7/30/2019 DTCW 32 Will We Wake Up
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AASScciieennttiissttLLooookkssaattRRoommaannttiiccLLoovveeaannddCCaallllssIIttLLiimmeerreennccee::
Some few of vision call for doing what is not in human nature to
do. I refer to such measures as closingdown nuclear plants,
destroying dangerous weapons, bringing about more equitable
distribution of wealthacross the planet, and reducing populations
so that the mad pace toward reduction of biodiversity andglobal
warming can be stopped in time, if indeed there still is time.
I say nothing that has not been whispered into the ears of even
the most beligerent, the most angry, and the
most blinded among us. We all know, even George Bush and Tony
Blair know, however much they refuseto acknowledge it; the
implications are too upsetting. Politics, accurately called the art
of the possible, isthe formidable obstacle to
self-preservation.
So we live in self-deception. We pretend that things are not
what they are, and we show no signs of lettingup, even when nuclear
plants are struck and dread disease spreads. As the death toll
mounts and civilizationgrinds to a bloody halt, we scramble to
distribute antibiotics, we discard freedoms in the name of
freedom,and, in a frenzy of flag waving, we unite in the delusion
that life goes on. But such distractions do notprotect.
November 2, 2001
