The Case for Climate Apocalyptic Optimism

by silence7

2 comments
  1. Oh my gosh, now it’s an article about optimistic doomerism. When will it stop?

  2. The writers idea that we will band together to cooperate as things get that bad, instead of breaking into isolationist groups in the grip of their respective authoritarian regimes is indeed optimistic. Before there were research rules on how we treat animals social scientists set up a laboratory environment for rats where they had plenty of room, and all of their needs were met, and the rats were happy. Gradually the researchers increased the population of rats in the fixed environment. Oh there was plenty of food and water. It just got more crowded. Eventually, the rats turned cannibal and ate each other. I do have optimism for the future that might emerge out of such a dystopia. I just think we are not going to see the light until it gets very very dark. UNLESS college educated people stop making their retirement plans, their top priority, and are willing to fill the jails by committing themselves to civil disobedience, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon. Or it might be enough enough if such people quit focusing on financial advancement, and instead committed their life and their money to replacing Congress with sensible people, but that doesn’t appear to be happening either. Take any prior election and the commitment of most college educated voters and multiply that level of commitment by at least 50. That’s the kind of thing I’m talking about. Since the college educated voters with good jobs are not putting that kind of skin in the game we are left with the default Plan B…. A trip to the depths of the abyss to burn away the BS mythology and narratives on which our current society has been built (including the myths and narratives that underpin those college educated voters’ current priorities). Once those myths and narratives are ash, we can start to build new ones and create a different society on the basis of a different cultural identity. As Ernie cried ion the Night Wizards’ Bus…. “Hang on….. it’s going to be a bumpy ride!!”

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