Global Swarming
When ignorance isn’t bliss
It would be fair to say that this blog views the Boston Globe as fringe left. Taking issue with reports published in the paper before was followed with a compliment or two on other articles. But today another example of politicizing an issue as the left being deprived and the right being the demon gives further evidence the initial appraisal was correct.
The author is going out on a limb with the use of a title featuring the word ‘ignorance.’ While there have been plenty of items published since Hurricane Katrina, few have placed any responsibility on the city of New Orleans or the State of Louisiana for the consequences of past neglect.
Reacting to an article in Time, the Globe author indicates more needs to be done than just strengthening levees and related components. No kidding. If the author was ambitious enough to examine the history of NOLA and hurricane risk he would find evidence of NOLA officials rejecting the strongest level of protection, environmental groups suing to obstruct the Army Corps of Engineers, funds being used for purposes other than hurricane protection and appropriations bills that were stalled for numerous reasons.
Then the Globe subjects the reader to more frantic panic of the current global warming debate. The debate needs a third viewpoint. The first two are at opposite ends of the spectrum. One believes everything about global warming and the other believes none of it. Not an impressive stand for either. Again, politics is being implemented where none is needed.
The single item for which the author of the Globe piece may have a point is energy. The politics of energy has many villains in the public and private sector. The one he fails to mention is the public. An unfortunate and painful truth is the public wants what the public wants. The notion that higher energy prices are the only realistic stimulus to reasonable conservation and alternative methods for energy use is lost on the report. Instead the focus is again on politics and the big bad corporations. Criticism of the public demand for unlimited and cheap energy that poses no threats and requires no sacrifice or discipline is absent.
A small mention of surveys showing public opinion is nothing more than a casual reference. The focus on business and government as the primary villains is a familiar theme. How about a little consumer bashing rather than criticizing only business and government as in this case they may be doing their jobs reacting to public demand. How convenient that as consumers we want everything the way we want it and complain when ‘they’ won’t get it for us.
Stanford Matthews
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