Shut Up And Save The Planet
I've been half-spectating the run-up to the US mid-terms with what I can only describe as equal measures of bemusement and bewilderment. Apparently, the elections are expected to cost some $2.6 billion (according to the Center for Responsive Politics, although I don't quite know what they mean by 'responsive' politics. Maybe they mean 'responsible'), which is about 45 times more than the last general election in the UK. Much of this, of course, has gone into financing those imaginative TV ads that have been flying around, those rather Orwellian ones that place Bob Casey alongside pictures of Kim Jong Il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or ones in which a Senator's opposition to a Bill scrapping federal grants for sexual studies somehow get morphed into: "Brad Miller spent your money to study the masturbation habits of old men." And there was the whole Harold Ford Jr at a Playboy party thing, among other, less colourful accusations of graft.
Other than making dubious allegations about the opposition, the rest of the time has been largely spent on damage limitation from various gaffes by their own party members. Last week, there was Dick Cheney's comment that, as far as he was concerned, waterboarding was a "no-brainer" - it must be some other kind of torture that the US government does not support - and, of course, the latest comment, courtesy of John Kerry, that those not taking their education seriously would "get stuck in Iraq". George W Bush apparently found this comment "insulting and shameful", saying that "The members of the United States military are plenty smart and they are plenty brave and the senator from Massachusetts owes them an apology." Interestingly, John Kerry didn't seem to have said anything about the military's smarts or bravery, so it's unclear what Bush found so insulting. Education, after all, has little to do with smarts - he of all people should know that, having once admitted that even a grade C student can make it to the presidency.
Regardless, one feels that the surest way for the Democrats to take back Congress is to say nothing. As the Democrat House Leader said: "We are thankful for where we are today, to be poised for success. But we have two Mount Everests we have to climb - they are called Monday and Tuesday." Hopefully, someone will inform her that the air up there is pretty thin, so it's a good idea not to say too much on your way up. And this brings me to my public policy intervention of the day. With all this talk of global warming and budget flights and carbon credits, has anyone actually tried to estimate how much carbon dioxide we'd save if we stopped talking nonsense? I suspect that if we encouraged people to think before they speak and open their mouths responsibly, we could collectively save the planet. This way, many people could go for days without saying a thing, and the world would be so much the better for it. So this is the new campaign: "Shut Up And Save The Planet!" (Yes, if you're wondering, I did try to come up with a tacky anagram that read "S.H.U.S.H" or something such like, but I gave up....)
So there, next time you're about to say something, stop and think: "Are my grandchildren's lives worth what I'm about to say?" If the answer is "No", then just keep it to yourself. You'll be doing us all a great favour.
Other than making dubious allegations about the opposition, the rest of the time has been largely spent on damage limitation from various gaffes by their own party members. Last week, there was Dick Cheney's comment that, as far as he was concerned, waterboarding was a "no-brainer" - it must be some other kind of torture that the US government does not support - and, of course, the latest comment, courtesy of John Kerry, that those not taking their education seriously would "get stuck in Iraq". George W Bush apparently found this comment "insulting and shameful", saying that "The members of the United States military are plenty smart and they are plenty brave and the senator from Massachusetts owes them an apology." Interestingly, John Kerry didn't seem to have said anything about the military's smarts or bravery, so it's unclear what Bush found so insulting. Education, after all, has little to do with smarts - he of all people should know that, having once admitted that even a grade C student can make it to the presidency.
Regardless, one feels that the surest way for the Democrats to take back Congress is to say nothing. As the Democrat House Leader said: "We are thankful for where we are today, to be poised for success. But we have two Mount Everests we have to climb - they are called Monday and Tuesday." Hopefully, someone will inform her that the air up there is pretty thin, so it's a good idea not to say too much on your way up. And this brings me to my public policy intervention of the day. With all this talk of global warming and budget flights and carbon credits, has anyone actually tried to estimate how much carbon dioxide we'd save if we stopped talking nonsense? I suspect that if we encouraged people to think before they speak and open their mouths responsibly, we could collectively save the planet. This way, many people could go for days without saying a thing, and the world would be so much the better for it. So this is the new campaign: "Shut Up And Save The Planet!" (Yes, if you're wondering, I did try to come up with a tacky anagram that read "S.H.U.S.H" or something such like, but I gave up....)
So there, next time you're about to say something, stop and think: "Are my grandchildren's lives worth what I'm about to say?" If the answer is "No", then just keep it to yourself. You'll be doing us all a great favour.
posted by CCT at 10:44 pm
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