Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
On Earth Day, blogger friend Buck could see Komsomols from his house.
And here’s the latest shot across the bow for us troglodytes who tend to turn a jaundiced eye on the whole Earth Day thing… from “How to Green Your Parents,” in yesterday’s NYT…
Thursday is the 40th anniversary of the original Earth Day. Over the years, the impact of this once seminal day has lessened. Earth Day brings people together for nice gatherings and noble efforts but has, for the most part, made sustainable action more of an annual event than a daily habit. We’ve got to change that.
Here’s a move in the right direction: launching this Earth Day is Green My Parents, a nationwide effort to inspire and organize kids to lead their families in measuring and reducing environmental impact at home. Not just on Earth Day, but every day. GMP’s initial goal is to have its first 100 youth advocates train and educate 100 peers (who will then turn to 100 of their respective peers and so on), with the aim of saving families $100 million between now and April 2011.
Robin of Berkeley records her on-the-job observation that being such a Komsomol can be tough on the ol’ mental stability (hat tip again to Gerard):
My twenty-something client Emma, a survivor of the Berkeley public schools, had a coughing fit during our session. I helpfully got up to get her some water. When I handed her a cup, she looked at it, incredulous.
Her voice quivering, she asked, “Is this Styrofoam?”
I said yes. She stared at the cup, mesmerized by this forbidden fruit. When she finally found her words, she said, “I’ve never seen Styrofoam before. We learned in school that it kills baby birds.”
:
When Emma returned the next week (thankfully), I asked about her reaction. She flooded me with stories about indoctrination by teachers. One of her earliest memories was singing songs on Earth Day, prayerfully, when she was five.A sensitive soul, Emma became terrified that her beloved Earth would perish, and that she’d be culpable. Starting in third grade, she became an environmental fanatic. Emma went ballistic on her disabled grandmother when the old woman threw a bottle in the trash.
:
How did I help Emma snap out of her trance? I simply imparted truths that someone should have communicated years ago, like the following:Emma, you’re a wonderful, good-hearted person. You deserve to be here. Your life is a blessing. It’s OK to drive your car or to take a bag from the store. You deserve all these things and more. Besides, the earth has been here for millions of years and will be here long after your great grandchildren are gone.
Now, if the planet is not about to crash and burn, why turn children like Emma into eco-warriors? Why condition them to take three-minute showers and lambaste their elders?
The Left’s underlying goal: to convince all of us that we don’t matter. Our happiness, our cleanliness, our ease of living, our money, and our time…it’s the government’s business, not ours. While Marxist theory celebrates the proletarian, in actuality, people become interchangeable cogs in the collective wheel. [bold emphasis mine]
This is really all about tombstones. At one extreme end of the spectrum, you can have a green burial. The opposite end would be to have the biggest tombstone in the entire cemetery, maybe with a statue of yourself standing over it, and an eternal flame in your hand perhaps? Which of course would look extraordinarily silly if you had not done something to earn it.
A green burial takes that pressure off.
But if you opt for the “When I’m gone I’m gone, I’m not gonna try to leave anything behind, don’t look for me to do anything” route, it makes you pretty cranky if you suspect everyone else isn’t following along. I can only imagine what that’s like. Waitaminnit! All you losers are going to be remembered a hundred years from now and people will have forgotten all about me? That’s not fair! I’m the good one!
There seems to be a connection between this “saving the planet” stuff and the instant-gratification, live-for-pleasure thing. This is not what I would have expected. But I suppose it stands to reason. If you truly live life to serve others, you would be performing a better service if people felt compelled to remember you for it. Therefore if you rebel against the one, you would of necessity be rebelling against the other. And who wants to be remembered for living a life of pleasure? I can just see it now: “This statue is dedicated to the memory of X, who played a lot of video games.” Eck, how embarrassing.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Thanks… yet again… for the link, Morgan.
Speaking of that quaint lil community on the east side of The Bay… One of these days I’m gonna do some serious writing about my year in Beserkeley. Or mebbe not. Memory ain’t what it used to be and I’ve tried to block most of that silliness out of mind. Still and even, I did have some fun times on Sunday mornings in the coffee shops while wearing my BUFF (B-52) tee shirt. It was a great conversation starter. 🙂
- bpenni | 04/24/2010 @ 10:39I’d refer to them as a generation of Putz’.
A schmuck is hard, and a putz isn’t.
For some reason I’m thinking of Eddie Murphy in the first Beverly Hills Cop (strip club scene).
- HoundOfDoom | 04/24/2010 @ 22:45