-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Roger Critchlow wrote: > Just to beat on the defenders of the status quo some more, their > rationale for denying climate change and not messing with the economy is > essentially the same: it, the economy, is a complex system where we > don't even partially understand the consequences of even small changes, > so it would be wise to minimize our impacts on it. > > So we have the same rhetoric of conservatism on both sides of the question.
Now hang on there! You were doing fine up until you did a bait-and-switch between "defenders of the status quo" and "rhetoric of conservatism". A conservative would argue for burning less _now_ in order to save for a rainy day. The "defenders of the status quo" are simply lazy opportunists and span the gamut between conservative and liberal. Lazy liberals will fly around in jets (to attend conferences about climate change) and eat tofu shipped from half-way around the world. Lazy conservatives will commute in SUVs in order to avoid buying a commute-vehicle and a work-vehicle. On the other hand, industrious conservatives and liberals will cooperate to construct policies that balance resource usage. The artificial dichotomy between so-called "conservatism" and so-called "liberalism" is just so much stupid hoo-ha propagated by lazy verbiage like your "rhetoric of conservatism" statement above. One of the necessary steps toward a useful dialect about anthropogenic climate change is: stop abusing English. And in this sense, we can say that the current status quo is _liberal_ in our policies of dousing problems with resources (like highly paid CEOs, digging up more oil to feed our machines, finding exponentially richer supplies of energy to feed our ambition, etc.) We are _liberally_ applying the earth's resources, with little forethought, to perceived problems. The answer is to stop being so liberal with our resources... tighten up the belt... conserve ... be conservative. - -- glen e. p. ropella, 971-219-3846, http://tempusdictum.com To read a newspaper is to refrain from reading something worthwhile. The first discipline of education must therefore be to refuse resolutely to feed the mind with canned chatter. -- Aleister Crowley -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFGwMUMZeB+vOTnLkoRAr1XAKCYDcyHQkhr1oeF9MHsXOs4drQ37ACdFBIy wZuEQk+QrSOYWBiOoAL8Fnc= =h3MI -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
