The inhumanity of the environmentalist

Jun 13, 2014
Bishop Hill in Climate: WG3, Greens

Further to my post this morning about progressives firing Caleb Rossiter for his temerity in putting the needs of Africans today ahead of concerns over global warming, it's interesting to consider a couple of other stories from the last couple of days:

• a report of Greenpeace rejoicing after getting huge renewable powerplant cancelled in Chile
• a report of the alarming number of environmentalists who would have allowed a disaster like the Irish potato famine to continue unabated rather than deploy GM technology to combat it.

What seems to link these stories is a passionately pursued collective goal and an almost inhumane willingness to accept individual suffering as a price worth paying to achieve it. I wonder if Greenpeace leaders ever gave a thought to the Chileans or if those greens gave a thought to the horror of the potato famine. And I wonder if John Cavanagh, the man who fired Rossiter, ever considers the suffering of sub-Saharan Africans. I hope so, but if he does it's hard to understand his wanting to disassociate himself from someone who merely wanted to do something about it.

Margaret Thatcher famously saw individual men and women where others saw only "society". I think John Cavanagh and the greens probably exemplify the opposite view. Perhaps this helps us understand why they behave the way they do. It must be much easier to turn a blind eye to society than to living, breathing individuals.

Article originally appeared on (http://www.bishop-hill.net/).