The Empty Rhetoric of Extreme Environmentalism
If one were to look for evidence to support the notion of memes, all-powerful ideas that infest minds like viruses, one would find a treasure trove in the extreme environmentalist movement. A perfect example of this is the empty rhetoric of people protesting the culling of the kangaroo population in Australia:
Kangaroo populations are too high because Australia's native predators have been hunted to extinction. Therefore, in order to put the ecology back in balance man must step in to the predator role. Allowing the kangaroo herds to overpopulate will result in the painful starvation deaths of thousands of them, as well as stress the resources that other species need to survive. Predation is a necessary, essential part of the natural environment. Anyone who voluntarily goes by the title of environmentalist should have such basic facts down pat.
But not Mr O'Brien and the animal infatuationists. Compared to how kangaroos would be culled in a more natural setting, by being chewed to death, shooting is outright humane. But marry the knee-jerk opposition to two politically incorrect ideas, guns and human predation, and you get one monumental case of idiocy that is impervious to rational thought.
Can the environment possibly survive the onslaught of environmentalists?
At the same time, an abundance of kangaroos has prompted the government to begin administering lethal injections to 400 of the animals.
Protesters have vowed to seek a court injunction to stop the slaughter of the eastern gray kangaroos, which are viewed as sacred symbols by Australia's indigenous people.
Scientists say the kangaroos' rapidly growing population threatens their survival, as well as that of some reptiles and insects that share their grassy habitat.
Police on Wednesday charged eight Aboriginal activists with trespassing on the Canberra site where the kangaroos are being killed. The activists hope to persuade officials to relocate the animals; the Defense Department says that would be too costly.
Canberra's local government leader, Jon Stanhope, said he understands that the killings distress many people. But he said more than 3.5 million kangaroos are commercially shot in the Outback each year. The meat is served in restaurants and is also used in pet food.
Pat O'Brien - president of the Wildlife Protection Association of Australia, whose patrons are the family of the late "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin - said government leaders miss the point.
"Shooting millions of kangaroos doesn't make it right," he said. "The national capital has a chance to lead by example and show that Australia has moved beyond solving all our wildlife management problems with a gun."
Kangaroo populations are too high because Australia's native predators have been hunted to extinction. Therefore, in order to put the ecology back in balance man must step in to the predator role. Allowing the kangaroo herds to overpopulate will result in the painful starvation deaths of thousands of them, as well as stress the resources that other species need to survive. Predation is a necessary, essential part of the natural environment. Anyone who voluntarily goes by the title of environmentalist should have such basic facts down pat.
But not Mr O'Brien and the animal infatuationists. Compared to how kangaroos would be culled in a more natural setting, by being chewed to death, shooting is outright humane. But marry the knee-jerk opposition to two politically incorrect ideas, guns and human predation, and you get one monumental case of idiocy that is impervious to rational thought.
Can the environment possibly survive the onslaught of environmentalists?
posted by Anonymous at 8:53 AM
1 Comments:
I don't see any meaningful difference between these people and the various varieties of puritanism.
They are not sentimentalists. An introduced rodent is eliminating the beloved native water vole (Ratty of 'The Wind in the Willows'), and the government proposed to kill the alien.
The right-to--all-lifers objected to killing the aliens, as they object (so they say) to killing anything.
Never heard how that came out.
It's interesting, though, that gummint, which usually is handed the short end of the stick around here, is usually the organization opposing these kooks.
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