Are Humans Totally Stupid? by Mark Morford

Are Humans Totally Stupid?
Either we're hell-bent on self-destruction, or we truly care about the planet. Or, you know, both
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Friday, December 8, 2006


They say that when gas prices drop, SUV sales surge.
Conversely, they say that when gas prices jump above three bucks a gallon and hover there for a while and everyone is slapped upside the head once again with the painful and obvious reminder that oh yeah we are in the midst of a brutal and losing war over waning petroleum deposits and we are heating up the planet like maniac monkeys and we are really really not paying close enough attention to what all those hurricanes and eroded glaciers and crying trees are trying to tell us, well, that's when our conscience finally kicks in and more people consider buying a Prius and maybe an organic salad, just in case.

It's just incredibly easy, in this painful, tragicomic age of Bush, to take the pessimist's view and think we are, as evidenced by the rather dimwitted formula above, simple as rocks. Stupid, even. Ignorant, reactionary, shortsighted as a Republican rubbing himself with a wad of tobacco lobbyist cash. Is it not obvious?

In other words, it's incredibly easy to believe, given the current planetary circumstances, that we really just don't give much of a damn, that simple decision-making equations like the above prove that we are a rather thoughtless species, reacting only to the most primitive of market forces while remaining hell-bent on serving our most immediate needs and screw the planet and screw the long view and screw what kind of burned-up oil-depleted storm-ridden water-deprived world your kids will be facing in a mere 25 years, just save me a few bucks on a tank of Saudi gas and let's call it an environment.

Sure we care, but we don't really care. Not enough to make significant or permanent change, not enough to radically refocus our agenda to a degree that might affect our mall-addicted oil-bloated American lifestyles. Buy a hybrid when gas prices soar? Pure economics, for most. Saves a few citizens from emphysema and removes a few million pounds of toxic chemicals from the air and hence in 2004 alone Prius drivers did the job of 9,478,000 trees? Just a bonus, really.

more...
http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/morford/

Sure I could get a Prius - but I know that most people aren't going to - one Prius isn't going to make any difference against the dozens of SUVs and Humvees my neighbors are buying, so why shouldn't I get somethign I want?

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

we're doomed

And he still manages to hold out a little hope.

n/t

"I'm gonna use all I can before it's gone!"
Anonymous redneck, circa 1979

He nails it every time. Love his style. :thumbsup:

Simple Self Serving Greed.

and i for one, intend to enjoy the show.

thanks for posting.

"There are two things without limit, the universe and human stupidity--and I'm not sure about the universe."

Our primate brain isn't very good at thinking long term. And we have no evolutionary compulsion not to foul our own nest. We evolved originally in trees, and our waste just dropped to the ground so our nests stayed clean. And then, until relatively recently, there was endless (or seemingly endless) new, empty land to move to after we'd despoiled one place. The fact that there's no longer any place new to go doesn't matter, in a way, because deep down inside we believe that there is, and always will be.

It doesn't help having people buy into the advertising mentality (or emotional appeals) that equates worth with consumption.


Whether those things have anything to do with evolution or not -> :shrug:


Some may see our disposable culture as evolving - more people having more stuff. It comes down to values - individual and societal (and being able to see the forest for the trees - or having a forest left to see).

are cultural overlays. They're important, but the real deep down problem is truly an evolutionary one. Clearly that evolutionary problem can be overcome by education and intellect. Witness those who purchase fuel efficient cars, or recycle, or live with far less than they could afford. But it is all to human of us to think, why bother? when confronted with long-term issues.

Doesn't mean we shouldn't be trying very hard to change things. But the best way to do so would somehow address or, better yet, go around the evolutionary problem. Unfortunately, I haven't a clue what to suggest as an answer.

As an example of what I mean, look at all those who continue to smoke despite clear evidence about how bad it is for you. It is almost impossible for any one of us to truly believe that smoking will adversely affect ME, or that I will actually die eventually. Which, is, as you're no doubt getting ready to point out, an obvious ego problem. And you're right.

I do know is that all I can do personally is live somewhat modestly, although that's merely by U.S. standards, not by world or third-world standards. In short, there really are too many of us already inhabiting this planet, and I suspect nothing will really happen until there's an actual global catastrophe of some kind.

I mean reeeeally dumb. Ask anyone, who's ever worked at a theme park.

"War and disease and ignorance and prescription meds are plentiful as candy and millions still believe the entire universe was created in a week by some angry bearded spiteful grandfather who hates gays and isn't all that fond of women or sex or Hindus either, and if you just shut off your brain and close your legs and despise the right kind of people, you will get to hang out with him for all eternity. Joy."

Some are not, but that's a tiny minority.