets in the Cadillacs and Hummers that He has waiting for his consumptuous chosen. When folks like that start talking about “the end of time,” they don’t mean “forever.” They mean “any day now.”
We cannot let our neighbors be fooled. They must know that these cheerful prognosticators of endless plenty are lying to them. They not only believe the Earth has finite assets, but they want to use them up. Like Bill Moyers (citing Glenn Scherer) said in his essay, “There Is No Tomorrow,” “…millions of Christian fundamentalists believe that environmental destruction is not only to be disregarded but hastened as a sign of the coming apocalypse.”
Millions believe this. And, among those many, there are a few who maybe even see it as God’s work when they take to the air, the Web, or the legislature, and declare that Nothing Bad Will Ever Happen, because they really want The End of the World Real Soon. (See http://www.truthout.org/articl… for the full essay by Moyers.)
Epluribusunum
Good unpacking of a corporatist meme.
You can hear some amazing things on the radio. Yesterday, I heard this one, from one of the “religious” dingbats: Some people think that there is a finite amount of oil, and that [all kinds of bad things] will happen when we’ve identified how much we have left. But there’s an equally legitimate point of view that says we will continue to discover more oil, and other things like oil, until the end of time.
I call this “the earth has a creamy nougat center” theory. It might be more funny if these people didn’t own things like deep water drilling platforms and our Supreme Court.
Eplurb, I think you’re closer to the truth than you realize. Yes, they think the Earth is a giant bon-bon, but not because its resources are unlimited. Rather, they’re happy to be gobbling up the whole damned thing, notwithstanding that, once it’s gone, we don’t get another, because they don’t care. They’re happy to spout that jive about free energy “until the end of time” because they know it keeps the masses placid. What the masses need to know is that these right-wing Doctor Feelgoods don’t believe any of their own crap, because they don’t care. Why not? Why should they? A lot of them apparently do believe that, once the Earth is all used up, pious Republican wastrels will be assumed into Heaven, forever after driving upon God’s golden streets in the Cadillacs and Hummers that He has waiting for his consumptuous chosen. When folks like that start talking about “the end of time,” they don’t mean “forever.” They mean “any day now.”
We cannot let our neighbors be fooled. They must know that these cheerful prognosticators of endless plenty are lying to them. They not only believe the Earth has finite assets, but they want to use them up. Like Bill Moyers (citing Glenn Scherer) said in his essay, “There Is No Tomorrow,” “…millions of Christian fundamentalists believe that environmental destruction is not only to be disregarded but hastened as a sign of the coming apocalypse.”
Millions believe this. And, among those many, there are a few who maybe even see it as God’s work when they take to the air, the Web, or the legislature, and declare that Nothing Bad Will Ever Happen, because they really want The End of the World Real Soon. (See http://www.truthout.org/articl… for the full essay by Moyers.)
Good unpacking of a corporatist meme.
You can hear some amazing things on the radio. Yesterday, I heard this one, from one of the “religious” dingbats: Some people think that there is a finite amount of oil, and that [all kinds of bad things] will happen when we’ve identified how much we have left. But there’s an equally legitimate point of view that says we will continue to discover more oil, and other things like oil, until the end of time.
I call this “the earth has a creamy nougat center” theory. It might be more funny if these people didn’t own things like deep water drilling platforms and our Supreme Court.