Heres a rather direct commentary by Randy Malamud, Regents Professor Of English and chair of the department at Georgia State University. Sounds like he gets it. ****************************** I propose that it is time for us to accept as a premise in whatever environmental discussions we have -- or indeed, in any deliberations on anything taking place in the future -- the fact that the world is coming to an end. Well, not the world itself: The planet is actually pretty resilient, and will likely continue on its orbit unbothered by the warm spell; its just people, along with most other life forms, that will disappear. Geologically, theres not so much to worry about; biologically, on the other hand, we have a situation. For a while it made sense ... to cling to a thread of hope in order to motivate reform and prevent people from descending into a paralyzing sense of helplessness. But now its time to accept our impending demise. Those are profoundly difficult words to write, but they are necessary: Our times demand a new rhetorical honesty. It is deceitful and irrelevant to sustain the charade that things may improve. Instead, its time to start talking about how we will die. The progress narrative that has undergirded Western culture for millennia was nice while it lasted, but its also responsible for getting us where we are today, as it stoked the fantasy that we were invincibly moving ever forward, and that our rampantly voracious overdevelopment (exploration, imperialism, conquest, growth, civilizing nature) had no costs, no limits, no consequences.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 16:08:07 +0000
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