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roachboy · 10-13-2007, 07:57 AM

ok so first, when i posted earlier wondering why the peace prize only goes to the prominent rather than going to people or organizations who work at a less visible level in the day-to-day grind of trying to make lives better, defuse conflict, alter socio-economic realities, i in no way wanted or expected that i'd find this position collapsed into the conservative american glibfest about al gore.

i was making an entirely different point.
had i waited to see how the thread would develop before posting, i would not have said it at all.

secondly, i find the conservative responses to this award to be kind of astonishing.
what we have is yet another sorry example of the effects of right-medias use of an orwellian-style group-hate technique to structure the beliefs of the few remaining faithful. what we have is a collapsing of the substantive questions onto short, punchy-but-empty memes about the person of al gore.

what we have is a almost like a programmed response: the heros of independent thinking on the right say exactly what is expected at exactly the same moment given a trigger. and more bewildering still, somehow this near-pavolivan exercise is confused with an extension of a sustantive debate.

well sports fans: it isnt.

the award itself does not raise new problems--the gap that separates the private language of american conservative views of global warming from those of the rest of the planet have been evident in the debates about the kyoto protocols.

even on this board, of late, the basis for this private language-based rejection of the notion of global warming has been reduced to a matter of claims to direct causation, from which appears to follow questions qas to whether it makes sense to act, as if the possibility that human agency is not the sole cause of the phenomenon means that there is no reason to do anything.
that is ridiculous.
it is high time that the americans reconsidered their transportation model, just as it is high time that china reconsidered its reliance on coal as a domestic heating source.

=========
addendum: the arguments for reconsidering the us transportation model do not exclusively require gw as a motive--congestion in urban areas is also a strong argument--rethinking suburban-urban connections are another, moving to a more regional concept of space/community woudl make sense---addressing class disparities at the level fo transportation---a new-deal style infrastruicture development program--a trigger for new types of industrial development within the boundaries of the us---any of these (and there are more) could get you to the same place.
==============

if making the case for these processes of rethinking requires that al gore's film be place at the center of the american debate, then fine. and the work of the un on this issue has been fundamental.

10-13-2007, 07:57 AM	#36 (permalink)
roachboy Super Moderator Location: essex ma	ok so first, when i posted earlier wondering why the peace prize only goes to the prominent rather than going to people or organizations who work at a less visible level in the day-to-day grind of trying to make lives better, defuse conflict, alter socio-economic realities, i in no way wanted or expected that i'd find this position collapsed into the conservative american glibfest about al gore. i was making an entirely different point. had i waited to see how the thread would develop before posting, i would not have said it at all. secondly, i find the conservative responses to this award to be kind of astonishing. what we have is yet another sorry example of the effects of right-medias use of an orwellian-style group-hate technique to structure the beliefs of the few remaining faithful. what we have is a collapsing of the substantive questions onto short, punchy-but-empty memes about the person of al gore. what we have is a almost like a programmed response: the heros of independent thinking on the right say exactly what is expected at exactly the same moment given a trigger. and more bewildering still, somehow this near-pavolivan exercise is confused with an extension of a sustantive debate. well sports fans: it isnt. the award itself does not raise new problems--the gap that separates the private language of american conservative views of global warming from those of the rest of the planet have been evident in the debates about the kyoto protocols. even on this board, of late, the basis for this private language-based rejection of the notion of global warming has been reduced to a matter of claims to direct causation, from which appears to follow questions qas to whether it makes sense to act, as if the possibility that human agency is not the sole cause of the phenomenon means that there is no reason to do anything. that is ridiculous. it is high time that the americans reconsidered their transportation model, just as it is high time that china reconsidered its reliance on coal as a domestic heating source. ========= addendum: the arguments for reconsidering the us transportation model do not exclusively require gw as a motive--congestion in urban areas is also a strong argument--rethinking suburban-urban connections are another, moving to a more regional concept of space/community woudl make sense---addressing class disparities at the level fo transportation---a new-deal style infrastruicture development program--a trigger for new types of industrial development within the boundaries of the us---any of these (and there are more) could get you to the same place. ============== if making the case for these processes of rethinking requires that al gore's film be place at the center of the american debate, then fine. and the work of the un on this issue has been fundamental. __________________ a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear it make you sick. -kamau brathwaite Last edited by roachboy; 10-13-2007 at 08:09 AM..