> > you don't get it john, the market is fixed; it is
> rigged by the plutocrats.
> Thank you, Jon! I've been so naive, but you have opened
> my eyes. Those
> evil plutocrats have really kept me down, but I won't
> stand for it any more!
> > they don't care what all this capitalism is doing
> to the planet, or the wars
> > that are mortgaging your children's' future.
> you are nothing but a unit of
> > consumption to them, programmed to purchase cars that
> use gas, plasma
> > television, i-phones and a new computer every three
> years.
> I must break my programming! I need to give up my car and
> my TV
> and my cell phone and my computers, they are proof of how
> the evil plutocrats have kept me down!
> > now with all the
> > houses that are in foreclosures america will be a
> land of renters and consumers.
> I've been renting and consuming for years! I can't
> believe I've never seen
> it before! This has to stop. I think my best bet is to
> move to somewhere
> in Africa so that I can cut down on my consumption
> (Africans don't consume
> much, right?) and maybe find a piece of land that no one
> wants so that I can avoid paying rent.
Sarcasm is the lingua franca of the internet, John. It is the signature of
your suppressed hostility, and allows you to be critical without actually
exposing or defending your own reactionary opinions (or actually refuting your
opponents). It provides deniability for insults and subtle personal attacks by
giving the appearance of depersonalizing the topic. Your favorite tactic is to
distort what others are saying, by deliberately misrepresenting the context.
We are all consumers, caught up in the marketplace, but some of us are unaware,
and others don't care. Some of us bury our heads, and others are completely
buried under the sands of denial.
Owning a computer does not equate to being a plutocrat, no matter how you
attempt to link the two. You can keep your i-pod, too... All we can do is
to try to reduce our own carbon footprint as much as we can, and support
anti-war leaders who can move the government toward sustainable policies.
I purchased my first brand new laptop over four years ago, my car was new in
1979, and I've owned the same television for over eight years. My next
automobile will be energy efficient. In the meantime, I ride my bike and take
the bus. I recycle as much waste as I can, and no longer eat meat three
times a day. I got rid of my cell phone, and access free WiFi at the library.
I shop at Goodwill and the Salvation Army. Eventually I will convert to
solar and wind energy, and be completely off the grid, plant an organic garden
and have my own well.
It is not a crime to have money, John, what matters is how you earn it and how
you spend it... The measure of a civilization is not how much energy it
consumes, but how much it conserves (and what kind of energy it develops)...
Jon
"if carbon emissions were immediately cut 100% , the planet would continue to
heat at precipitous levels for 60 years" (sic)
David Letterman (Sept. 8, 2008)
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