Jeff Thies wrote:
On 4/13/2011 11:28 AM, HeyBub wrote:
Pavel314 wrote:

My impression of the environmentalists is that they don't really
care about saving the environment as much as they want to impose
inconvenience, cost and restrictions on the rest of us. If we don't
suffer, we aren't attoning properly for our sins against the earth.
In case you think you haven't sinned against the earth, to them just
being human is enough. Sort of like original sin.

You're half right. They do not care about saving the environment.
But they don't necessarily want to bother others either. Don't
automatically attribute to malevolence that which can be explained
by silliness. What they WANT is to BELONG. To a movement.

Oddly, I find the right wing to be the real belongers. They belong to
Churches and Tea Parties and follow their favorite Right Wing Talk
Show hosts. What the far left does is simply more colorful, and seems
sillier.

Agreed. The sense of isolation - and hence the need to join a movement -
exists irrespective of political affiliation. Still, the organizations to
which the right-wingers belong tend to be more personal. They join the NRA
to protect their own gun rights whereas progressives agitate against killing
Mohammadens in Libya.


It really doesn't matter whether
the movement is saving the environment, banning the bra, or
agitating for voting rights for chestnuts (as a matter of fact,
membership in mass movements is interchangeable).

Probably on the left more so than the right. I agree.

I'm reminded of What Mark Twain said: I belong to no organized
political party, I'm a Democrat. Now, look at how lockstep the
Republicans are.

Actually it was said by Will Rogers. But he was right; the Democrats are
more disorganized than the Republicans. The conservatives are made up of
two, generally non-competing, groups: Social conservatives and Economic
conservatives. They can easily cooperate with each other to their collective
benefit.

The Democrats consist of maybe twenty disparate groups: Blacks, unions,
environmentalists, Communists, government workers, welfare recipients,
anti-war protesters, and so on. Often these groups have conflicting goals.
For instance, drilling in ANWAR - the environmentalists are opposed while
union members generally support the idea. Getting them to work together is
like herding cats!

The only technique that seems to work is a free food bowl.