If good sense were involved here, of course I would be against Earth Day, for the simple reason that practically everybody else is for it. When you find something being supported by practically everybody, watch your step.
Anything that isn't opposed by about 40 percent of humanity is either an evil business or so unimportant that it simply doesn't matter. In the first category I list the Tonkin Gulf resolution, approved by every member of the Senate but two, which President Johnson later used to justify full-scale war in Vietnam.
The second category (simply doesn't matter) is probably where Earth Day belongs. It's a media event, which is to say a public-relations stunt for the folks of P.R. World.
Another good reason for opposing it is that it's a feel-good stunt. A day spent praising the earth and lamenting man's pollutionist history makes you feel like a superior, sensitive soul.
You enjoy the smug warmth of feeling like one of the good guys, and it doesn't cost you a cent, which, as George (''Read My Lips'') Bush realizes, you're probably too cheap to pay. It's the kind of thing we do beautifully here in P.R. World: inconsequentiality.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Good reasons to oppose Earth Day, from Russell Baker
I got a kick out of this 1990 column in the New York Times from Russell Baker. Here's the best part, especially the last paragraph:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Jimmy, I also like Russel Baker. have you read his book, Growing Up? He relates visiting his mother who has Alzheimers to time travel....a wonderful way to avoid frustration and enjoy visiting with someone who is somewhere else in time. Is he still alive? Writing? Enjoyed the Earth Day observations.
ReplyDeleteNancy