Ostriches
I got it, I got it. People don't read because it makes them scared. And it makes us see how collectively stupid we can really act.
If we read things we see that we're losing thousands of acres of Louisiana wetlands so that we can ground up cypress trees for garden mulch. Clearly we need more and more of the stuff. Oil companies already dredged new waterways into the backcountry and now we keep doing this. If we read about it, we know it's happening, that it's very bad, that it leads to continued deterioration and greater negative effects from storms BUT...
That's only if we read about it and know that it's going on. Because everyone who reads about it will agree that it's a BAD THING. People who don't read about it probably have very pretty gardens and don't pay much nevermind to hurricanes in the Gulf Coast.
I used to work with two guys who made the comment, "Who wouldn't be in favor of globalization?" If I don't read anything about it, and I don't see that China has polluted 70% of their surface water and 90% of their underground water, that they manipulate their currency to make it difficult for foreign lands to export goods there, that they run over dissenters with tanks in Tiannemen Square (although I could catch that one on TV), then third world countries taking over all manufacturing might seem like a fine idea. After all, I don't want to build toasters and I really appreciate that every fifteen years or so, when I want to buy one, I can do it at Wal-Mart for ten bucks instead of fifteen. Geez, I save pennies a year on all the stuff that I almost never buy. Cool.
If I don't read anything I don't have to worry about the apparently inevitable one meter rise in sea level. See, we sold our house on the water in Florida without reading anything about how it might not be there in fifty or a hundred or a hundred and fifty years. Of course, I'll likely be dead by then and won't have the choice to read anything or not.
So maybe there's a good reason not to read anything. It's damn scary. On the other hand, there's always Calvin & Hobbes or The Far Side or Peanuts or other comic strips. I can read actual words, snort chocolate milk out my nose, and look at pictures at the same time.
If only I could stop there...
If we read things we see that we're losing thousands of acres of Louisiana wetlands so that we can ground up cypress trees for garden mulch. Clearly we need more and more of the stuff. Oil companies already dredged new waterways into the backcountry and now we keep doing this. If we read about it, we know it's happening, that it's very bad, that it leads to continued deterioration and greater negative effects from storms BUT...
That's only if we read about it and know that it's going on. Because everyone who reads about it will agree that it's a BAD THING. People who don't read about it probably have very pretty gardens and don't pay much nevermind to hurricanes in the Gulf Coast.
I used to work with two guys who made the comment, "Who wouldn't be in favor of globalization?" If I don't read anything about it, and I don't see that China has polluted 70% of their surface water and 90% of their underground water, that they manipulate their currency to make it difficult for foreign lands to export goods there, that they run over dissenters with tanks in Tiannemen Square (although I could catch that one on TV), then third world countries taking over all manufacturing might seem like a fine idea. After all, I don't want to build toasters and I really appreciate that every fifteen years or so, when I want to buy one, I can do it at Wal-Mart for ten bucks instead of fifteen. Geez, I save pennies a year on all the stuff that I almost never buy. Cool.
If I don't read anything I don't have to worry about the apparently inevitable one meter rise in sea level. See, we sold our house on the water in Florida without reading anything about how it might not be there in fifty or a hundred or a hundred and fifty years. Of course, I'll likely be dead by then and won't have the choice to read anything or not.
So maybe there's a good reason not to read anything. It's damn scary. On the other hand, there's always Calvin & Hobbes or The Far Side or Peanuts or other comic strips. I can read actual words, snort chocolate milk out my nose, and look at pictures at the same time.
If only I could stop there...
posted by Rick Ollerman at 11:28 AM
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