So today's, and indeed it would appear every other day's, hot topic is Global Warming. Apparently we should all be trying to be 'Carbon Neutral' to 'save' the 'Environment'.
When it gets hot, it is apparently due to global warming. When it gets cold, it is apparently due to global warming. If it's too dry, it's down to global warming. If it's too wet, global warming is to blame. They even have the inconclusive and somewhat variable science to prove it!
Of course, this is all nonsense. As proved to be the case with the Millennium bug (which, sadly, didn't send the world back to the 1200s), and is currently proving to be the case with the SARS/Bird Flu viruses (which have failed, as of yet, to carve through the population in same the manner as the Black Death.) We have convinced ourselves these are threats when really they are not - they are simply the manifestation of a basic social instinct, Millenarianism. It would appear that, though we laugh at the obsessive medieval preoccupation with the identification of Antichrist and with the writings of Joachim of Fiore, once again we find ourselves in a similar mindset. The only real difference seems to be that, while medieval man looked to religion to find an explanation of how and when the world would end, modern man simply invents secular harbingers of his destruction. It is crucial for us to remember, then, that It was not so long ago that we were warned of the dangers of global 'cooling', and we should certainly make note of the fact that in the 'damning' report that supposedly proves man's contribution to 'Global Warming', the scientists themselves cannot bring themselves to use more precise terms than 'Very likely'. George Bush is not Antichrist. Al Gore is not Joachim of Fiore. 'Global Warming' should be seen in the context of these non-threats and treated accordingly - it is nothing more than medieval millenarianism given a fresh lick of paint.
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