Last Sunday saw the 42nd annual observance of Earth Day, when the nations that really are polluting the world are ignored, so environmentalists can castigate capitalist societies. Oh, wait, that’s every day.
Earth Day is the special day when people who wouldn’t dream of living without the benefits of industrial technology pretend its development was a mistake they wouldn’t make. Corporations that make millions selling five-dollar cups of coffee ask us to bow our heads and weep over corporate greed. It’s a curious holiday, because it “celebrates” fantasy visions of impending doom… or, more to the point, it celebrates the arrogant self-righteousness of the people who imbibe those fantasies, and look forward to bellowing almighty I-told-you-sos with their final, carbon-saturated breaths.
Most religions celebrate transcendence, redemption, and charity. The Green religion is about inevitable damnation, and sanctifies poverty. People who normally style themselves “progressive” spend Earth Day daydream about regression to the noble pre-industrial societies they idolize, although they are somehow able to bring industrial comforts along on their journey to the mud huts.
Free Market America, a group dedicated to “defending economic freedom against environmental extremism,” produced a powerful Earth Day video called “If I Wanted America To Fail.” Their conclusion about the strategy needed to ensure America’s failure is difficult to dispute.
Incidentally, it has now been eight months since the Justice Department raided Gibson Guitars, an incident alluded to in the video… and charges still have not been filed.
