Beliefs or images of reality, as distinct from reality
The extent to which some folks can wallow in illusions so far from reality has always amused, and sometimes terrified me. Of course, when we look back in history we can find plenty of examples where collective illusions led to not mere folly, but massive suffering and death. The Salem Witch Trials and the infamous … More THE ANTI-EXPERT: Illusions of Truth in a World of Facts
For at least a decade, I have been arguing, here and there, that neither climate chaos nor ecological destruction can be resolved by “renewable energy” or “clean energy” alone. A very small number of technical analysts have come to the same conclusion, but they are all outside of the culture of the conventional Environmental Movement. … More The Great Energy Illusion: Industrial Modernity
I cringe every time I hear some talking head refer to the gang of thieves engaged in an autocratic attempt to overthrow a democracy, however flawed, as “the administration.” Why? Because my first thought is, what exactly are they administering? An administration administrates; it does not plunder. Well, occasionally some do in relatively minor ways. … More When is an Administration a Regime?
Photo Credit: Werner Ustorf via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0) Race has always been an ambiguous concept. Racial identity is held to desperately by the socially insecure and the psychologically anxious, who turn their ignorance and confusion into fear, which then becomes hate. Then there are those who consciously exploit the fears and confusion of others to encourage … More The Ridiculous Race
[Photo credit: World Economic Forum] Industrial-consumer modernism is often infused with glorified techno-imaginaries, unconstrained by the boundaries of scientific knowledge or by the requirements of achieving a society based on the wellbeing of people, not the accumulation of more capital by the hyper-rich. But what if we were to step back and take a look … More Back to Basics: “Green Transition” Imaginaries and the Limits to Growth
Photo credit: R.M. Christie ~ ~ ~ What? Well, I was just thinking about how people deal with habits and addictions when either may have both pleasurable and self-destructive consequences. Some folks may be victims of another’s categorization, especially if it causes them to be ‘disappeared.’ Of course, categorization is a linguistic mechanization that is … More Categorical Consciousness: Imaginaries and Experience
I am often puzzled by various ‘environmentalists.’ (I put the semi-quote marks around the word, since there are many types and variations among folks who either go by the designation or are called that by others.) All the various professionals, activists, academics, and even politicians (well politicians more than any others) go about their work … More There are No Do-Overs Now.
As you may have noticed from prior posts here and/or from the Hopeful Realist Newsletter, I consider myself a ‘hopeful realist.’ The reason is twofold. First, neither optimism nor pessimism make any sense to me. I guide my thinking by what I know and do not know about the world. Since both optimism and pessimism … More Realism: The Only Hope
I read an article on Medium.com the other day “proclaiming that we have waited too long and the tipping point beyond which we can no longer stop the progression of climate chaos has passed. The author, “indi.ca,” is a good writer and he made a compelling case for the severity of the climate/ecological emergency that … More What if It Really IS Too Late?
They are here now, faster and more furious than ever. The increasing intensity and frequency of “extreme weather events” is blatently apparent and associated with ‘global warming.’ Yet, television “meteorologists,” as they call themselves, can muster no more concern than to remark as to how many new high-temperature records were broken today, or what a … More Intensity and Frequency: The New Normal Cannot be Normal at All
Robert MacNeil Christie, Author 