Over the past couple of days, I've watched around 90 minutes of interviews out of London with the Extinction Rebellion crowd.....via YouTube and Sky News.
Basically, when you mix this 'chat' all up.....what you get is a sales job for frugal lifestyle or just plain austerity.
Growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, I was around teachers who'd been part of the 1930s and early 1940s, who remembered the depression years. You'd hear the terms dejection (meaning low spirits), 'funk', 'black dog' (a metaphor for depressing times upon an individual), 'Hooverville' (hobo camps), somatization (meaning stresses going on around you are triggering you to have an emotional breakdown), and accepting austerity only because there was no alternate path ahead.
When I watch the interviews with these Extinction Rebellion people....I get the impression that they are inviting to a 1930s-type party, where it's a path to austerity....whether you want that path or not.
This whole rebellion thing is a public 'sales-job'? More or less.
So go and sell me on austerity. Make air-travel so expensive that only the ultra-rich will do it. Shut down 50-percent of airports. Force people into massive urbanization zones. Mandate what farmers can or can't do with their property. Mandate clothing choices. Mandate square meter living accommodations so I don't try to live in a 100 square meter apartment with just two people.
Am I totally against these folks? No.
I have four simple mechanisms to reach a happy level for the future. First, let innovation work. Don't hinder creation or innovation with stupid rules. Second, prioritize your problems. Third, if your solution tends to make things worse or has a cost-impact of a serious and threatening nature....it's probably unwise to proceed. The same is true if you invent some round-number (2-trillion for example).....the odds are that you really just plucked that out of thin-air, with no real effort involved. Fourth and final....the minute you hint that taxation is involved, with money shifting to a non-advancing society or culture....it's a no-deal situation for most people. Most people will ask....if a country or society is not advancing (maybe not for the past 2,000 years).....why would I take money out of my pocket for them?
1 comment:
I think that equality of austerity seems to be the missing link. Currently we have socialised marxist bailouts of banks, and businesses, and harsh austerity for the worker. Be nice to see a bit more of an even hand.
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