Friday, August 08, 2008

Drive Naked!

Mheh! Glenn Beck.

You know, if everybody's tires were grossly underinflated ... which they're not -- then if everybody started inflating them properly, they could reduce their gas consumption by 3-4%.

Easy, feel-good solutions to problems are what makes progressivism so appealing.

You've got these good, well-meaning people out there who aren't informed because they've got other stuff to do, other interests ... and they see bad stuff around them and feel guilty because they're not doing anything about it. They're not involved. And they don't really have time to think about these things and tie them in to the big picture. They've got kids to take to soccer, dinner to cook, things to fix around the house, movies to watch, parties to go to -- whatever.

Along comes the "activist", with templates for an easy solutions -- "if we only..." "taxes for the children, bake sales for bombs", "inflate your tires", "turn your thermostat up/down", "wear a sweater". "Dissent is patriotic." "Don't shop there." "Buy this item".

Honest to God, I saw someone wearing a T-Shirt a few weeks ago that said "This T-Shirt Saves the Planet". If it were a spoof, I might think it was pretty funny. But I seriously doubt that it is.

They also come out with these pre-chewed ideas about what's wrong in the first place, all geared toward getting you to act according to their agendas. "It's the evil oil companies." "It's blood for oil!" "Che was good, the Evil United States of Amerikkka just made him look bad." They've "done the thinking" for you, but feed it to you in such a way to make you feel like you're the one doing the thinking. Thinking people think this. Everyone else is an idiot. Aren't You smart?

Now instead of having no idea what to say when a topic comes up at a social event, you've got this logical sounding argument you heard somewhere from someone who seemed to you like they knew what they were talking about. Well it sounded smart to you, other people will think it sounds smart, too.
Hmmm... I want to sound smart. I'm a thinker. So I'm going to repeat it like I know what I'm talking about!
Of course, most of those people are also too busy to know the details and mechanisms behind how things actually work, and they want to be seen as part of the solution as well. So they nod and hum their approving "mmm-hmmm's", making you feel good, making them feel good, and making people who actually have an idea how things work feel too uncomfortable to say anything about it because they'll just be seen as a killjoy, or worse, someone who doesn't want the problem solved.

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