How can you like the human race?

by on April 30, 2009 17
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Gas prices are down and when I go to the supermarket I always notice a parked car or two going, with the windows closed, so that it will be nice and cool when the person is finished their shopping. I curse them under my breath. We all know that we're destroying the polar ice caps, still we keep at destroying them. Yesterday, stopping by a friend's to return a tool, I saw his ex-wife trying to revive plants fried by the recent heat wave– 90 in April. She said that on Bill Maher's show they said the polar ice caps are all that keep the sun from burning up the planet, and they're going to be gone in 30 or 40 years. What's the point in even trying? she says; though she worries about her grandchild. Myself I've left no hostages to the human race, and wonder if I won't get out just in time, before we're all torched, by our own hand.

About Philip Weiss

Philip Weiss is Founder and Co-Editor of Mondoweiss.net.
Posted in US Politics

{ 17 comments... read them below or add one }

  1. August West says:
    April 30, 2009 at 1:53 pm

    Call the cops if the car is unattended. This is illegal in most jurisdictions. For example– New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law 1210 provides “No person driving or in charge of a motor vehicle shall permit it to stand unattended without first stopping the engine, locking the ignition, removing the key from the vehicle, and effectively setting the brake.” Ohio Revised Code § 4511.661 provides "No person driving or in charge of a motor vehicle shall permit it to stand unattended without first stopping the engine, locking the ignition, removing the key from the ignition, effectively setting the parking brake, and, when the motor vehicle is standing upon any grade, turning the front wheels to the curb or side of the highway." WA Revised Code Section 46.61.600 provides: "No person driving or in charge of a motor vehicle shall permit it to stand unattended without first stopping the engine, locking the ignition, removing the key and effectively setting the brake thereon and, when standing upon any perceptible grade, turning the front wheels to the curb or side of the highway."

  2. MondoFan says:
    April 30, 2009 at 2:07 pm

    It's not very gentleman-like to call the cops, but one is inclined to teach such ignorant resource-waster a lesson. Unbelievable. And once again, I compliment Phil for posting these little personals tidbits.

  3. Marion says:
    April 30, 2009 at 2:32 pm

    I have children and I expect to have grandchildren, and I think the most pressing thing we should be doing collectively to help save the polar ice caps, to be followed by many other pressing things, is to protest against the governments of industrialized nations and their military industrial complexes that have been promoting and engaging in wars that have been destroying and polluting our environment in a massive way. The governments of the world are supposed to be good examples for the people, yet they are the worst examples. Just imagine how war exercises alone, are helping to pollute our environment. And than imagine how our U.S. government is polluting our environment with their wasteful trips around the world promoting what are for the most part selfish political agendas ….

  4. BarbaraLee says:
    April 30, 2009 at 2:49 pm

    I don't, very much. It is just some deep instinct that keeps me going, trying to open eyes. On some deep fundamental level I have hope in humanity. But right now, not so much with this lot! I have long since passed on the old adage that "most people are fundamentally good inside". It really just depends on their options at the time whether one is good or bad, although yes, there are a few exceptions to that rule of course. I put off childbearing for the same reasons as you ~ no hostages, no future slaves, etc etc. But, alas, nature overwhelmed me and the biological clock rang. I thought, well maybe I will have that one child in a million who can realllllly make a difference! And oh my gosh, if I did not succeed! She works in a field that can improve many lives and has great ambitions and abilities to make it so. And made my life livable when the rest of the human race has made me really wonder. I believe that, at this time, the human race is being tested in ways never combined before. I have been told that, on a scale of one to ten, Earth is considered a 9.5 on the danger scale by those who know of these things. I will say no more on that but I do believe I have been told the truth considering other places I have heard of. We are being stressed by inhumane science, our spirits dampened and leeched, our souls under attack, natural things are disappearing at an amazing rate. Our culture has disintegrated to an appalling low, AGAIN, only this time they have radioactive weaponry and atheism to push things along somewhat. People are born slaved and fed an untrue reality from womb to death, reinforced by drugs and education and "entertainment" Because life is a tunnel vision sorta thing, most get sucked into that reality. This is all VERY well coordinated by those that are behind this. They have done this before and are perfecting their game. Meanwhile, most do not even know about what is going on. So these dark ones are doing something "right". The vibrational level of planet earth has been lowered consistently, the vibrational level is being deliberately slowed down. There are many arcane reasons for this, and much of it goes beyond even that despicable Talmud, back into the ancient worlds. It is said, and from experience I understand this, the lower the vibrational level, the more appealing the planet will be for Satan. And that, mon ami, is the main driving force between all of this. Laugh as you may, but this is the final goal for the Talmudists and they are behind most of these long term problems we are facing. Every time our world has destroyed itself, the earth has renewed itself and humans have come back, each time, everything a little less pure. People do not take into consideration the ages of humanity upon this planet ~ all part of wisdom stolen and kept for the elite few. I still say there was more to the burning of the libraries in Alexandria than history ever recorded for, in that library, lay scrolls from ancient civilizations. Much of that wisdom, I believe, was secreted out before Caesar "accidentally" set the place on fire from his ships. What does this have to do with hope for the human race? Nothing and everything. On some deep level, I harbor hope for humanity. As things go, we are currently doomed to repeat the Atlantean downfall, only with dirtier weapons and more cruelty from our leaders. However much I despise so many people, and I do not hate, I despise, or loathe, I am still calmed and elated when I do meet a truly fine person who gives, and lives truly at peace. It is worth it when I meet an Elder with wisdom to share, or a young person with clear eyes. Yes I know that light will be burned out but for awhile, I see the potential of what could be, and what we once might have been in the past. These are the gems in the rest of the cesspool we call humanity.

  5. Craig says:
    April 30, 2009 at 4:41 pm

    I don't know if I exactly like the human race. Most of its members are utter morons whose existence comes near to discrediting the very concept of sentient life. Nevertheless, the human race is my race, and I do what I can to see that it survives, hoping someday that the general level of intelligence will rise — which it has signally failed to do over the course of human history, despite the attempts of educators and others (most of them idiots themselves).

  6. Richard Witty says:
    April 30, 2009 at 4:44 pm

    It is the time to plan and implement to end up consuming 15 – 20% of the fossil fuels that our society as a whole consumes currently. There is no death spiral that I believe is possible relative to global warming specifically, but MUCH inconvenience and hardship. On Phil's favorite fixation, the effect of melting all the Greenland and Antarctic glaciers would be a 24 – 26 ft rise in sea level. That would put most of Israel under water. Most of greenline Palestine wouldn't be. Something like 80% of current population lives on land below 26 ft above sea level, so that would compel a very large migration. The concept of "we were always there, the land is ours", would be an irrelevant one. The concept of "we were always a people that self-associate" would remain relevant. Dead zones resulting from widespread low-level toxins draining down river systems destroying the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Persian Gulf, and larger water bodies, is much more threatening to the biosphere and to the food chain than global warming. Peak Oil is more damaging to the human economy/society than global warming. Oil prices are still determined relative to the current supply chain of petroleum processing, much moreso than the long-term withholding of raw material from processing and markets. That could change, and that would result in "colonial" war, that is likely the real reason for the US military involvement in Iraq. Iran has already reduced its throughput (through equipment and training failures more than intentionally). Venezuela has threatened to.

  7. Richard Witty says:
    April 30, 2009 at 4:45 pm

    Just to contrast to natural global cycles, 18,000 years ago the sea level was approximately 300 feet lower than it is now. There was THAT MUCH ICE in North American, European, and North Asian continental glaciars.

  8. Marion says:
    April 30, 2009 at 8:07 pm

    Barbara, I believe that Our Creator God for all mankind put us on this planet earth to take care of it and each other. While everything we need has been supplied to us on this earth to make our lives easier, at the same time we were created to be the Earth's caretakers…But sadly instead, with our God-given free choice, we have been more or less selfish takers, not selfless caretakers…

  9. LanceThruster says:
    April 30, 2009 at 8:08 pm

    We could have saved the Earth but we were too damned cheap. (Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.)

  10. Mooser says:
    April 30, 2009 at 9:35 pm

    Phil, if I have ever read the words of a guy who desperately needs to buy a motorcycle, this post is it. That you need a bike is so obvious, any further discussion on the subject other of than the mechanics of purchasing, learning to ride, etc. is indubitably superflous. You would be surprised how much better the world looks through about 1/16" of high-quality polycarbonate, the kind you find on an Arai helmet. You want to know something, Phil? Sometimes, on rainy days, I put on my helmet and a pair of boxer shorts with lucky fleaur de lice patterns, then slide around the dining-room floor in my socks going "vroom-vroom", and even that makes me feel a whole lot better. Could I be any more persuasive? I'm glad that's settled. Let me know what you end up buying.

  11. Mooser says:
    April 30, 2009 at 9:46 pm

    "We all know that we're destroying the polar ice caps,…" And once the Earth isn't wearing a yamulke God is going to be really, really pissed! Okay, sorry, sorry. As far as global warming goes, there's really only one question: Is it good for the Jews, or bad for the Jews? C'mon, I'm trying to have an serious… Wait a minute! This is important! Whenever I said to my Dad, as precosious kids do, "Dad, I'm serious!" , my Dad would inevitably say "Okay, yitzchok you be "serious", I'll be Roebuck, we'll start a store!" Is that a Jewish thing? Anybody else ever heard that? Please let me know.

  12. Leila Abu-Saba says:
    April 30, 2009 at 11:50 pm

    Lovelock of the Gaia theory says we're doomed and F****d but the other scientists I know are more sanguine. It could be that civilization as we know it is indeed nearly over, but humans may very well survive; I am heartbroken at the prospect of species and ecosystem collapses. However, I have some faith in Gaia as self-regulating system. We may be in a period of fever that will cleanse the body (the whole planet) of overgrowth (people?) and bring the system back to a more harmonious balance. It might not be pretty for us or our descendants in the short run. There's always hope. There's always a reason to hope. Gas consumption went down in the USA last year by some huge percentage (note to self, nail down the actual #). Economic collapse may be good for the planet as a whole. Those selfish folk idling the car are being morons in the short term but in the long term I believe the system will re-regulate itself. Our planet will not die any time soon. Our civilization, maybe…

  13. Citizen says:
    April 30, 2009 at 11:54 pm

    My Dad called Sears "Snears." I'm not Jewish. I do know that Sears had/has a horrible Insurance company called Allstate. If you have them you are in terrible hands. Otherwise, there's no doubt the ice caps are melting.

  14. DICKERSON3870 says:
    May 1, 2009 at 1:34 am

    RE: "Myself I've left no hostages to the human race…" PHIL: "All you need is a baby!" (yelled with a heavy Cockney accent)

  15. David_F says:
    May 1, 2009 at 6:10 am

    Nature is already "correcting" us. One of the effects of global warming will be disruption of weather patterns, and consequently agriculture. There will be severe famines that will likely wipe out huge numbers of people in the most populous countries, and cause serious wars over resources. New diseases will continue to develop, and probably decimate areas where war and famine have disrupted medical care. The US public, I imagine, will rediscover the merits of nuclear power as civilization desintegrates in the areas we depend upon for oil, and our dollars become worthless. Ethnic strife and rioting will likely increase in the US. Gated (and heavily armed) communities will become very popular for those fortunate enough to be able to afford them. Europe may be doomed, as they are unable to maintain welfare payments, and their ill-advised attempts to de-nationalize leave them paralyzed by ethnic strife. Either the far right will take charge and take unpleasant corrective measures, or Europe will be overrun by starving Moslem populations (maybe driven out by starving Chinese), which will probably be even more unpleasant. I'm a pretty good amateur gunsmith and mechanic, and know how to manufacture ammunition, so I will probably find a way to get by. ;) Humans are tenacious and marvelously adaptive animals. I have no doubt we'll survive and rebuild. I do not think that educated people are doing any favors by not having kids. Your kids are far more likely to be able to deal with our looming problems than those of people living in poverty in the third world, who do not trouble themselves about "carbon footprints" and existential issues.

  16. Shafiq says:
    May 1, 2009 at 10:03 am

    It's Easter Island writ large

  17. Mooser says:
    May 1, 2009 at 4:17 pm

    "Humans are tenacious and marvelously adaptive animals." Compared to what and on what time scale, Mr. Pangloss? "I'm a pretty good amateur gunsmith and mechanic, and know how to manufacture ammunition, so I will probably find a way to get by. ;)" So you'll be eating children, even tho they are harder to hit, or does your extreme compassion mean you will restrict yourself to dogs and cats? Or as there an adequate supply of game in your area, along with saltpeter and the other ingredients for gunpowder?

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