Are there any politicians that are making preparing for this inevitable catastrophe an issue? It's going to be like Katrina times a million. I'm frankly scared as hell, and I'm not usually one to worry too much about things.
Sadly, I don't think there are any politicians really seriously grappling with the magnitude of the problem we may be facing, at least not in public and not any currently holding office or running. I guess Al Gore would arguably be an exception, but he's not running.
This is where I think my general faith in the American system to get things right more often than not, and belief in a pragmatic engagement in politics hits a wall. I don't think we're currently capable of squarely addressing the environmental catastrophe that's coming, if not within our lifetime then our children's lifetime, and making the changes that would be required to, if not avert it (I think that ship's already sailed), at least manage the consequences in a way that protects those who'll be most adversely effected. I think that this challenges the existence of the whole global capitalist system we've set up for ourselves, and our politics just isn't capable of handling a challenge that extreme.
On the other hand, I don't think the radical recontextualizers represented here by DM and TC08 have the answer either, since they can't (or I haven't seen them yet--feel free to prove me wrong!) answer in any concrete way what the new politics or new society we should be trying to create would actually look like, and--even more importantly--how do we get there from here? Vague talk of "new values," "mythical narratives" and "spirituality" doesn't cut it. What values? What narratives? You need to put some actual content into these terms, then show that you can persuade people that your values or narratives are better, which includes some idea of how you get past media filters and disingenuous critics that you'll inevitably face (how do you respond to the Fox news treatment of your ideas?).
So I feel stuck and scared. I don't believe in revolution, but also doubt that politics as it exists in the world can change quickly enough. I fear we're drifting towards a world that will look at best like a million New Orleans and at worse like a million Baghdads.
2 comments:
The follow-up article is here. Oy again.
Are there any politicians that are making preparing for this inevitable catastrophe an issue? It's going to be like Katrina times a million. I'm frankly scared as hell, and I'm not usually one to worry too much about things.
Sadly, I don't think there are any politicians really seriously grappling with the magnitude of the problem we may be facing, at least not in public and not any currently holding office or running. I guess Al Gore would arguably be an exception, but he's not running.
This is where I think my general faith in the American system to get things right more often than not, and belief in a pragmatic engagement in politics hits a wall. I don't think we're currently capable of squarely addressing the environmental catastrophe that's coming, if not within our lifetime then our children's lifetime, and making the changes that would be required to, if not avert it (I think that ship's already sailed), at least manage the consequences in a way that protects those who'll be most adversely effected. I think that this challenges the existence of the whole global capitalist system we've set up for ourselves, and our politics just isn't capable of handling a challenge that extreme.
On the other hand, I don't think the radical recontextualizers represented here by DM and TC08 have the answer either, since they can't (or I haven't seen them yet--feel free to prove me wrong!) answer in any concrete way what the new politics or new society we should be trying to create would actually look like, and--even more importantly--how do we get there from here? Vague talk of "new values," "mythical narratives" and "spirituality" doesn't cut it. What values? What narratives? You need to put some actual content into these terms, then show that you can persuade people that your values or narratives are better, which includes some idea of how you get past media filters and disingenuous critics that you'll inevitably face (how do you respond to the Fox news treatment of your ideas?).
So I feel stuck and scared. I don't believe in revolution, but also doubt that politics as it exists in the world can change quickly enough. I fear we're drifting towards a world that will look at best like a million New Orleans and at worse like a million Baghdads.
Post a Comment