Getting It Wrong When It Comes To Understanding Humankind in the Day of Environmental Disaster
Those who follow comedian Bill Maher have noticed that a great deal of his current shtick pokes fun at progressives, and has come to support right-wing causes.
The other day he did a bit that I paraphrase as such: When it comes to achieving environmental sustainability, I don’t know what does work, but I can tell you what doesn’t work: asking people to make sacrifices.
He went on to back up his assertion with some photos of big, stupid, cars and trucks that an admittedly significant portion of Americans still adore, e.g. this version of the F-150, at 12 MPG.
This cynicism may be immensely profitable in Hollywood; after all, ideas like wokeness and decency seem to have, at least for now, fallen out of fashion in the United States. But the photo at the above left is an example of what the Dutch have done with their country, in which people actually give a s***.
The folks in the Netherlands have abandoned selfish, idiotic behavior, and treat our planet with the respect it deserves. For them, 21st Century transportation is about bicycles and trains. They’d no more drive the truck shown here than they’d urinate in their own Jacuzzis.
What’s up with Maher? Just another media whore? At best, he’s way off base when it comes to understanding who we are as human beings when it comes to dealing with the threat of environmental collapse.
He makes money. Others, like the Dutch, make change.
Boy, are you part of the “ready, fire, aim” crowd on this one.
Sure, cars and trucks have been a major part of growing up in the US, and owning a “Roush / Ford F-150” (which gets 12 mpg) is something that some of us want — but only if we can afford it.
But to try and even compare the US with it’s millions of miles of roads, and the Netherlands — isn’t a comparison — it’s a sick joke.
The writer obviously hasn’t ever been to the Netherlands or driven on their much narrower roads either — where there isn’t enough roadway to have two F-150s pass each other safely.
But you can — riding a bike.
As for “woke” being “out of fashion in this country”.
I don’t know what country you are speaking of — but it sure isn’t the US.
Sure, there are Republican politicials, and their political followers, who are making speeches about being “anti-woke” on their rush to see who gets into the toilet first — but that’s it.
The rest of this country — are woke — we care about people and stuff like that.
So, as Jay Silverheels (“Tonto”) in the old “Lone Ranger” movies used to say — “what do you mean “we” — whiteman!” — when you glibly try and include “the rest of us”, i.e., the vast majority of the US population — in your “try” at making a point.