View from the Center and Left Message Board

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : View from the Center and Left

Public Reply Prvt Reply Mark as Last Read File

Previous 10 Next 10 Previous Next

To: Dale Baker who wrote (6969)	12/16/2005 9:56:53 AM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) of 543061

Certainly not compared to someone who quit and tried to get back on a healthier lifestyle before it was too late. I saw a photo the other day of a pregnant woman standing in her front yard watching some street construction and smoking a cigarette. The caption on the photo was something to the effect that the woman in the picture was worried that the jack-hammer noise was bad for her baby. End anecdote. On to small essay... We know that smoking shortens life spans and that quitting smoking can restore some or all of that lost life span. We know that. There are a lot of other risks out there that are not so well researched and clearly demonstrated. People have all sorts of concerns about disastrous outcomes that might be avoided if we just did this or that "before it was too late." The one in the article you posted is a good example. Some of them resonate with us as that one did with both you and me, albeit perhaps somewhat differently. Some of them resonate with other people but seem unpersuasive or even silly to us. What the concerns all have in common is a cadre of true believers who "get it" and who are impatient with and scornful of others who "don't get it," the latter group obstructing the former group from doing whatever needs to be done "before it's too late." Some of the believers are zealots in pursuit of the one correction that will save the world. They can get downright nutty in their overreaction and hysteria and total consumption in their cause. The less persuasive they are, the nuttier they get and the more hostile they get towards those who "don't get it." I was talking to a friend the other day who was caught up in a particular disastrous event resulting from terrorism, a risk about which I tend to be relatively nonchalant. I have learned over the years that the worst thing you can say to someone who is over-reacting is that he is over-reacting but I do it anyway. We got onto the subject of terrorism when I used that as an example of over-reacting. Our original subject was the anti-anti-Christmas over-reaction. Terrorism turned out to be an unfortunate example. So I tried switching to an over-reaction that I knew he would consider to be such, global warming. But by that time he was no longer listening to me. I do find it interesting, though, how people who find nuttiness in other peoples over-reactions cannot see their own. End essay. A few things that I think of as potential disasters that we should do something about before it's too late are the social-security ponzi scheme, education, and immigration. I like to think, though, that I'm not nutty about any of them. (I would add resurrecting federalism but I think that's already too late.)

Report TOU Violation

Share This Post

Public Reply Prvt Reply Mark as Last Read File

Previous 10 Next 10 Previous Next