Friday, November 03, 2006

"Global Salvationism"

It is, I suspect, no accident that it is in Europe that climate change absolutism has found the most fertile soil. For it is Europe that has become the most secular society in the world, where the traditional religions have the weakest popular hold. Yet people still feel the need for the comfort and higher values that religion can provide; and it is the quasi-religion of Green alarmism and what has been termed global salvationism - of which the climate change issue is the most striking example, but by no means the only one - which has filled the vacuum, with reasoned questioning of its mantras regarded as a form of blasphemy.

Posted as the Samizdata Quote of the Day.

Posted by John Venlet on 11/03 at 11:22 AM
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American Ingenuity in Foreign Lands

The title to this series of photographs is Lords of the Logistic, but the title could easily have been “Ingenuity in Action.”

Take a look, the photos are amazing.

Via UniquePeek.com.

Posted by John Venlet on 11/03 at 10:05 AM
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Courage and Moral Rectitude Lacking

I popped over and read the comment thread that Billy Beck links to in his post Comment Abroad.

In the thread, which is a discussion of voting Democratic for the purpose of creating political gridlock, with an Objectivist slant, there are a number of references to Rand’s book Atlas Shrugged.

The references to this tome center around what it will take to effect change in the political hell we currently reside.  Will the change be effected by the agonizingly slow creep of Objectivist friendly educators into the education systems, mass civil disobedience, or by the political process?

Though I think that Objectivist friendly educators in the education system would be beneficial, the fruits of this would not be seen for generations to come, and that may very well be too late.

Mass civil disobedience simply will not happen.  Too many individuals desire to reside in the palm of the state.

Participating in the political process is simply robbing Peter to pay Paul and a freedom pipe dream.

At the risk of sounding naïve, I’ll reference Rand’s Atlas Shrugged and state the following.

The main protagonists in this tome are all titans of various industries who make the conscious decision to withhold their sanction from the state.  Some of the protagonists arrive at this decision rather quickly, others need to be beaten down time, and time again, prior to arriving at this decision.  Are there any titans of industry, today, anywhere in the world, who have this type of courage and moral rectitude?  Are there any titans of industry who even contemplate, even vaguely, withdrawing their sanction of the state?  I would say not.

Titans of industry, today, are more apt to ask for additional state interference to protect their markets from competitors, at the expense of the state’s lamprey grip on the fruits of their production, rather than advocating freedom from the state.

Until such time that this world we live in sees men and/or women, leaders, of the character type portrayed by Francisco d’Anconia, Ragnar Danneskjöld, or Elias Wyatt, individuals who destroyed the entities, the businesses, which the state voraciously feeds on, and who assiduously decline to contribute to the coffers of professional jobholders and jobseekers, the decline into socialism will continue.

Posted by John Venlet on 11/03 at 08:10 AM
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John Kerry Apologist

The John Kerry comment, "You know education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”, has been roundly, and justifiably, condemned, and criticized, throughout the media and blogosphere.

I had not seen any defenses of Kerry’s foolish comment, until this morning, when I read Alex Tabarrok’s post, at Marginal Revolution, where Tabarrok had this to say.

The irony is that the joke he intended to make is a lie but what he actually said may be the truth.  The disaster in Iraq was created by a bunch of highly educated intellectuals but the soldiers fighting in Iraq do have less education than the young men and women who have stayed home.  According to historian David Kennedy, quoted in the October issue of the Atlantic, 50 percent of 18-24 year olds in the general population have some college education compared to only 6.5 percent of the same age group in the U.S. military.  (Kennedy’s figures are contested by others.)

Tabarrok then ends his post with this comment.

American political correctness extends to more than women and minorities and as in those areas it prevents discussion of important but uncomfortable truths.

Tabarrok’s post is, at best, a left handed defense of Kerry, and his leaning on the ramparts of political correctness to support his contention that ”...important but uncomfortable truths.”, regarding the educational levels of men and women in the service, prevents this subject from being discusssed is simply specious.

The comments contributed to Tabarrok’s post dissect, fairly well, the fallacy of his assertions so I’ll not add anything further, except to say that relying on a piece of paper with fancy calligraphy inscribed upon it as the measure of individual’s intelligence is about as reliable as a psychic reading.

Posted by John Venlet on 11/03 at 07:03 AM
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