From: Sam Norton (elizaphanian@tiscali.co.uk)
Date: Thu Mar 11 2004 - 07:36:27 GMT
Hi,
That George Carlin stuff is excellent.
Also, if we're going to have a conversation about whether the world is in danger, I'm sceptical of
anyone's input who hasn't read and absorbed Bjorn Lomborg's "The Sceptical Environmentalist".
Sam
----- Original Message -----
From: "james marshall" <edgarj@shaw.ca>
To: <moq_discuss@moq.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2004 12:38 AM
Subject: Re: MD Beyond
> Hi Ascmjk,
>
> I am very sympathetic toward your view that the earth is not in trouble. I
> love a good rant. The best eco-rant rant I have ever heard and subsequently
> read is from George Carlin who is so funny at times that I need a diaper.
> He is also capable of extremely insightful social commentary. For your
> philosophical entertainment I have reproduced his eco-rant below. I have
> cleaned up the naughty words.
>
> ______________________
>
> We're so self-important. So self-important. Everybody's going to save
> something now. "Save the trees, save the bees, save the whales, save those
> snails." And the greatest arrogance of all: save the planet. What? Are these
> f***ing people kidding me? Save the planet, we don't even know how to take
> care of ourselves yet. We haven't learned how to care for one another, we're
> gonna save the f***ing planet? I'm getting tired of that s**t. Tired of that
> s**t. I'm tired of f***ing Earth Day, I'm tired of these self-righteous
> environmentalists, these white, bourgeois liberals who think the only thing
> wrong with this country is there aren't enough bicycle paths. People trying
> to make the world safe for their Volvos. Besides, environmentalists don't
> give a s***t about the planet. They don't care about the planet. Not in the
> abstract they don't. Not in the abstract they don't. You know what they're
> interested in? A clean place to live. Their own habitat. They're worried
> that some day in the future, they might be personally inconvenienced. Narrow
> unenlightened self-interest doesn't impress me.
> Besides, there is nothing wrong with the planet. Nothing wrong with the
> planet. The planet is fine. The PEOPLE are f***ed. Difference. Difference.
> The planet is fine. Compared to the people, the planet is doing great. Been
> here four and a half billion years. Did you ever think about the arithmetic?
> The planet has been here four and a half billion years. We've been here,
> what, a hundred thousand? Maybe two hundred thousand? And we've only been
> engaged in heavy industry for a little over two hundred years. Two hundred
> years versus four and a half billion. And we have the CONCEIT to think that
> somehow we're a threat? That somehow we're gonna put in jeopardy this
> beautiful little blue-green ball that's just a-floatin' around the sun?
> The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through all kinds of
> things worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics,
> continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic
> reversal of the poles...hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by
> comets and asteroids and meteors, worldwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide
> fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages...And we think some plastic
> bags, and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference? The planet..
> the planet...the planet isn't going anywhere. WE ARE!
> We're going away. Pack your s**t, folks. We're going away. And we won't
> leave much of a trace, either. Thank God for that. Maybe a little styrofoam.
> Maybe. A little styrofoam. The planet'll be here and we'll be long gone.
> Just another failed mutation. Just another closed-end biological mistake.
> An evolutionary cul-de-sac. The planet'll shake us off like a bad case of
> fleas. A surface nuisance.
> You wanna know how the planet's doing? Ask those people at Pompeii, who are
> frozen into position from volcanic ash, how the planet's doing. You wanna
> know if the planet's all right, ask those people in Mexico City or Armenia
> or a hundred other places buried under thousands of tons of earthquake
> rubble, if they feel like a threat to the planet this week. Or how about
> those people in Kilowaia, Hawaii, who built their homes right next to an
> active volcano, and then wonder why they have lava in the living room.
> The planet will be here for a long, long, LONG time after we're gone, and it
> will heal itself, it will cleanse itself, 'cause that's what it does. It's a
> self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover, the earth will
> be renewed, and if it's true that plastic is not degradable, well, the
> planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new paradigm: the earth plus
> plastic. The earth doesn't share our prejudice towards plastic. Plastic came
> out of the earth. The earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its
> children. Could be the only reason the earth allowed us to be spawned from
> it in the first place. It wanted plastic for itself. Didn't know how to make
> it. Needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old egocentric philosophical
> question, "Why are we here?" Plastic...a**hole.
> So, the plastic is here, our job is done, we can be phased out now. And I
> think that's begun. Don't you think that's already started? I think, to be
> fair, the planet sees us as a mild threat. Something to be dealt with. And
> the planet can defend itself in an organized, collective way, the way a
> beehive or an ant colony can. A collective defense mechanism. The planet
> will think of something. What would you do if you were the planet? How would
> you defend yourself against this troublesome, pesky species? Let's see...
> Viruses. Viruses might be good. They seem vulnerable to viruses. And, uh..
> viruses are tricky, always mutating and forming new strains whenever a
> vaccine is developed. Perhaps, this first virus could be one that
> compromises the immune system of these creatures. Perhaps a human
> immunodeficiency virus, making them vulnerable to all sorts of other
> diseases and infections that might come along. And maybe it could be spread
> sexually, making them a little reluctant to engage in the act of
> reproduction.
> Well, that's a poetic note. And it's a start. And I can dream, can't I? See
> I don't worry about the little things: bees, trees, whales, snails. I think
> we're part of a greater wisdom than we will ever understand. A higher order.
> Call it what you want. Know what I call it? The Big Electron. The Big
> Electron...whoooa. Whoooa. Whoooa. It doesn't punish, it doesn't reward, it
> doesn't judge at all. It just is. And so are we. For a little while.
> _______________________________
> Beauty rant, eh?
>
> Jim
>
>
>
>
>
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