FRONT LINE ON A FLATTENING EARTH
Every once in an epoch, Falt-Earth Friedman (NY Times editor) surprises us with an introspective analysis worthy of notice. Rather than being the usual apologist for the US President and for the American way of non-negotiable life, Tom the Tome takes us on a panoramic plummet down to Peru in this weekend's editorial, to visit the receding glaciers of Machu Piccu. He charms us into the mindset of a Peruvian corn farmer whose wilting crop worsens with each year's lessening of glacial run off. Tom even goes so far as to challenge the wisdoms of the Adam Smith religion by noting that receding water levels and shrinking crop outputs will force Peru to drill for and export more oil, thus hastening its own demise due to Global Warming.
Yes, once again the Invisible Hand guides us to the most "efficient" utilization of our depleting resources. Rest In Peace, oh you humanity.
6 comments:
A sneak peek at T. Friedman's behind the pay-wall editorial may be found at this RadLeft link
Grist interview with Tom Friedman here
Another copy of Friedman's Peru editorial at The Tribune
A trip through the way back time machine to December 2000 and an anti-GW, anti-Friedman pundit:
"Is the earth warming? Maybe. Maybe not. The long-term trends are hard to measure -- more importantly, most scientists not compromised by the desire for government grants to study global warming or some political motivation will tell you there is little if anything man could do to heat up the earth's atmosphere. The Earth is just too big. Man's presence is just too small. That's the way God planned it. Isn't it wonderful? "
Welcome to Fog Land indeed.
Here is another version of the Fog story:
A titanic ship is sailing into unknown waters, covered by fog and no one is steering the mighty vessel. What happens next?
See the PDF slide show here.
Off topic, but I would not keep discussing "the divine" on TOD.
You have to be a total whacko to admit that you talk to yourself as if you were God.
Yes, no need to pretend to be God, but...
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
--From Hamlet (I, v, 166-167)
So unless you have personally experimented a few weird things around shamanism, psychotropics and als you are of course surprised by the believers who mistake their groovy feelings for God presence.
On a more "rational" stance look for Michael Persinger, Godlike experiences by brain stimulation.
Religion is "all in our heads" already, alas...
Anon,
Don't get me wrong. I respect religious people and their religious beliefs. It is hard to argue that Mother Teresa was not selflessly doing "God's work". So in her, as far as I'm concerned, God exists --well, existed.
At the same time that I respect their right to believe what they believe (as long as it does not include ritualistic killing or hurting of other people or of scentient animals), I expect them to equally respect my beliefs. Of course, few of them see it that way. To them, theirs is the only true truth. There is little tolerance for alternate views.
In so far as the talking aloud to oneself thing: If you look at all the blogs out here on the Internet --the ones that hardly anybody reads-- you get to wonder if that is not a modern version of prayer or of inner meditation. They (we) are talking to themselves (ourselves) with the suspicion that some intelligent being might be listening in. Thanks for your feedback.
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